A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 220 The Dungeon Beneath the Mansion

Rorschach held it up and discussed it with her. In response, the feather inside the bead flickered twice and then went out.

Is it out of power?

Rorschach took out a small vial from his ring and poured out some blue crystals. He crushed the crystals with a bead, and sure enough, the high concentration of ether was absorbed, restoring some of the luster to the golden feathers.

"Eat your fill and get to work." Rorschach coldly commanded, "The person you need to find is called Andrei, a young man slightly younger than me. These are his clothes and other personal items."

The bead rolled across the clothes and then stopped in front of the charcoal pencil, as if it had developed a psychological aversion to the thing.

Rorschach then spread out a map of Valuvana, the one he had first received from the guild. He threw a marble, starting from the research building and rolling towards the edge of the city.

"Don't let it leave the city." Rorschach watched anxiously as the Pearl of Balan rolled along, finally coming to a stop in a wealthy neighborhood.

What a convenient way to divine. Rorschach marked the map with satisfaction, and just in case, he also carried the beads close to his body.

"Rorschach, your bread." Pascal knocked and came in, handing Rorschach a meal. "So that's it?" The senior was surprised. He couldn't figure out what spell Rorschach had used; he had never seen such convenient prophetic magic.

"Let's go." Rorschach took a big bite of bread and set off on his search again.

Otejou is Valuana's largest upscale residential area, where aristocrats in robes and great writers prefer to buy detached houses, and a teahouse is just a few steps away.

Andrei's location was a rather unremarkable mansion, like other detached houses, with small courtyards in the front and back, barely big enough to accommodate a carriage.

Its advantage lies in its spacious basement. Magically modified, it not only expands the space but also provides better security. Thanks to the homeowner's renovations, it has now become a miniature dungeon.

Andrei was bound hand and foot, and his kidnappers threw him into a cell and reinforced it with a secret lock.

"Don't try anything funny, I can see everything you do!" After receiving this warning, Andrei stayed there, lying on the damp straw mat.

Several other men and women of similar age shared the same fate as him. After locking Andrei inside, the kidnappers dragged a boy out of the next room and shoved him away.

Soon after, Andrei heard screams and smelled the stench of blood throughout the dungeon.

His mouth was covered and his head was covered by a sack, so he couldn't see. The others were in the same situation; some were very weak and had fainted from the shock of the screams and the smell of blood.

He had to get out! He tried many methods, but his hands and feet were tightly bound, making it impossible for him to move at all. What was even more despairing was that he discovered that the ether in the environment was beyond his control, meaning he could not cast spells.

Damn it! Although I don't know what the purpose of kidnapping me to the dungeon is, the screams and the smell of blood just now indicate that my fate is definitely not good.

He tried to push the door open with his head, but it was a ridiculous attempt; the magically enhanced iron door didn't budge. Andrei then continued to grope around in the cramped solitary cell, finding only cold rocks, mud, and rotting grass.

What exactly does he want? After struggling in vain for a long time, the dungeon master showed no intention of bringing him food. He was both thirsty and hungry, so he lay down to conserve his energy.

Was he asleep? He was jolted awake from one nightmare into another, still in a dark prison cell. He banged on the iron door, making a noise, and received the same "clang" in response.

There were others there, which gave Andrei a slight sense of relief, although his situation hadn't improved. The noise also attracted the kidnappers, whose gruff voices echoed through the dungeon: "Damn it, I told you to behave yourselves!"

One of the doors opened, indicating that someone else had been dragged away by him to some unknown place, for reasons unknown, but likely within the dungeon. The complete unknown terror placed immense pressure on his nerves.

Andrei's nerves were on edge. Since he couldn't see, he simply closed his eyes. After losing his sight, apart from hearing and smell, he seemed to gain a heightened sense of touch, as if a strong wind was blowing all over him.

Having studied in the Alchemy Department, he gradually realized that this was the ether surrounding him, and that his magic was like a flame in a storm, which would be blown away as soon as it gathered.

"Andrei, quickly think about how you used to cast spells!" he warned himself, knowing that something terrible could happen at any moment.

puff!

Andrei miraculously burst into flames, which began to burn on his body!

A sharp pain shot through him, but he gritted his teeth and let the flames burn him for a moment before rolling towards the damp haystack to extinguish them. Throughout the ordeal, Andrei was practically grinding his back teeth to powder, enduring the pain without uttering a sound.

Although his skin was burned, he managed to burn the thick hemp rope binding him. With a little effort, he broke free and regained his mobility. Andrei ripped off his hood and soon his eyes could see his surroundings clearly.

Meanwhile, there were two mages in the basement, both of whom had appeared at small gatherings in Granor.

The two, one old and one young, mixed the two vials of blood plasma and shook them to confirm the state of the mixture: "There was no clotting; his blood can be used."

This villa belongs to the Fernand family. Both the elder and younger Fernand are mages. The elder Fernand has been stuck at the intermediate level for a long time and feels that he is getting old and weak and needs a way to prolong his life.

He found a method in an ancient book: he could first bleed himself and then transfuse the blood of a young man. As a noble mage, of course, he could not allow ordinary people's blood to taint his body, and little Fernand was not filial enough to repay his father with his blood.

Fernand Jr. was proud of his family's two generations of mages, but fate likes to teach proud people a lesson. None of his descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, showed any magical talent.

He wanted to study how magical talent arises.

The father and son's needs were conveniently met by the high-ranking students who had awakened their spellcasting abilities. To their surprise, they discovered that some of these students lived in squalid, low-lying urban areas.

If a person of status or even a child from a rural village goes missing, the police or church might come knocking, but these abandoned children are perfect; no one will notice, no one.

According to ancient records, after confirming that the blood would not clot, young Fernand extracted more blood plasma from the dying boy. As the blood donor, the boy was tightly bound to the bed with belts, and although he wasn't restrained, he was too weak to move.

"Shouldn't we use it sparingly?" He wasn't interested in his father's life-extending plan. The last guy who clashed with Fernand's bloodline and would cause blood clotting became little Fernand's test subject. Now the bloody smell in the basement came from that useless thing, which was now packed up and ready to be fed to the hounds.

"I want fresh and healthy blood! After this person is drained, give him food, water, and time to recover before finding the next one. We can rotate the blood bags." Old Fernand lay on another bed, right next to the blood donor.

"Fine, as you wish. But having to feed these lowly people myself is too much trouble."

He hung a blood bag made from a pig's bladder on his father and began administering the blood transfusion, then went to the dungeon to find his next target. Yesterday's new stock was good.

They're here! Andrei heard footsteps echoing in the dungeon again, and he held his breath and hid to the side of the cell door.

Tap tap tap. Andrei was on edge. The kidnappers had actually stopped! They stopped in front of his cell door.

The secret lock and the iron lock were unlocked one by one, and the rusted iron gate creaked open.

"Where is he? Did I remember wrong?"

As Fernández entered the cell, he tried to use the [Light] spell to see the situation clearly, but Andrei pounced on his back from the side of the door and tightly gripped the kidnapper's throat!

(End of this chapter)