As Alex disembarked from his own carriage, he was met with another that was parked at the gates to GOLDERT Castle. It was an opulent sight; its family crest unfamiliar, and its horses even more grand - white-hued, slender-hooved, and muscular. The value of one of those horses alone exceeded his entire carriage!
Alex had never seen something as luxurious before, not even Viscount Ashby's carriage could compare. He could not help but take a few more looks before entering the castle, wondering who it was to visit Viscount Ashby. As he soon found out it was Edger Butler escorting the mysterious Lady Kelly Foster outside.
Alex was not willing to get too involved with the woman due to Ella's reminders, the old one-eyed man, and his own feelings. Despite that, it seemed like she did not want to let him go. He thought to himself "I came specifically here to see Viscount Ashby, but he happened to be away. Disappointing as it is, at least I got a chance of meeting a young necromancer.
It can't be considered too bad." With a slight frown on his face and Kelly's mention of him being a necromancer indicating something significant, he became even more cautious asking her "Is there something Miss Foster wants me for?"
Kelly said calmly: "I don't dare to give advice. I just want to exchange some questions about magic with Your Excellency. I wonder if I would take the liberty to interrupt?"
Alex's heart stirred when he heard the question concerning magic. Though he was curious about who the other party was, they seemed strong and powerful, so he had no choice but to agree. As magic piqued his interest, he brought them to the castle's top floor where there was an exclusive area solely for him.
He got some drinks and then they started talking -- Kelly mentioned that she heard of Alex's hobby collecting ancient magical artifacts' fragments due to them being pricey if bought in complete form. Alex smiled and admitted it was true, though only a small preference of his. Was Ms Foster also interested in something similar?
"Just call me Kelly." Kelly leaned on the soft leather sofa and saw the servants go out. There were only two people left in the room. She kicked off her high heels without any image, revealing two pink and delicate feet, and took them. Like a lazy cat on the sofa. Then he pouted and said disdainfully, "I don't have that kind of rubbish, but I have other things, I don't know if you are interested."
"Something, let's hear it, maybe I'll be interested." Alex was a little curious, and then explicitly stated the economic situation, and laughed at himself: "But I'm not rich, I can't afford things that are too expensive."
"Meditation!" Kelly smiled and looked at Alex as if she had already settled for him.
Alex grimaced, he definitely wanted to learn meditation, but from the other person's look, it was clear that she was not showing any kindness. As he realized his dire need for meditation, Alex tried to keep a straight face and asked: "I really need meditation; I don't even know what it is. What do I have to pay for it?"
Kelly smirked like a fox: "Oh! It is the third edition of Gelfies Meditation, the latest version which was revised by His Excellency Gelfies 30 years ago! And as far as payment goes...I am not asking for money or anything else. But I am curious; how did you manage to defeat those tough ghouls? You even managed to keep your clothes tidy despite being an apprentice necromancer!"
Alex expected this. After all, if the aged one-eyed man could see through the ghoul's disguise, then Kelly's power would be greater than his and he should have noticed something. Subsequently, Alex stared at Kelly and waited for her to either make a request, accept it, decline it or anything else as he was not in a position to say no.
Alex was taken aback as he waited for Kelly's request, when out of nowhere a small red bird flew into the room. It was no bigger than an ordinary sparrow, yet it descended to Kelly's side and began chirping.
Alex was now even more astonished, considering that this room was located on the top floor of GOLDERT Castle! Because of Baron Albert death, Dr. Fauci had been ordered to arrange an expensive defensive circle; any foreign object that entered would raise an alarm and even launch an attack if necessary.
Yet here before them was a little red bird that had penetrated through without setting off the 1,300 gold pounds magical barrier. After listening to its chirps for a few moments, Kelly frowned and rubbed her hands in thoughtfulness.
Alex was sure that the little red bird must have been carrying a message of some sort, yet it seemed to cause Kelly distress when she heard it. The red bird stayed hovering around the perimeter of the protective circle before flying off again after ten seconds had passed.
Kelly stood up and said: "I'm sorry, there are some things that I need to deal with, I'll be here today, as for the meditation method, I'll bring it to you next time, as for the price... Your skeleton is different, summon it next time for me to take a look." After saying that, she walked out without waiting for Alex to agree.
