Wizards: Starting with Fairy Crests

009: Mission Complete

Lynch quickly put away the three bags, then his gaze fell on a bulging ordinary suede bag at Harold's waist. He took it off and weighed it in his hand; a slight rattling sound of magic stones colliding could be heard from inside.

He first opened the suede bag, poured out the magic stones inside, and counted them by the dim moonlight.

Forty-seven dollars. For a few junior apprentices, this was undoubtedly a huge sum of money, possibly their entire fortune.

Then, he held his breath and focused his mental energy into the three spatial pockets one by one. The internal spaces were all about the same size, about half a cubic meter, piled with messy personal belongings, a small amount of dry food, and some common low-level herbs and minerals.

In the corner of Harold's pocket, Lynch found a scroll carefully wrapped in dark brown tanned leather.

He took out the scroll, untied the rope, and slowly unrolled it. The inside of the leather was decorated with intricate geometric patterns and runic circuits in durable alchemical ink, accompanied by densely packed annotations.

"Ignition" - A complete model and detailed explanation of a zero-circle spell (apprentice level).

This is a basic elemental spell that can instantly ignite flammable materials in a small area or condense a small ball of continuously burning flame.

"I see..." Lin Qi understood.

It seems these guys have already obtained the complete spell model, but perhaps their mental strength is insufficient, which is why they risked coming to the Evil Eye Witch for help.

Unfortunately, while they were scheming to use others to pave the way, they themselves became the perfect "pathfinders" and "fertilizers" in the eyes of others.

Lin Qi carefully put away the scroll of "Ignition Technique" and the magic stone, and also stuffed the three spatial pockets into his pocket.

He then continued forward until he arrived at the gate of the manor, ready to face the final and most important test.

The gate is made of dark ancient wood, its surface covered with deep lines etched by time and moisture, like the withered back of an old man's hand. And in the very center of the lintel is a huge stone relief of a single eye, resembling a human head.

The sculpted eyes were so realistic it was unsettling; every detail of the rim and every tiny blood vessel was clearly visible, and even the deep contraction of the pupils was sculpted with lifelike realism.

It stares silently ahead with a cold, indifferent, non-biological indifference.

As Lynch stepped onto the last step before the door, entering some invisible realm—

Click...tap.

A very faint yet perfectly clear sound of a mechanism turning came from inside the door or from the lintel.

Immediately afterwards, the "pupil" of the stone eye, just like a real eyeball, rotated extremely slowly, precisely locking its "gaze" onto Lin Qi.

Before Lin Qi could react, a tiny, eerie purple light, no bigger than a pinhead, suddenly shone from the depths of those stone pupils.

"call out!"

A beam of light, as thick as a finger and as solid as liquid crystal, shot out without warning, instantly enveloping Lin Qi from head to toe!

The beam of light had no temperature or impact, yet it possessed an indescribable sense of substance, as if a cold, gelatinous substance enveloped the entire body.

This is the final and most crucial step in the Evil Eye Tyrant's screening of traitors: elemental screening.

The Evil Eye Tyrant is a creature of the dark element, and to become its host, one must have the same dark element affinity.

There are seven basic elements in the Wizarding World:

Earth, water, fire, and wind are the four elements.

Light and darkness, two special elements.

Space, constructing elements.

Each apprentice is born with an affinity for the elements and can only learn spells corresponding to the element they have an affinity for.

The gaze of the evil eye shone upon his body, like countless tiny, cold tentacles, piercing through his skin and muscles, directly stabbing into the depths of his spirit and soul, scrutinizing him again and again.

If the apprentice's dark elemental attribute isn't identified here, then no matter how well the previous assessments went, the outcome will be the same—

fertilizer.

Soon, the examination ended, the light receded, and the light in the single stone eye on the lintel dimmed, returning to its original lifeless relief form, indicating that Lin Qi had passed the final screening.

The original owner of Lin Qi's body had an affinity for darkness and spatial direction; otherwise, he wouldn't have risked coming to this Silent Manor if he already knew the answer in advance.

"Squeak—"

With a heavy, dry sound, the thick oak door in front of us slowly opened a crack.

Behind the door was not the hall as expected, but a short porch leading deeper into the courtyard to the small garden where the rotten vine was located.

Lin Qi slowly exhaled a breath of stale air that had been stuck in his chest, steadied himself, and then stepped through the doorway.

The small garden was more desolate than the front yard, and the walls were covered with deep purple vines that seemed to wriggle more actively.

In the center of the courtyard, the Corrupt Vine, with its twisted trunk resembling that of a hunched old man, stood silently.

A few slender, dark purple, almost black twigs with fine, closed-eye-like patterns on their surface hung down from the old vine, emitting a very faint smell of fishiness mixed with decay.

Without delay, Lin Qi took out a silver knife and a wooden box lined with damp moss.

He carefully avoided touching the main body of the vine, aiming only at the root of the longest, darkest, and most clearly marked eye-shaped branch, and precisely sliced ​​it with the blade.

When the tender branch was broken, a few drops of viscous, dark sap oozed from the cut. He quickly absorbed and wrapped them with a special type of moss from the inner lining of the wooden box, ensuring its vitality was preserved. He then placed the branch inside the box and sealed it tightly.

mission completed.

Before turning to leave the small garden, he paused slightly at the porch, his gaze once again falling on the open space in front of the main building's entrance—

The twisted and deformed corpses of Harold and his two companions still lay there quietly, their blood half-congealed, gleaming with an unsettling hue under the cold moonlight.

A fleeting glint of greed crossed Lin Qi's eyes.

The corpses of apprentices, especially those that have recently died and still contain lingering elemental energy, are considered valuable materials in the wizarding world.

If sold through secret channels in the market, each one would fetch dozens of magic stones and be highly sought after.

That was a considerable windfall.

However, Lin Qi would definitely not do that.

Because he knew that these corpses belonged to the owner of this manor—

Evil-eyed witch.

Indeed, the true owner of this Silent Manor is none other than the Evil Eye Witch who lured her apprentices here by using the Thousand-Eyed Demon Soup as bait.

On one hand, it screens suitable carriers for its master, the Evil Eye Tyrant, and on the other hand, it collects usable experimental materials for itself.

It's not a big deal if he takes a few magic stone pouches, but if he takes away even the important materials and leaves the Evil Eye Witch with nothing... then the other party might not be so easy to talk to.

That's how the wizarding world is: you're either the hunter or the prey, either sitting at the table or lying on it.

In this cruel world, to save your life, you must always remember to only take what you can take and only be greedy for what you can be greedy for.

Withdrawing his gaze, Lin Qi didn't linger any longer and quickly turned to leave.