Magicians never make wishes

"Harris, who are these people?" the drill rat whispered.

His knowledge was similar to Ronan's; he could only guess which people belonged to which major power, but he knew nothing about who exactly who they were.

"The largest group of black-armored mercenaries belongs to the Shadow Mercenary Group, one of the three major mercenary groups of the Mercenary Blood Alliance."

Harris controlled the volume to make sure only Ronan and the other two could hear, so as not to cause any unnecessary trouble.

"See that one who's leading it?"

Harris secretly pointed to the man standing in front of a group of black-armored mercenaries.

"He is Kane Cerberus, the vice-captain of the Shadow Mercenary Group, a capricious and unpredictable executioner."

"What's the relationship between the Shadow Mercenary Group and the Dawn Mercenary Group?" Ronan suddenly interjected.

"I don't know about that," Harris shook his head. "But as three major mercenary groups, their relationship must be quite delicate."

"Keep going, don't stop, don't stop," the drill rat urged from the side.

This kind of information would be worth at least a thousand or eight hundred points in the Adventurers' Guild.

"The small group in the middle, with their scholarly air, are the esoteric apprentices of the Mystic Arts Society."

Harris unconsciously lowered his voice, "Don't be fooled by their harmless appearance; their methods are far more ruthless than you imagine."

"Dissecting corpses, stitching up flesh, modifying bloodlines, even creating races—the more evil, the better..."

As he said this, he felt a chill run down his spine and suddenly pulled his armor up.

"Arcane Apprentice?" Ronan only knew the term "magic apprentice," which was a prerequisite for a magician.

Only by becoming a magic apprentice and mastering three spells can one reach the threshold to become a magician.

Therefore, it seems that the esoteric apprentice will eventually grow into an esoteric master.

Although in reality, before obtaining a class and unlocking the path to advancement,

These titles serve primarily as broad categories to facilitate the differentiation of different occupational classifications.

"Yes, the backbone of the Arcane Academy."

"Don't underestimate them just because they're few in number. If this group were to fight the Shadow Mercenary Group next door, it's really hard to say who would win."

Ronan pointed to the boy he had noticed earlier and asked,

"Do you recognize that boy in the middle wearing the white magic robe? Is he also an apprentice in arcane arts?"

He suddenly recalled what Gray Leaf had said when he first met Squad 408:

"A magician, wearing a pre-made academy robe, and his age and height are also suitable..."

"Oh, that one seems to be a magician."

"I heard he has a powerful background in the Mystic Arts Academy. He's some kind of Blood Master Higgs, junior, his name is..."

Harris tilted his head, trying hard to recall the other person's code name.

"Red Star," Ronan said calmly.

"Yes, that's it." Harris suddenly understood, then he realized...

"Captain Bai Ye, you're dressed the same. Do you know him?"

"I don't know them," Ronan denied. "But he might know two of the missing people."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Chi Xing, one of the group of esoteric apprentices, also looking at him.

After a moment's hesitation, he smiled and nodded in a friendly manner.

The other party had obviously spotted a magic robe similar to his.

Ronan nodded politely in acknowledgment, then his gaze fell upon a group of people in front of him.

Apart from the Shadow Mercenary Group and the Arcane Society, the Adventurers' Guild only sent its own small team.

It seems he guessed correctly; unless there is another purpose, not many people would participate in a mission with too many unknown factors.

"Preliminary investigations in Area 82 have revealed several caves that are suspected to be sources of pollution."

"We will allocate personnel based on the actual situation."

Another armored man loudly proclaimed this in front of everyone.

He pinned the card to his chest, and the number "82" on the card indicated that he was in charge of this area.

While it's said to be about allocating personnel, it mainly involves dividing the number of people between the Shadow Mercenary Group and the Arcane Society.

Ronan's team of three survived unharmed.

However, by sheer coincidence, they ended up being assigned to the same group as the three of them.

They were Kane Cerberus, the vice-captain of the Shadow Mercenary Group, and his two subordinates, as well as Red Star and two other arcane apprentices.

Judging from the number of people and their power, their group includes three major forces, and the number of people in each force is the same, which seems to make them very balanced.

Of course, it's hard to judge their true strength.

After the personnel were assigned, Ronan and his two companions followed six people from the other two major forces to the caves they were in charge of.

"Hello, my name is Akahoshi. Are you also a trainee apprentice?"

During their journey, Akahoshi took the opportunity to come over and have a friendly chat.

However, his question clearly stumped Ronan, who didn't know how to answer it.

"Uh, no."

Without any relevant intelligence, Ronan decided not to pretend to be the "prospective apprentice" the other party had mentioned.

"Huh? Then why are you..." Akahoshi looked surprised and was quite taken aback by Ronan's answer.

"It's complicated, but the actual owner of this magic robe is someone else..."

The original owner had no background memories related to the magic robe, so he knew even less about it.

"By the way, my name is Bai Ye. Do you know Hui Ye and Hong Chui?" Ronan skillfully changed the subject.

"They are the two missing people."

"I don't know him."

Without hesitation, Akahoshi replied, "My mentor gave me the task of finding two members of the academy, and I think they must be the two you mentioned."

"They are yours..."

"friend."

"Huh? That's rare..." Akahoshi exclaimed softly, then quickly explained, "Sorry, no offense intended. I just heard that adventurers generally only talk about interests and not friends."

"I never imagined that an adventurer would become friends with someone we learned from, haha."

Akahoshi laughed as he spoke, extending his hand and saying, "If you don't mind, please become my friend."

"How so?" Ronan asked, puzzled.

"Because I find you very interesting, and I like making friends with interesting people."

Akahoshi grinned, his face beaming with a bright smile, looking every bit the handsome, youthful boy.

Her looks are almost half as good as Ronan's.

"Okay, nice to meet you." Ronan extended his hand and shook his.

"I hope everyone will work together and cheer each other on in the upcoming rescue efforts."

Making friends is fine, but you'll have to lend a hand, I only have two assets right now...

"No problem, Byakuya." Akahoshi nodded heavily.

Their handshake became a unique form of pinky promise.

"You two little devils, you don't think we're going on a picnic, do you?"

A highly sarcastic voice came from afar.

The one speaking was Kane, the vice-captain of the mercenary group.

He wore a black armor unlike any other mercenary, with a folded spear on his back. Two black wolf heads adorned the shoulders of the armor, making him appear even more ferocious.

Ronan learned from Harris that the deputy commander was capricious and unpredictable.

Therefore, he decided to avoid direct conflict with the other party as much as possible.

Saving lives is the priority right now.

Red Star clearly thought so too; he walked up to the mercenary and said...

"Mr. Kane, you're the oldest, why don't you lead the group..."

Bang.

Before he could finish speaking, he was kicked several meters away by a foot clad in black armor.

The mercenary shook his foot with an annoyed expression, as if trying to shake off non-existent stains.

"You're Yin and Yang, aren't you?"