Alex frowned, not getting up to bid farewell, his eyes fixed on Kelly's graceful back. He was not taken aback by this realization - as a necromancer, it was inevitable for people to find out about the peculiarity of his undead creatures from the cemetery. Furthermore, he did not have faith that Kelly could sense the existence of a cemetery just by observing his skeleton soldiers.
In return for a meditation method, why not try Gelphais Meditation Third Edition? It has received great acclaim by magicians in the whole of Lorenzo Kingdom; revised and perfected by Gelfies, one of the best magicians around. This practice is only available at Advanced Seminar of Magic Academy, so few know it.
…
The following morning, Alex was eating breakfast when Alvis suddenly came in and demanded to know, "Alex, I heard from Ella you saw Kelly Foster yesterday - is she really as beautiful as people say?"
Alex sighed and thought to himself that he had not expected his friend to be so nosy about this. He replied cautiously: "Yes, she's certainly attractive... but be warned - she can also be very dangerous!"
Alvis was completely taken aback at Alex's statements. He had anticipated Kelly to be an elegant gentlewoman, yet what could have caused her to emerge as so hazardous in Alex's eyes? Then Alex revealed the shocking news: "If you can, I strongly advise you to stay away from that woman as far as possible. If I'm guessing correctly, she could be an official level."
"What did you say!" Alvis was astonished; what does it mean for someone to be of the official level and PARSLOV City has not had anyone of this calibre for many years! Someone with such an extraordinary power has enough power to wreak havoc in a city and no police force is able to do anything about it. For ordinary people, it would be like facing a monster from ancient times. Now Alex actually stated that Ms Foster is an official class!
But Alvis understood that Alex was not joking with him, his expression changed from shock to seriousness: "Are you sure? It is official!"
Alex shook his head, expressing that he was unsure, but the odds were extremely high. This was not just a mere entry-level entity; it had an incredibly powerful presence in the formal level. Alvis took in a deep breath and said quickly, "I must tell my father about this! It is too essential!" He then got up and bowed to Alex emphatically: "My brother, thank you!" Knowing that a being of such calibre could cause an upheaval in the GOLDERT family's fate. Alex also returned his politeness by accepting his gratitude. In that moment, quick footsteps were heard from outside before a girl wearing antique white like royalty entered into the room.
Alvis and Alex were taken aback when they heard a childish voice exclaim, "Brother Alvis, Brother Alex, what are you doing!" As they beheld the ten-year-old girl with her fair skin, blond hair, big eyes, and baby fat face running towards them like a lily in full bloom, they realized it was Lelisa - their youngest sister.
Alvis perplexedly glanced at Lelisa his youngest sibling, the beloved princess of the family. "What brings you here Lelisa?" he asked.
"Grandpa Fauci told me that Brother Grimm had some special dolls here." The little girl let out an excited gasp as she stared expectantly at Grimm.
Alex and Alvis traded confused glances; evidently, they thought Dr. Fauci was not in the right mind this time. Little girls should of course not be playing with a skeleton soldier!
Alex and Alvis tried to confuse the little girl, for which Alvis agreed to a lot of conditions.
After the Alvis brothers and sisters left, Alex continued to practice [Bone Spurs] alone.
Compared to [Spirituality], even when Alex was upgraded to LV3, he could still utilize the [Bone Spur Technique] without feeling overwhelmed. To test it out, Alex stood on the balcony of a thirty-meter-tall building and launched it into the air. The magical halo of more than ten rock spikes that were each one or two meters long blasted downward and only flew three or four meters away once they were ejected. This indicates the limitation of using this technique: when shot from the ground, these spikes can only attack within their own length, but if released in mid-air with gravity as an aid they can extend up to three or four meters; any further extension would make them something other than [Bone Spur Technique].
Despite Alex's best efforts, he was unable to improve upon the Bone Spur Technique which has been developed over centuries by other magicians. This illustrates how difficult it is to break the mould of existing magic. Realising this, Alex decided against further trying his luck and instead focused on perfecting his proficiency in the technique, allowing him to deploy it in any situation and make use of its versatility. This enabled him to gain more combat effectiveness than deriving a new magic would have ever done.