Witch, don't be so lazy

"I've tested it for you. Without any new blessings or items, the increase in the 'Light' element He gives you is similar to that of a priest in the Papal States who has received a low-level Holy Spirit blessing. It also gives you the bonus of being able to see through the shadows of a Viscount vampire."

The velvet cloak revealed a wine-red lining and a narrow black dagger, or a short sword. Hans smiled at the girl and then threw it suddenly.

"This is a system built around the element of 'stealth.' This combination is favored by spellcasters of the Wandering Path. They are the source of the term 'assassin' among ordinary people."

"Of course, they won't be so open and aboveboard. They'd much rather stab you in the middle of a crowd, or break into your home under the cover of night. Believe me, unless you're an expert in enchantments and traps, you won't be able to stop them."

The thrown dagger was of course useless, because the old one didn't use his full strength, but the young one was very cautious, using flames and telekinesis to defend himself.

only.

An Ke looked at the collapsed shadow dagger. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, let alone complain to an old man who didn't know how old he was, "You are trying to trick me! You are here to attack me, a fourteen-year-old girl!", things changed again.

The collapsing shadow spread out like ink, but did not disappear. Instead, it stretched out its limbs like a spider, shooting out countless black lines that looked like a spindle.

at the same time.

An Ke felt something moving behind him again, magic power and shadow energy surged together, and strange changes occurred.

Then, her shadow came to life, like a black monster, its arms transformed into sharp blades and stabbed at the girl.

For an instant.

Anko understood that this was the “shadow” element.

But before she could do anything, something even more terrifying happened.

The world suddenly became quiet.

Even in the vision of the "Eye of Judgment", those colorful spiritual light spots dimmed, and instantly turned from watercolor paintings into black and white sketches.

Looking around in panic, everything was silent.

And her magic power seemed to have lost control, becoming extremely lazy, or heavy, and all her mental power and flames fell apart.

Even consciousness, even the uneasy and confused emotions, all withdrew and fell silent...

"Boom!"

The shadow that outlined the spindle line converged and turned into a small hammer, gently hitting the girl's head, while her shadow gently supported her to prevent her from falling backwards.

"Don't worry. A second-level spell involving the element of 'Silence' can usually only suppress some of your perception and magic power, but I've increased its strength a bit. 'Circle of Silence' is a powerful high-level spell that ordinary third-level shadow mages don't know."

Hans played with the new dagger nonchalantly, with a half-smile on his face.

"I'm mainly reminding you that cross-level combat is possible at low levels, but the low levels mentioned here only include apprentices, first and second levels. Above that, I advise you not to seek death."

You old man, aren't you just looking for a reason to beat me up and then tell me not to be so proud?!

But considering that Hans said a lot and had some ability, Miss Anke didn't care so much.

Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she began to use her little ghost's talent:

"Dear Grandpa Hans, Anke wants to learn the 'Circle of Silence'. I want to silence others, please~" The magic power surged, and the spell was cast in time, finally preventing the sound from being transmitted.

Hans looked at the shameless brat in front of him with displeasure and rolled his eyes.

"Can you please understand the situation?! Stop yelling!!"

He thought about it, lifted the spell, and glanced at the people around him.

Most of them could not hear the private conversations, but they could see the old man's elusive movements and the strange performance of controlling shadows. Now they were all stunned, with an expression of amazement.

Cleared his throat.

"Excellent combat awareness and mastery of spells, very rare among newly promoted second-tier mages. Rated 'Excellent'.

Hans glanced upwards, and Kunda and Momo nodded. It was even less likely that the other second-level mages would have any objections.

Rather, when the girl came up and instantly killed Catro, the evaluation had already come out.

What remains is the old man's private teaching time, which is also an act of expressing one's attitude - the content of this public battle will be recorded in the photo stone, and when it comes to Black Rock City, the tower and the academy, it may play a special role and convey some signals.

Although he had left the tower for many years, his name, Hans Dorokić, still carried some weight.

"It's done, let's go."

Hans put his hands behind his back and turned to look at the little thing, "There's something else I need to tell you."

----

----

It was originally a super big chapter, but I decided to tear it apart, otherwise everyone would be waiting impatiently, and the osmanthus cake would show up first.

Love you, mua~

Chapter 10: Teaching, Separation, and Departure (Part 2) (6303)

Standing on the red brick exterior wall inlaid with statues and reliefs, if you look towards the birch tree area in front, you will see that the Northern Magic Qualification Examination is in full swing.

Perhaps because they are too young, most people do not realize that the general outline of their destiny has already been drawn after today. What is even more sad is that they can only see that outline when they continue to move upwards, but there is no bottom to fall back to when they fall.

Therefore, the moods of those childish-looking children are certainly different, some are sad, some are happy, and some are confused, but what is more important is the vigorous vitality and beautiful vision of the future.

After all, there are too many things that, even if you have listened to your elders until your ears are callused, are still unclear and you have to slowly understand them through practice and experience.

