Chapter 943: Chapter 0940: Relaxed on the Inside, Tense on the Outside (Second Update)

On her journey leaving Flame Castle, Chris sighed helplessly. She was very clear about His Highness’s attitude towards magicians, which was also the attitude of most knights toward magicians—indispensable yet disliked, revered but also guarded.

After all, in the legendary era of the Moon Empire, it was the magicians who were the rulers, with knights merely serving as their followers.

“This time His Highness was truly angry. If he really cuts the funding for the druid magic research project, I’m afraid it will cause a great shock to the Magic Guild.” She raised her arm and looked at the two gemstone rings on her hand, her gaze suddenly turned piercing, “The will of His Highness is the very reason for the Magic Guild’s existence!”

She had made contributions to managing the Magic Guild, and since magicians could not be granted nobility, Liszt rewarded her with two gemstones.

She had made these two gemstones into magic rings and wore them on her hand.

Lowering her arm and looking up at the star-filled sky, Chris softly murmured again, “Herein lie His Highness’s grand ambitions for magicians, no, for arcanists, illuminated by the brilliant light of truth from Lord Acherloides… The times are advancing, and no one can stop it.”

The Arcanist plan—how could Chris, as the executive vice president of the Magic Guild, not be aware of it?

Although she was also a magician, her own life had been saved by Liszt, so Liszt’s plan was her plan; there was only support.

Moreover,

She faintly felt: “Magicians are doomed to decline, perhaps the brilliance of arcanists will shine in the hands of Prince Liszt and Lord Acherloides.”

Soon, the journey from Flame Castle to the Mage Tower was complete.

The brightly lit Mage Tower, the brightest building in Flame City at night.

Hurried steps of magicians and magic apprentices coming and going, creating a noisy yet strict atmosphere, always made Chris feel uncomfortable yet comfortable. It was comfortable because truth was unveiled here; it was a meeting place for magicians every day, every day countless inspirations collided.

The discomfort came from the fact that it was utterly different from the life of a magician she experienced in her youth.

The inheritance of magicians was secretive, and many of the old magicians who spent years studying magic were somewhat psychologically distorted. They liked living in the remote wilderness, far from inhabited places, conducting magic experiments that couldn’t see the light of day. Chris’s mentor, although not a pervert, also preferred to live in the wilds and engaged in bizarre research.

Then later on, after she was brought by her teacher to join the Goat Assembly, she began to study souls and even spent a long time performing pathological experiments on animals.

If the Goat Assembly had not collapsed in a dragon slaying incident, and she had not been saved by Liszt, perhaps she would have become one of those reclusive and paranoid grand magicians.

“President, you’re back,” greeted a magician politely to Chris, interrupting her memories.

Chris nodded her head, putting on a serious expression, “Is it Lord Maurice? Are you on duty tonight?”

“Yes, tonight it’s my turn to be on duty for the research group.”

“Hmm,” Chris did not waste words with Maurice. The Magic Guild was now home to more than three hundred magicians from overseas.

If she talked too much, she simply wouldn’t be able to greet everyone.

Quickly, amidst continuous greetings along the way, she returned to her office, where a magician assistant immediately brought her coffee—she never acquired the taste for the green tea popular among the nobility.

“Is Vice President Kenley in her office?”

“Vice President Kenley has gone to Dragon Valley City to survey the Dragon Pit Great Mine.”

“Is that so? Send her a magic platform message, have her come to the headquarters of the Magic Guild tomorrow without fail. I have important matters to discuss with her.”

“Understood, President.”

As the assistant went to send the message, Chris took a sip of her coffee and picked up a few documents on her desk to read. Seeing another request for druid magic research funding within them, she immediately tossed the report aside. After thinking for a moment, she took out a piece of paper and began to write.

Graceful Serpent Script slowly unfolded: “Regarding several issues raised by the request from the honorary president of the Magic Guild, observer of the Arcanist Assessment Committee, Prince Liszt Flame, for the research of druid magic…”

…

Infuriated by the magicians studying Druid Magic, Liszt simply cast the issue aside; to him, it wasn’t of great importance.

