A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 642 Searching for People and Conspiracy

The Tower of Ten Thousand Arts - Twin-Headed Eagle Study Club occupies a small study room. The space, about twenty square meters in size, displays several life-size bronze sculptures, mostly statues of sword-wielding heroes or horse-riding knights. The decor is in the style of the imperial court, and there are also many genuine artifacts and documents such as genealogies of former imperial nobles.

In other words, this study group consists of so-called "retro" enthusiasts. Some of their core members even adopt "Feng" as their middle name, without considering whether their surname actually originated from a noble fiefdom.

The true Imperial faction disdained this, but they had to rely on these "enthusiasts" to keep them together to cover up the true activities of the Imperial faction's anti-alliance activities and to gather information about the Tower of Ten Thousand Arts for them.

This is a very important matter, because at this moment the Tower of Myriad Arts is undoubtedly the core of the magic guilds and the most powerful supporter of the alliance. All its movements can be seen as the main source of changes in the world situation.

"How is it?" A formal mage was a rare sight in the study group. He was a member of the Imperial faction, currently working as a school janitor. Although he was wearing a blue mage's robe, a closer look at the collar revealed a subtle detail: it was embroidered with the pattern of the Imperial Army mage's standard robe.

These details are the identifiers of their companions. Most others are unaware of these details and think they are just ordinary decorations, but members who are well-versed in this history can accurately identify them.

"Got it." The apprentice from the research club took out a small box from his storage bag, channeled his magic into it, and the box made a soft clicking sound before spitting out several pieces of paper, on which were clearly images of Jonas and Alec. The latest model of miniature camera was extremely expensive, but fortunately, there were a few truly wealthy sheep in the Imperial faction, whose money brought from the ground to the heavens was more than enough to last for generations.

"Excellent, it's him, yes, that's right." The man's eyes gleamed as he examined the photos one by one.

"So he really is a descendant of Count Dalberg? Um... I remember his name is Jonas."

The count appeared under a false identity, calling himself Master Heisenberg. It is said that this mage had been active in Valois decades ago. Nevertheless, the sudden appearance of a great mage still attracted attention, eventually catching the eye of the remnants of the Imperial faction, who then commissioned members of the Double-Headed Eagle Society to verify his identity at the opening ceremony.

The monk didn't react to the apprentice's curious questions. His gaze kept scanning back and forth between the photos, and finally he muttered to himself, "So alike, so very alike."

After class, the two hurried down the corridor because they needed to catch their next class; it was said that it was difficult not to get lost in the corridors of the Tower of Ten Thousand Arts.

Alek noticed that the view outside the window changed dramatically at each intersection, and he even had a wild guess that the tower was scattered in various corners of the world.

Besides the two, there were other classmates. At first, there were many of them, but later they started to diverge. After all, they joined the Magic Tower later, while many apprentices had started their arts and sciences courses from a very young age. Apart from elective courses such as History of Magic, they might not take other courses together.

In other words, Alex and Jonas need to prepare to learn the basics of spellcasting alongside eleven- or twelve-year-old kids.

So when they reached the classroom, their height difference became more apparent, and Alec noticed something unusual. He slowed his pace and quietly pulled Jonas aside to whisper, "Someone's been following us."

"You mean the man with the veiled face?"

"You noticed that too?"

During their journey, a blue-robed spellcaster walked towards them. This wouldn't normally be unusual, but Alek remembered the man because his collar was pulled up very high, the large lapel even obscuring his face—a style that used to be fashionable but is now rare.

But the man had walked towards them more than once, and now he appeared again at the corner.

"Hey!"

The two pretended not to notice each other. Alek deliberately stumbled and bumped into the man, grabbing the mage's robe as he lost his balance.

"I'm sorry, sir." He and Jonas were both shocked when they looked closely, because there was a long scar on the other person's left cheek.

The other party was taken aback at first, then changed his expression, his face stiff and stern: "You guys better watch out."

"We are new students this year and are not familiar with the route yet, so we bumped into each other at the corner. Sorry, sir."

Throughout the entire ordeal, Alex stood in front of Jonas, preventing the man from seeing Jonas's face clearly, and then ran away under the pretext of having to go to class soon.

Jonas explained as he walked quickly, "Did you see the scar on his face?"

"What's wrong?"

"That's called the 'Schmidt Scar,' a face-piercing wound left by imperial nobles during a real sword duel. Most people who keep it now are proud of it."

Alek immediately recalled what Count Dalberg had said on the spaceship: "So, they might very well be Imperials?"

"Most likely."

"Our actions were a bit reckless." Calming down, Alec reviewed the impromptu battle plan and realized it was too deliberate: "We might not have been natural enough, and that person is a formal mage, possibly even our teacher."

"Let's take it one step at a time. If things get really bad, we'll report it to Father." Jonas was more relaxed. "Since he's been sneaking around like that, doesn't that mean we're being watched? Luckily, we're in the Tower of Ten Thousand Arts, the Alliance's strongest backer. They won't dare to make any rash moves."

"It's you, not us, my young master." Alek shook his head.

"Hey, that's really annoying!" Jonas chuckled and punched Alek. After they figured out each other's identities, they both relaxed a bit.

The man who was discovered was neither discouraged nor impatient. He walked to a corridor where the view outside the window was of a landscape of ravines and hills, lush and green, resembling the Prime Material Plane. However, the starry sky was exceptionally empty, and a huge gray-white disk replaced the stars and the moon, indicating that it was not the Prime Material Plane world.

After confirming that no one else was nearby, he quietly opened the window, jumped out, and plunged into the forest.

Somewhere in the forest, a hunter's cabin-like building was crowded with several people, and an ancient imperial communication device was in operation, transmitting important messages.

Are you sure?

"I can confirm it, there's no mistake. However, I might have alerted the target."

"That's alright, we have other executors. Now, let's all brainstorm and figure out how to achieve our goal."

"Our goal in the Tower of Magic is to learn that we can only cleverly create accidents and do our best to avoid being discovered."

"I know that some of the portals in the structure haven't been maintained for a long time. We can tamper with their destinations and then have the target open the portal."

"Okay, then who can change the destination of the teleportation?"

Upon hearing this question, the conspiracy immediately ceased. Teleportation is a highly advanced skill; let alone tampering with it, probably none of those involved in the conspiracy could understand Master Caroline's plan.

"I can find outside help."

Is it reliable?

"There's absolutely no problem with their ability; the foreign aid comes from Fanxing."

"Excellent, arrange the operation immediately."

(End of this chapter)