However, if you look at the purple grass area at the back, which is only a few hundred meters away from the examination hall, the scene there is completely different.

Comfrey, also known as bone healing grass, is a basic herb in the North. The so-called comfrey area should be the area where the Arstar City Magic Academy grows herbs and practices potions.

There were also quite a few people there, all of them were students from the magic academy. They looked much more tired. Even if there were one or two with happy expressions on their faces, there was always lingering anxiety between their brows.

Unlike the universities in my previous life, any magic academy in the North is not a simple place of education, and studying magic is not the same as learning ordinary knowledge.

Even in the third-tier town of Asda, according to what An Ke heard from Sister Luya, the magic academy here is a super pressure cooker—

On the one hand, the difficulty and danger of practice increase. I won't talk about the former, but the latter is also easy to understand. Whether it is walking in the spirit world and parade rituals, or conducting daily practice and experiments, parade failures, spell backlash, potion poisoning, alchemy and spell explosions...

Even fiddling with flowers and plants can be life-threatening. Seriously, something similar to "biting cabbage" has a separate chapter in "Brownie: An Extraordinary Herbal Atlas Even Trolls Can Understand". While introducing the dangers of herbs, it also specifically lists their records. For example, "Datura" is a well-known killer. The book says that according to incomplete statistics from the High Tower, more than 2,300 spellcasters in the North died of poison during the cultivation process within a hundred years.

In addition to the pressure from the magical aspect, there is also extremely fierce internal competition.

The North is a cold and harsh land with scarce resources. This has not changed much since the late Laurel Dynasty until now.

Therefore, in the eyes of various forces in the southern continent, it is incredible that the tower can produce so many legends from scratch on the land that has been plundered and ravaged by various legendary monsters.

But no matter how speechless outsiders are, the people themselves know their own business. All resources in the North are extremely tight, especially with the increase in the number of spellcasters in recent years, the degree of internal circulation has been rising.

Students at the magic academy have a very deep understanding of this even before graduation.

Although under the decree of the Tower Conference, the priority of education in the North is much higher than that in the South Continent, every time resources are allocated, the local legions are definitely taken care of first. Magic academies are usually on the same level as the four major guilds and the Winter Magic Chamber of Commerce. This can be seen from the equal rank of their directors.

Within the academy, a large amount of resources will be allocated to high-level leaders, followed by research-oriented spellcasters, spellcasters serving as faculty, and finally students.

Therefore, although they live better than the wild mages outside and are not in such high danger of life, the intensity of competition has actually increased in a sense. After all, being able to enter the same academy means that they have passed the same screening threshold.

"So, do you understand?"

Hans stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the ochre-red buildings in front of him, his tone drawn out and his voice low.

“…I don’t understand.”

An Ke shook his head, then glanced at the old man who was pretending to be profound.

"Are you trying to say that the students have access to limited resources, and therefore the pressure of competition is huge? But that's High Tower Academy! The highest institution of learning in the North. Even if it's just a tiny bit of the leftovers that those bigwigs in the council slipped through, everyone would be well-fed, right?"

She knew this a long time ago.

Even a lazy person like Big Sister Luya had to bite the bullet and join the adventure group when she was in school, because there was only so much allocated, and everyone felt that it was not enough, so they had to compete with those wild mages. By the way, it was also a practice, including becoming a disciple of President Matika. She also put in all her efforts to strive for it, and finally stood out.

"Besides, no matter what, it's definitely hundreds, thousands of times better than my life in Xueshan Town or Asda City. I can make it here, so what's there to be afraid of?!"

She paused, then looked at Lao Deng with a suspicious look.

"You're rambling on and on here. Aren't you trying to emphasize the value of magical resources so you can raise the price and rip me off?"

"Although I did gain a little from your tutorial, you didn't just give me money, nor did you give me any 'gift package'. Do you have the nerve to ask for such a high price?!"

Say something.

In fact, An Ke felt that the old man's guidance was indeed useful, but she certainly couldn't say that. After all, the person opposite her was the old ghost Mammon, who even cared about the trivial matters of a child.

A dignified fourth-level person couldn't possibly be short of this little money. It can only be said that this person is just like that, there's no hope for him.

Hans pretended not to hear the words that Anke emphasized deliberately, and he ignored the little boy's small movements of rubbing his hands like flies.

Come on, he's taking the time to come here for a tutorial, isn't that a "big gift package"? You can't really ask him to pay real money to the kid, right? Impossible!

So, he simply ignored the last two paragraphs and only responded to the first one:

"Haha, I'm glad to see you're so confident. Don't worry, High Tower Academy is not short of resources, but the competition there is indeed intense, especially for you."

"why?"

An Ke tilted her head, "Because I'm famous? But didn't I pay homage to the boss?"

There were two reasons she could think of at the moment. One was that she was born a commoner but inherited Sutur's legacy, and became famous because of the spread of the photo stone, so there would be red-eyed dogs.

