The countless lines in the magic array formation lit up, flashing Eluard's eyes which forced him to back down a bit and cover them in dismay.
'This crude teleportation magic is…', he was inwardly speechless and cursed the pontiff wizards for their recklessness.
He suddenly felt his body turn weightless as they passed through the vacuum of space and soon arrived inside a circular stone room filled with countless runes.
"We have arrived. Please open your eyes, Mr. Kai.", Pontiff Allan said.
Eluard raised his right eyebrow and asked, "We're in…?"
"The Tower of Supraxo Merrio, one of the League's Towers of Magic. It is based here in the Morning Star Empire and manages all magic-related business within the area.", Pontiff Allan narrated while leading the way out.
There was a stone door blocking their path and a small compartment that could fit one's hand was located at the center between. Pontiff Allan inserted his hand and infused some mana into the stone door.
It lit up and several clicks followed, opening their way outside the room.
"Underground?", Eluard wondered as he took his steps which echoed within the basement.
"Teleportation is a lost art that the League has long sought to understand and completely utilize. As much as we would like to move the teleportation circle up above, we do not have any capacity to do so."
"It has already been like this forever since the League founded it, so please forgive us if you feel uncomfortable. We will be reaching the ground floor after a while.", Pontiff Allan explained.
"You seem to be explaining things to me in a rather direct way. Is it because of my association with Elder Flock?", Eluard mused.
Pontiff Allan only glanced in his direction and didn't utter a reply.
They went up a rounded staircase and arrived in front of a wooden door guarded by two purple-robed wizards. Their shoulder pads had four blue orbs instead of the usual red flame, and they didn't wear hats, unlike the pontiffs.
"Pontiff Allan.", the two wizards saluted.
Pontiff Allan nodded and exited the basement, "We will be meeting with the Tower Master directly. Your identity is quite special, so the usual processes are omitted."
Just as he was about to take another step, an astounding youth appeared in his sight.
"-! Magister Urrell!", Pontiff Allan stiffly greeted and bowed.
Magister Urrell closed the handbook he was reading and raised his head, "Oh, Pontiff Allan. You have returned, I see.", he calmly spoke, glancing at Eluard's figure with a look of surprise, 'This man… is not ordinary.'
Eluard also locked his gaze and viewed Magister Urrell's attribute panel.
[ Name: Urrell Ervetta ]
[ Age: 57 years old ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Status: Alive ]
[ Affiliation: Ervetta Secular Family (Main Branch – Second Son, Second in Line), League of Wizardry (Magister), Tower of Supraxo Merrio (Chief Magister's Assistant) ]
[ Magic Power: Grandmaster Wizard (Median Ring) ]
[ Magic Root: Aqua Mystique (Legendary) ]
[ Magic Aptitude: 9.1/10 (Grandmaster Wizard) ]
[ Magic Affinity: Ice, Water ]
[ Aqua Mystique Magic Root (Legendary) ]
[ Additional Effect: Mystical Waters ]
[ Water Magic Spells with healing effects have increased effectiveness by 200%. Unaffected by water phenomena such as maelstroms. ]
[ Additional Effect: All ice/water magic spells casted by the user have an increased effectiveness of 125%. ]
[ Additional Effect: Pervasive and destructive ice/water-based magic spells have decreased effectiveness by 25% when targeted against you. ]
[ Additional Effect: … ]
[ … ]
'Damn, a legendary magic root right off the bat!', Eluard inwardly exclaimed. He had already checked Pontiff Allan's attributes days ago and it was simply nothing in front of Magister Urrell's magic root.
"Is Chief Lumina in her office…?", Pontiff Allan rigidly asked.
"Why are you so stiff, pontiff? I'm just going out for a walk. And yes, auntie is in her office. You can go look for her there."
Magister Urrell shook his head in amusement and walked away, reopening the handbook, and continued reading it. He headed towards a more seclusive area where people rarely went.
He didn't even bother about the sudden commotion that rang out in the main hallway where a group of priests rushed inside and protested. They wore long white robes with a four-pointed star on their backs.
"Heretics from the League! How dare you not respect the lives of us believers of the holy god?! You lambast us with the death of our high cardinal, and you didn't even bat an eye in giving us an explanation about it!", the leading priest exclaimed.
His loud words gathered everyone's attention. Even Pontiff Allan's face wrinkled in dissatisfaction.
"These idiotic Creed Priests! Get those bastards out of here! Who do they think they are?!", he coldly ordered, "Let's go. Don't bother with those fanatics."
Eluard wanted to view their attribute panels, but they were quickly pushed out by the guards.
Pontiff Allan led him to the end of a wall with a huge open space at the top. He then saw several people wearing robes of various colors, standing over the ground and gathering their mana. Their figures started floating around. Moments after, they flew upwards like an arrow released from its bow.
'Hmm? Is this some sort of magical elevator or something?', Eluard was amazed.