He was a Dragon Knight with six dragons—Fire Dragon Leo, Formless Dragon Bard, Mountain Copper Dragon Mata, Grey Iron Dragon Ornn, Light Green Gemstone Dragon Ethan, and Bone Dragon Vinnie.

No matter how frenzied the magicians became, they couldn’t stir up any significant trouble.

His so-called “if you don’t want to work, then leave” was not merely about sending people away. The Flame Island harbored too many secrets, and these magicians were somewhat involved. To prevent these secrets from being exposed, magicians who were to leave naturally had to encounter some “natural disasters” along the way.

Moreover, there were strict management rules for the Magic Gate of the Heart Reed Teleportation Formation—magicians were allowed in but not out.

Even for knights, commoners, and merchants, entering the Mind Island Magic Gate was easy, but leaving through the Reed Marsh Magic Gate required thorough vetting.

In short.

Liszt’s management of Flame Island was lax on the inside but strict on the periphery.

There were hardly any security or defense measures internally—whether a rat or a spy, keen to probe military secrets or to fish in troubled waters, as long as they could work, they were left to their own devices. All efforts were concentrated on guarding the gates; rats and spies had almost no chance of slipping out.

Unless they left by sea…

But the Flame Archipelago lay in the vast ocean, and without a professional fleet equipped with Sextant Positioning, Water Calming Pearls, Calming Wind Pearls, and other Magic Equipment, to avoid wind and waves, long-distance navigation was impossible.

Even if rats or spies did manage to carry the secrets of Flame Island and spread them,

Liszt wouldn’t be too concerned; friends would be greeted with fine wine, and foes with dragons. Now that Acherloides’s combat power had skyrocketed after mounting the Unicorn, both he and Acherloides could travel through space using the Formless Dragon, unafraid of any threat—there were only Flame Kingdom aspirations against other nations, no other nation dared to harbor thoughts against the Flame Kingdom.

Anyway.

The blood code of the Child of the Sun was simply an episode. He placated dragons and Elves, plus dealing with tedious official duties, which delayed him for two days.

It wasn’t until the fourth day after his return home that he had time to roam the world beyond matter with the Formless Dragon, searching for natural nodes.

He executed the Magic Return Positioning, carefully seeking out every slight anomaly in the spatial trajectories.

However, the easily found natural nodes had already been discovered, leaving only those exceptionally concealed ones that were difficult to confirm through their almost imperceptible fluctuations.

So for three consecutive days.

He and Bard entered the world beyond matter from different locations of Flame Island but still came up empty-handed, unable to find new natural nodes.

And during this time, it was the sweltering month of August.

Acherloides had already taken Unicorn Charlie to find a suitable forest for the Pegasus Herd to settle, near the Moon Slayer Sacred Mountain, right in the center of Flame Island.

“Brother, there’s a plain that’s situated perfectly between the forest and the grasslands, with a large river flowing through the middle. Charlie really likes it there; he grew up with the Pegasus Herd and is very familiar with the environment that the Pegasi prefer.”

“Located near the Moon Slayer Sacred Mountain? Mountain Copper Dragon Mata is curled up on the mountain, and the Ruins Entrance, set up by the Ancient Magicians, is also there… For now, let’s get the Pegasus Ranch set up. When you have time, we can go through the natural node of the Ruins Entrance and see if we can enter the ruins.”

Acherloides nodded, “Hmm.”

The Ruins Entrance was a shattered spatial node with two gateways. One led to the Hourglass Valley of the Sacred Mountain, and the other led to the “Eternal Paradise” spoken of by the Moon Slayers—the actual Ruins Entrance rewarded by the Smoke Mission—where the relics of the Ancient Magicians were buried.

Sadly, the gateway to Eternal Paradise was too dangerous. He had piloted the Formless Dragon Bard several times but never dared to traverse those fragmented spatial rifts, fearing they might erase him completely.

The spatial rifts should be repairable, and Acherloides was researching this aspect. Sooner or later, they would venture into Eternal Paradise for exploration.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on Novlove.com