Another reason is that the Great Hero is no longer at the fourth level, and he doesn't have much influence in the Tower Academy. He is not familiar with the current Black Rock City Council. Momo has graduated, and as an outsider, it may be difficult for him to integrate into their faction.

But the problem is that she is now clinging to the "Almighty Man".

Miss Anke even obtained the "Ship Mark" and has her own little space in the demi-plane "The Ship of the Other World." A true legendary disciple, she can't just walk around the academy with impunity, but at least no one dares to bully her, right?!

"...Don't use such a harsh term as 'paying respects'. We're not gangsters from Gray Reef Harbor."

Hans righteously criticized the Mammon Imp, and then explained:

"It is precisely because China accepted you as his disciple that you will definitely face pressure from both inside and outside after you go to Pandgar."

"Let's not talk about the outside world. There will always be people trying to surpass you, or even better, crush you, to prove their talent. Otherwise, there will be the fighting between various factions. As a disciple of Qina, you can't avoid these things, whether you like it or not."

"There might even be some people who are naturally hostile to you, because you've been away from Pendgar for so long. I'm not sure what the situation is there right now, but I'm sure the people of Winter Bone City won't be treating you well."

An Ke was stunned for a moment. "Why? Is it because of the Asda City incident? But I think the Kunda City Lord seems to be quite nice to me. Or do they have an old grudge against you? Or is it that His Majesty Qina's faction is not on good terms?"

"It has nothing to do with Asda. It's simply due to the attitude of Her Majesty the Bone Witch. She's definitely not happy with your current state. You could say she harbors a certain amount of ill will. Therefore, the people of Winter Bone City are naturally targeting you. I'm specifically reminding you not to assume that just because Kunda is friendly, they'll be friendly to you as well."

Hans paused. "It's not really an old grudge, really. Although she was the one who watched me most closely back then, always thinking I was an undercover agent sent to the tower by the devil, but later on, I was also grateful for her help... I don't know how to put it, but Her Majesty Margaria is just that kind of person, highly wary of any creature with unknown origins or connections to higher beings."

After all, he escaped from the dark purgatory to the tower, and was deeply involved with the devil, so he was also subject to various doubts at the beginning.

Although the Tower's origins and subsequent rise all emphasize "inclusiveness" and it dares to accept anyone who comes, "accepting everyone" does not mean that there is no investigation and surveillance, and even if there are prophecies, it will not be fully trusted.

Ms. Adela herself once said, "Don't blindly believe in predictions. Everything is subject to deception." It is not known whether she has ever suffered losses or successfully misled others, but this principle is the first lesson that practitioners of the astrology school must master.

"As for the attitude of the other Legends and their factions towards you, you'll have to find out for yourself once you get there. But don't worry too much. Even if those bigwigs don't like you, they won't do anything to you directly for China's sake. At most, they'll make their stance clear and get the people in the academy to take action."

After hearing what Hans said, Anke couldn't help but smacking his lips.

No, just one Winterbone City faction sounds troublesome enough, how could there be others?

Although she knew that she had problems, her experience was too rich, her background seemed strange, and she was not of good origin, so it was normal for her to be questioned. However, when she thought about the fact that she might be targeted from all sides in the academy, she felt a headache.

Fortunately, she is not alone. At least she has Sutur and Momo. The forces of Black Rock City may not fully support her, but at least they will not target her maliciously. It will probably be no problem for them to be her allies.

Although they are both currently at the third level, the status of Lord Kunda in Her Majesty Maglia is obviously not as important as the latter two in Black Rock City.

I just don’t know anything else, especially what Lorena and the Golden Witch’s attitude towards me is?

It was clear that she would be able to meet the lamb soon, and she had proudly said in the spirit world that she would give her a super surprise, but when she thought about really meeting her, many worries emerged in Anke's mind.

For example, would the lamb feel that she had been lying and that he had deliberately approached her in the spirit world before?

Or will knowing her secret lead to some terrible consequences?

Don't...

Miss Anke shook her head, first throwing out the crazy basement plot from her mind, and then focusing on another question:

"Just now I remember you mentioned 'internal and external pressure'. Let's forget about the external ones, but why is there also internal pressure?"

"That's what I want to remind you of."

Hans said seriously, "Because you suddenly became Qina's disciple, there were already many people eyeing this position. Although they can't change Qina's decision, they must be dissatisfied in their hearts."

"The smaller ones are fine, but the bigger ones, even the older generation followers, are very tricky because their opinions of you carry a certain weight with China."

"You want to become that bastard's successor and seize all his wealth. Whether you can win the support of the people is definitely an important consideration. The heir of any faction cannot avoid this process..."

Hans hesitated for a moment, then decided to speak more bluntly. "Don't take it for granted. If China thought you were... useless, unworthy of his full support and guarantee, you might not be as free as you are now. After all, spellcasters and towers always have a terrifying other side."

Although he said it was straightforward, he actually had something hidden that he didn't dare to say.

He was not sure at first, but when Hans found that the little ghost had reached the second level in just one year and was practicing magic at an astonishing speed, he knew that his previous guess was probably wrong.