Super Order Magic, the mightiest force available to human magicians on the Sky Dome Continent.
Magicians have many weaknesses, such as frail physical strength—barely able to run a few steps without gasping for air, and the long incantation time required for high-level magic, among others...
But, despite these many drawbacks, everyone acknowledges that magicians possess the strongest offensive power among all the combat professions.
Especially for high-level magicians, a single spell could obliterate a large group.
Super Order Magic could even destroy a small town, certainly qualifying as a weapon of mass destruction.
However, learning Super Order Magic is extremely difficult.
The incantations of each Super Order spell are passed down through generations—they're a magician's most precious treasure, a national secret of the highest order.
Even if you're incredibly talented, without an exceptional mentor and background, it would be very difficult to obtain the incantations for Super Order Magic.
Across the entire Sky Dome Continent, the incantations for Super Order Magic can be counted on one's fingers.
The Royal Family possesses three; the Holy Court and the Earth Mother Goddess Sect control five; the Thirteen Sages have two; and Asina, a member of the Hero Team, who had long reached the level of a Great Sage, inherited one from her master...
When this data is listed out, one can understand just how precious Super Order Magic truly is.
Normally, Candice would have no chance of learning these spells. The only way for her to master Super Order Magic would be to create one herself.
And the difficulty of creating one...
She could never have imagined that Lord Horus had given her an incantation for Super Order Magic, and that wasn't all—as well as the spell, there were detailed training methods and precautions to take during the process.
After all, the power of Super Order Magic was too immense; a minor misstep during training could lead to irreparable disaster.
Candice was breathing heavily, feeling as though she was on the verge of suffocation; her vision even started to blur.
"This, this is for me?" Candice's voice trembled.
"Of course, although it's the result of your mistake." Qin Chu nodded, unashamedly blaming Candice for failing to control the Devourer—after all, Candice herself had admitted her fault: "Nonetheless, I siphoned your strength, that much is true…"
"So naturally, I owe you some form of compensation."
"Moreover, I, Horus, am never stingy with those who serve me; consider this your reward."
"Remember, with your current might, attempting to unleash Skyfire Meteor would be tantamount to playing with fire." Qin Chu warned gravely: "However, studying it in advance could be quite beneficial for your magic practice."
Every sentence, each word spoken by Qin Chu, Candice committed firmly to memory. This was advice from a senior expert, an exceedingly valuable experience.
Truly worthy of the great Lord Horus, starting with Super Order Magic right off the bat.
Compared to the value of the Super Order Magic, the little bit of magic power she had lost was negligible. If possible, Candice would even willingly let Lord Horus take a bit more.
If originally Candice felt fear and curiosity towards Horus before her, it had now turned into reverence.
Throughout the years she had served the demons, she received nothing but ridicule and reprimand, but before Lord Horus, despite her fear, she felt respected.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Candice knelt on one knee, lowering her proud head.
"I thank Lord Horus for this gift, and I swear to follow unto death, never to betray," Candice proclaimed her vow.
Yet this vow clearly did not move Qin Chu. His eyes narrowed slightly, and having experienced the first week, he didn't believe in any vow of eternal loyalty.
He had once saved this world, rescuing countless people.
That was a debt of life-saving proportions.
How many had wept with gratitude, vowing to remember his kindness forever?
But in the end, what was it they repaid with? Betrayal!
He didn't need Candice's loyalty; he only needed a useful tool.
"Prepare for me a list of all the low-level and intermediate magic spells you know."
Low-level and intermediate magic spell incantations?
What does Lord Horus need with such things?
After all, Lord Horus could easily produce the incantation for Super Order Magic—why would he care for these trivial spells?
Surely it couldn't be that Lord Horus himself wanted to learn them?
Impossible, Lord Horus couldn't possibly be ignorant of such mundane spells; there must be some other use.
"And a list!"
...
After obtaining what he had asked for, Qin Chu's figure disappeared from the tavern. Glancing at the corpses on the floor, Candice shook her head slightly. She knew that from today on, she had completely broken with the demons.
If word of this got out, she would face the demons' bloody vengeance.
The days to come were likely to be tough.
But Candice had no regrets.
Even though she didn't know if Lord Horus would truly protect her, or if he would treat her like a mere tool as her mother had, discarding her after use, she harbored no regrets. This was the path she had chosen for herself.
...
Qin Chu's figure landed on top of a streetlight pole.
The mark left by the Illusion Demon on the back of his hand had already been removed by him.
Having a certain foundation of magic power within him, and with a Witch perched on his shoulder to boot, it wasn't difficult to remove the mark of the Illusion Demon.
Shaye Nicholas was quite fond of the spot on Qin Chu's shoulder.