Understanding Eluard's confusion, Pontiff Allan took the initiative to explain, "This is the Flight Stairway. You can use this to go up and down through the many floors of any Tower of Magic."
"There is a special magic array formation where we can then use our mana to gain the ability to fly and reach higher floors or slow down our fall when descending. Since you are still injured, you won't have to expend your mana for now."
They went into the open space, alerting everyone who was present in the area. Seeing the fiery robe of the three pontiffs, the rest made way and gazed at them with respect, though they were rather curious about the identity of the ragged man who was escorted.
"You think he's another wandering genius?"
"Probably. No ragged man like that is taken away by the pontiffs for fun. Moreover, those pontiffs look at that man with curiosity like us too. Maybe he's going to be another bigshot we should not trifle against."
"Remember his face and keep a lookout. Also, inform the rest of the members."
Eluard heard all their chattering and was rather satisfied with the outcome.
Pontiff Allan lightly tapped Eluard's shoulders, causing him to float. He guided Eluard and the group continued their way to a certain high floor inside the tower.
They landed inside a short spacious hallway leading to an open arch that was filled with ruffled smoke, covering the area behind it.
"You may think that everyone can go up high in the tower but let me remind you that the Flight Stairway is guarded by various magic array formations, constantly checking your authority wherever you go."
"If you want to act stubborn, don't blame us for what would happen next.", Pontiff Allan warned.
He stood in front of the arch and gathered a wisp of his mana. Eluard realized that the pontiff was sending cryptic messages through the mana medium in the atmosphere.
'What's this? Shouldn't the waves be normally invisible and undetectable?'
Then he remembered that he had the Eye of Veracity, shaking his head from his own forgetfulness, 'System, please alert me at some point if you're going to use my abilities here on out.'
[ … ]
Eluard was at a loss after looking at the system's empty prompt. Nevertheless, he deactivated his Eye of Veracity and focused on the task at hand. He didn't want to accidentally expose his powerful abilities to others.
After all, the world of Aludia was big and there might be unusual figures out there who were peerless like himself.
One was his student, Solordo, and his dual cultivation ability.
Another was Haera with her star power magic.
Then came Emilia with her spatial magic ability.
And finally, this mature woman who was standing with her back facing him. He could feel some foul stench emanating from her, like what he felt when he faced Dartex in the Ruins.
[ Name: Lumina Merrio-Ervetta ]
[ Age: 77 years old ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Status: Alive ]
[ Affiliation: Merrio Family (Main Branch – First Daughter, Third in Line), Ervetta Secular Family (Main Branch – Adopted Daughter), League of Wizardry (Chief Magister), Tower of Supraxo Merrio (Tower Master) ]
[ Magic Power: Grandmaster Wizard (Full Ring) ]
[ Magic Root: Undying Grave Hallow (Mythical) ]
[ Magic Aptitude: 9.5/10 (Grandmaster Wizard) ]
[ Magic Affinity: Dark, Void ]
[ Undying Grave Hallow Magic Root (Mythical) ]
[ Current Revival Counts: 0 ]
[ Special Effect: Quasi-Divine Magic Root ]
[ This magic root is bound to your spirit and will continue to exist until it is forcefully expelled or you experience 'true death'. ]
[ Special Ability: Grave Misconduct ]
[ You can attempt to transfer your spiritual manifestation to another organism that has been dead for no more than three days. The chances of reviving depend on your compatibility with the new creature. Some creatures have special attributes that may prevent this action. If the attempt is successful, any other abilities and special attributes of the creature will be utilized, and your memories will be retained as much as possible. ]
[ Detrimental Effect: Death's Mortal Enemy ]
[ Your successive attempts to escape death have angered the Incarnation of Death. You will continue to earn the Incarnation of Death's ire until you experience 'true death'. ]
[ Additional Effect: Melancholic World ]
[ Due to your unusual magic root, you are more accustomed to gloomy and dark environments. Cultivation speed is increased, ranging from 25% - 100% depending on the dark environment you are settling in. Your magic power is also increased, ranging from 50% - 200%. ]
[ Detrimental Effect: Destitute Self ]
[ Your magic root is severely suppressed under the presence of any holy light or anything that is an adversary to darkness or void-type magic. Magic power is weakened by 10-80% depending on the severity of the suppression. ]
[ Additional Effect: … ]
[ … ]
Eluard was dumbfounded by the long list of negative and beneficial effects of Chief Lumina's special magic root. However, he reminded himself of the current situation and would review them later.
Pontiff Allan went to the sides and gestured for Eluard to go in, "Chief Lumina is waiting inside. We will stay here until you are done talking with her."
"Also, don't be disrespectful of her, Mr. Kai. Try to control your emotions as much as possible.", he lowered his tone and told, "Chief Lumina is a rather… peculiar person."
'Who would dare to disrespect a chief magister?', Eluard's face almost twitched, "Yes, Pontiff Allan. I will be very careful in front of her."
