It was nearing midday.
Knock, knock, knock—
The sound of knocking arose.
'It must be the delivery of food,' Colin thought.
He set aside the bee needle and stood up to open the door.
He had just been testing the strength of Steel Armor I.
The results were quite satisfying.
If the old Steel Armor was equivalent to 5 millimeters thick, then now it was at least 2 centimeters!
...If he were to encounter the arrow shot by Charlie again, he reckoned even his defense wouldn't be breached.
Creak—
Colin unfastened the latch and pulled open the wooden door.
Perhaps because things near the sea corroded easily, doors here generally made a creaking noise.
"Minister Barton?" He was surprised to see the burly man standing outside the door.
"Good day, Colin," Barton nodded slightly, "A month has already passed, how are the two witchcraft schools doing?"
"They are mostly mastered."
"Good, Detect Evil and Purification Evil Power can be learned slowly afterward."
"Our main issues in West City are still the Fierce Beasts, compared to that, Hope Defense Field and Fireball Technique are more useful."
Colin nodded slightly, not mentioning that he had essentially mastered four schools of witchcraft.
Barton stepped aside slightly, revealing a man behind him who appeared somewhat shorter compared to him.
"This is Holt Caesar, your future team captain."
Holt Caesar smiled, with a gentle demeanor and pale skin free of wrinkles; at first glance, he seemed about the same age as Colin.
But upon closer inspection, it made one feel as if it were impossible to discern his exact age.
"Captain Holt," Colin greeted quickly.
Holt Caesar nodded slightly.
"Alright, Holt will explain the rest of the matters to you; I will take my leave now."
"Yes, Minister Barton," Colin said respectfully.
Barton nodded slightly and strode upstairs.
Holt Caesar withdrew his gaze from Barton's retreating figure and said warmly to Colin:
"You go and pack your things; there's still plenty to do later."
"Yes, Captain."
Colin walked back inside.
Holt Caesar didn't follow him but instead slowly walked to the end of the corridor and stood by the window, gazing outside.
Shortly after,
Colin came out with a neatly packed gray backpack on his back.
He looked around and eventually found Holt Caesar's figure on the left.
Although it was daytime, the corridor's lighting wasn't good.
Only the windows at both ends and the light from the gaps in the doors on both sides allowed light to enter.
The window where Holt Caesar stood happened to be sun-facing, and the brilliant sunlight shone upon him.
For a moment, Colin felt as if he saw a large tree growing towards the light.
Sprouting branches, budding leaves, the profusion of tender green and dark green, large and small oval leaves grew wildly!
Soon, they filled every corner of his vision!
His face turned to shock...
The golden sunlight was still shining, but it emitted a chilling, eerie coldness to the core, seemingly without warmth, the corridor filled with shadows, the thriving tree, now appeared more like a twisted, monstrous black creature!
Hum—
A fuzzy model of a Hope Defense Field inside his mind emitted a faint light, dispelling the darkness!
There were no shadows, no monsters...
Bright golden sunlight streamed in from the window, wrapping Holt Caesar in a soft halo.
Colin was a bit dazed, his complexion pale, fine beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"...Captain Holt," he called out slowly, his voice somewhat strained.
"Are you ready?" Holt Caesar turned around.
Only then did Colin notice that Holt Caesar actually had a rare head of green medium-length hair.
Holt Caesar also noticed Colin's discomfort, raising his right hand.
A gentle white light flashed over Colin.
"...Thank you," Colin finally felt much more comfortable.
Holt Caesar nodded slightly, advising:
"Your intuition is quite high; later on, you could cultivate more mind-protective witchcraft."
Colin nodded emphatically.
The related knowledge, the original owner had studied before... but he had never known that his inspiration was so high.
The recent abnormality must have been caused by the radiation of the Energy Field inadvertently emitted by Holt... to put it in terms of his previous life, he was "haunted."