A pair of pale little legs swung back and forth, and silver hair fluttered in the night breeze as her crimson eyes, just like Qin Chu's, were fixed on the palace in front of them.
"You actually gave that Super Order Magic to the girl directly, how generous of you," Shaye said with a giggly voice, "You couldn't have fallen for that girl, could you?"
"The girl is indeed not bad, but still falls short when compared to this young lady," Shaye added.
Qin Chu grinned and laughed.
"I don't believe in loyalty, or in emotions. Compared with those, an exchange of benefits puts me more at ease. When someone does something for you, you have to give them something good in return, right?"
"Besides, Skyfire Meteor is just the weakest among the Super Order Magic I know. It's fine to give it to that girl."
Qin Chu was extremely talented. In his first week, he had almost never touched Low-level Magic. The first magic he learned was High-level, and his magical strength was sufficient to support it.
The number of Super Order Magic he mastered was even greater than the total number recorded on the Sky Dome Continent, and the majority of them were his own creations. When it came to fighting, he basically started with Super Order.
On the other hand, because he had never encountered Low-level Magic, at one point, he actually couldn't think of any Spells. And creating his own spells required a powerful magic strength that he couldn't muster just yet.
After devouring Matras, Qin Chu's spiritual power, Strength, Physical Strength, and agility had all increased to a certain extent, and his Level had also gone up a bit.
That's why Qin Chu asked Candice to copy the Low-level and Intermediate Magic Spells she knew for him. After all, he still needed some means of battle, a power the upcoming members of the Hero Team, who were also his teachers, did not know about.
"You can learn Low-level and Intermediate Magic from me, you know. I know a lot of it, and it's no big deal for me to teach you," Shaye said, a bit miffed that Qin Chu hadn't asked her but Candice instead.
"The magic controlled by the Dark Witch shouldn't be something I can simply use, should it?"
"Though I am indeed preparing to do some nasty things, I don't want to add the label of a Hero tainted by Dark Power above my head either."
Puffing her cheeks, Shaye seemed to be sulking.
There was a certain stillness all around.
Nearly a hundred streetlights surrounded the palace, illuminating the vicinity as if it were daytime, revealing any life form that approached with absolute clarity.
Every ten meters, one could see a fully armed Soldier on guard.
Qin Chu memorized the positions of all these people in his heart.
In the distance, he could also see some of the Nobles' luxurious carriages already parked in front of the palace gates. He knew that these Nobles were waiting for the moment the Hero awakened to hand in their invitations.
For these Nobles, the Hero's ability to fight against Demons was just an accessory. What they truly cared about was the benefit the Hero could bring. If they could forge a good relationship with the Hero, the benefits were countless, and no one wanted to let others steal a march on them.
There was another brisk figure on the road to the palace, Angelica.
Emerald hair floated behind her, and her face clearly showed a hopeful glow.
She had left the Holy Court safely, without carrying too many personal belongings with her.
Just as Qin Chu had judged, regardless of how much Rose Vesper hated Angelica and wanted to kill her, even if Rose Vesper was really preparing to make a move, Augustus would never allow such a thing to happen.
Among his many enemies, Augustus could be considered the most special one. He had interacted with Qin Chu more times than Saint Monica and Wozworth combined. Qin Chu could sense that Augustus seemed to want something from him, but he didn't know exactly what it was.
When Angelica arrived at the entrance of the palace, she was immediately surrounded by a crowd.
Everyone knew that Angelica had become the Hero's personal Maid, almost equal to being the Hero's spokesperson.
A large number of invitations were shoved into Angelica's hands.
Watching Angelica's flustered state, Qin Chu even felt a little amused, and a smile spread across his face.
This was good; let Angelica deal with these Nobles, reducing a lot of trouble for him.
"Speaking of which, your strategy of killing with a borrowed knife is quite good, using a Demon to eliminate members of the Hero Team... it's utterly despicable and shameless."
"You're becoming increasingly crafty. I'm starting to think you have the potential to become a Demon yourself."
"But is killing Shield Guard Benson really your only goal?" Shaye's expression turned serious out of nowhere.
Shaye hadn't spoken when Qin Chu and Candice were conversing before, but that didn't mean she couldn't see through Qin Chu's real intentions.
"Of course that's not all. Benson does deserve to die, but the Power he possesses is something nice."
"Pseudo Absolute Defense!"
"If I have the chance, I'd like to devour that Power," Qin Chu voiced his true objective.
"Is that all?"
But Shaye didn't let Qin Chu off the hook, "If I remember correctly, the path of Shield Guard Benson's movements seems to just so happen to pass through a certain place..."
"The territory of the Storm Witch, there..."
"Is a Soul Fragment of Jie Luo!"