He could somewhat understand the peculiarity of this Chief Magister Lumina. Her magic root's status explained almost everything about it.
The fog from before had decreased and once he passed through the tall arch, the fog returned.
'Where have I seen this thing before?', he felt his mind ringing déjà vu.
He looked around the office and noticed that the structure resembled a huge dome. The light of the Morning Star could be seen passing through the hole at the top while there were vivid pictures of wizards and mages fighting against demonic beasts and humanoid beings.
Eluard couldn't help but reminisce the spectacular classical and renaissance paintings put on the ceilings of some buildings back home.
On the floor were various sections ranging from a kitchen, an entrance to a bedroom, office desk... It was all-in-one office packed with everything.
"I assume you are Elder Flock's seed disciple, Kai?", Chief Lumina asked while attending to the corpse of a northerner warrior laying in a stone bed.
"Yes…", Eluard was unsure of what to say next. The woman in front of him was a Tower Master and he was unaccustomed to the pleasantries that these people exchanged with one another.
"Do you recognize the corpse I am handling right now?", she asked.
He glanced at the corpse and realized that it was a member of the Siegfried Clan in Norva Assili.
[ Siegfried Clan Member Corpse ]
[ Status: Dead, Demonized ]
[ … ]
'Huh? She's meddling with a demonized corpse?! Won't she be infected in that case?'
Eluard used his Eye of Veracity to assess his suspicions. The haunting demonic aura seemed to not have affected her at all. In fact, there was a trace of cowardice from the demonic aura itself.
'Is it caused by her magic root? Or maybe her affinity to the void itself?'
He couldn't come up with a proper explanation, so he let it slide off his mind. Nevertheless, Chief Lumina was a professional and a highly-ranked wizard at that. There should be no problems in the long run.
"I… am not sure, except that he should be someone from the northern glacial continent?", he answered doubtfully.
"Correct. He is someone from the Siegfried Clan that was recovered from the recent disaster in that area.", Chief Lumina explained, "Well, I didn't ask the pontiff to bring you here and start some interrogation about what happened there."
"Elder Flock had already explained the rest. So you don't have to worry about anything."
She turned around, presenting her beautiful face to this immature-looking young man. Her short curly red hair bounced softly, while her dark eyes gazed with probing intentions unto Eluard.
"You look older than I expected."
'Well, I'm sorry if I disappointed you.', Eluard cursed inwardly.
"But at the very least, you are alive.", she smiled mischievously, "Something some younger wandering geniuses like you don't share about."
She went back into the corpse and operated again.
Eluard frowned after hearing her words. It seems that he has misunderstood the peculiarity that Pontiff Allan said earlier.
Chief Lumina continued with her blabbers.
"I guess you could say that you are a lucky wandering genius indeed. If you haven't known yet, the man named Elder Flock is a legend amongst many legends here in Aludia."
"How many commoner geniuses have sprung out in the past, only to see themselves buried six feet under the ground many years later? Elder Flock was supposed to be one of them, but he miraculously survived all of that, and now, he became an archmage whom every mage and wizard look up into."
"Do you think that as his seed disciple, you can be as successful as your master?"
Eluard noticed the disdainful tone in her words but he didn't take it to heart. He was rather bored of her advances which he had heard far too many times back on Earth.
Moreover, his emotions were rarely stirred now.
"It doesn't matter. We'll get to know sooner or later.", she washed off her hands and started explaining, "Since Elder Flock will be busy for a couple of days, I am given the task to handle your presence for the time being."
She strutted in front of her wooden table and stood there with arms crossed, imposing her serious nature.
"I am the Tower Master here. You can call me Chief Lumina."
"You will be under my jurisdiction until Elder Flock returns. And during this time, I will teach you about everything you need to know about the civilized world and the structure of the various factions in Aludia."
"At some point, you may also have to accompany me to visit some magic academies or people with high statuses."
"You might be wondering about why this and that, but it is a standard procedure that all wandering geniuses like you have to undergo so that you won't be as ignorant as you are right now the moment you step into society."
The two looked at each other and fell silent, causing Chief Lumina to narrow her eyes.
"If you don't have any questions, you may leave. Come back here every day after the Morning Star rises. Pontiff Allan will guide you to your temporary room."
Eluard bowed, "Thank you, Chief Magister Lumina. I will take my leave now."
"Oh, wait.", she threw a small brown sack with several bottles inside, "Take them. Those are medicinal pills. I heard that your magic root was injured during your stay in the northern glacier continent. These few should be enough to return you to your optimal condition."
[ Spring Root Pill (Rare) ]
[ Slowly heals the damage sustained by the user's magic root. Due to the excellent alchemical processing and processed ingredients, the efficiency of this pill is increased by 25%. ]
Eluard bowed again, "I am grateful, Chief Lumina. I will not forget this sincerity."
She waved her hands and went back into her seat, gazing at Eluard's departing figure while full of thoughts.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