Fortunately, the Hope Defense Field was a Defense Spell that considered both physical and mental protection...
"Let's go; we should head back to the School first," Holt said, "It's my turn to pick up the Magic Stones distributed in West City this month; I need to make a trip back first."
The two descended the stairs.
Holt cast a Floating Technique on Colin and then flew with him towards the Lap Wizard Territory.
The speed of flying was indeed much faster than walking; what would normally take at least two hours by foot was estimated to take less than ten minutes now.
After all, a large part of the walking path involved climbing hills and winding roads, far from a straight line. But flight was different; there were no obstacles, and it always took the shortest distance.
Before entering the School, Colin saw dozens of Apprentice figures mysteriously gathering on the vacant ground below.
He was somewhat puzzled.
Not until he recognized many familiar faces did he suddenly realize.
Considering the time, the three-month deadline must have just arrived.
Those below should be Apprentices about to leave the School.
He felt a surge of indescribable emotions, but they were quickly dispersed by the strong wind in his face.
The two continued to fly toward the center of the Wizard Territory, apparently aiming to land directly at Black Castle.
...
"...Did anyone succeed in Advancing?" asked an instructor standing at the forefront of the clearing, in a routine manner.
As he expected, no one responded.
"Line up, take out your identity badges one by one," he continued indifferently.
The Apprentices were about to leave the School, so naturally, their identity badges needed to be collected and dealt with.
Haywood stepped forward first, handing over his black triangular badge with both hands.
"Extend your right hand," the instructor took out a black disc, placing the badge on one end while indicating the other end to Haywood.
Haywood extended his hand and placed it on the surface, his expression calm.
"Relax your body," the instructor advised, then began to infuse Magic Power into the disc.
With the infusion of Magic Power, the disc slowly lit up with a faint White Light, only to dim suddenly the next second.
Haywood's eyes flickered with a trace of panic.
The instructor frowned and examined the disc, then tried once more to infuse Magic Power.
Hum—
This time the disc successfully lit up, with the White Light enveloping the identity badge.
Soon, the inscribed "Haywood Moses" began to blur, eventually disappearing.
On the other hand, the White Light also entered Haywood's right hand and gradually moved towards his brain, ready to erase the imprint of the badge.
For some unknown reason, however, it suddenly disappeared just as it was about to enter the brain.
The instructor didn't notice anything amiss and simply continued:
"Next."
Haywood withdrew his hand, his expression calm as he walked down the mountain with his backpack, not looking back.
Meanwhile, inside Black Castle.
Colin listened to the story of the gray-robed Wizard before him.
After a long while, he spoke words of gratitude and watched as the gray-robed Wizard walked away.
He was waiting on the first floor of Black Castle for Captain Holt to collect the Magic Stones.
He had just happened to encounter the gray-robed Wizard.
The gray-robed Wizard was Milne, the same one who had flown over during the day of Charlie's attack.
Colin had just asked him about the final outcome of the incident with Charlie.
As he had guessed, what Charlie said was false; no evidence of any School Apprentices enslaved at the gathering place existed.
The School had specifically called in many Apprentices to carefully check, and no traces of enslavement were found.
As for why those people believed Charlie.
According to Charlie himself, it was because of the "Sleeping Fantasy Flower."
The Apprentices had been deceived by the Sleeping Fantasy Flower.
The School had indeed detected remnants of the Sleeping Fantasy Flower in their bodies, which had now been uniformly cleared.
As for Charlie, he had been demoted to slavery by the School and ultimately bought by the Peak Apprentice Nidham.
'Nidham...' A chill ran through Colin's heart.
The person to whom Annie had originally sold herself was this Peak Apprentice in charge of logistics.
He vividly remembered Annie's final pitiful state, covered in tentacles.
'Charlie... is probably going to... huh?' Colin suddenly looked up in surprise.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
At the entrance on the first floor of Black Castle, Nidham was leading Charlie inside.