Lo Lan had transformed from a young girl who fled to Dolez City in search of opportunities into a prominent figure within the city. Even many high-ranking nobles treated her with respect. Her rise in status was partly due to her control over the largest alchemy potion trade in Dolez City, but the primary reason was that she had the backing of a powerful official-level mage.
If there was no such backing strong enough to make these nobles terrified, a little girl like Lo Lan, who was inexperienced and powerless, would have been eaten until not a single bone left by those greedy nobles.
Lo Lan, the current influential figure in the city of Dolez, stood in front of Punk's white tower. A carriage loaded with several boxes of gold coins was parked nearby. Every time Lo Lan thought about how she had to give seventy percent of her hard-earned gold coins, which she had earned through her daily efforts, to the young mage in the white tower, it frustrated her. However, the old butler reminded her of the necessary cooperation between Punk and the Minohorn family. Despite this, her rebellious heart struggled to put on a polite smile when facing Punk.
However, when Punk opened the door of the White Tower for her, all her frustration and anger turned into extreme horror. A strong bloody smell and an extreme evil aura that seemed to soak the entire white tower forced Lo Lan, who was about to complain loudly, to take several steps back, and her belly-full of "Tsundereness" got stuck in her throat.
"What the hell did this mage do? This terrible bloody smell is not something that can be emitted by killing a few animals! Even the legendary battlefield where ten thousand soldiers died is nothing compared with this!"
Calming down and suppressing the urge to turn and run away immediately, Lo Lan thought in her mind.
"But,"
"I am the Countess of the Minohorn family. How could I be... frightened by a little... blood?"
"Excuse me,"
With caution, Lo Lan entered the White Tower.
Soon, the brave little Lo Lan, the Countess of the Minohorn family, found herself frightened once more by the sight within the White Tower. After all, she was just a fifteen-year-old child, and this horrifying scene went far beyond what she could bear.
On the White Tower's floor, before her, numerous black and red lines intertwined and spread in chaotic patterns on the walls. When she carefully looked at these lines, she noticed that these were still moving, and faint cries and roars could be heard from these lines.
Inside the White Tower's hall, numerous rock cages were neatly lined up, each one at least half a meter apart. The creatures confined within these cages had bluish-red skin, blood-red frenzied eyes, and carapaces covered in bony spikes. Even with Lo Lan's limited knowledge, she could tell that they were a group of demons!
Although she didn't know what kind of demon these were, but from the kind of evil and madness that were almost condensed into substance, she could tell that these were not any ordinary demons.
She screamed in fright. Her wide eyes couldn't believe it.
"This mage actually captured a group of demons from somewhere? Isn't this kind of evil creature only the evilest mages in the novel could play around with?"
Soon, Lo Lan spotted Punk sitting at a small table. He was still dressed in a light blue robe, and even in this unsettling environment, he appeared clean and unaffected, as if the blood and the cries around him were nonexistent.
Lo Lan didn't dare to let Punk wait too much, and she also didn't want to show her scared side in front of Punk. After all, the Countess of the Minohorn family mustn't lose her composer even in the face of mysterious and cold mages. In short, she couldn't allow him to look down on her.
She pretended to be calm and walked toward Punk while forcefully enduring the harsh roar of demons in the cages and the bloody smell in the air. Judging from her expression, it seemed as if she really saw blood and demons as nothing, but what she didn't realize was that her trembling legs had betrayed her true feelings.
It was not surprising to Punk, who was seated at the table, that Lo Lan would be frightened by such a sight. He didn't even clean up the filthy pollution from the abyss; so it was quite common for regular people to be affected. However, the fact that Lo Lan managed to stay composed without collapsing on the ground showed her growth.
For Punk, though, it didn't matter much whether Lo Lan's character developed or not.
Punk had left the filthy Abyss pollution untouched primarily for the purpose of studying its connection with the chaotic nature of the demons., but now it seemed that whether he could figure out the connection or not, but his image as the evil mage was firmly established.
But he didn't really mind. His priority was to continue his research as soon as possible. So, after listening to Lo Lan's somewhat disorganized report, Punk grew a bit impatient. Without paying much attention to Lo Lan's hopeful expression, as if waiting for praise, he simply placed a box of alchemy potions he had brewed two days ago and a list of required items at her feet.
"You have one month to prepare all the materials on the list. And also, you have to send two mage apprentices and twenty healthy and rational slaves to me in three weeks."
After speaking, Punk ignored Lo Lan's surprised expression. He stood up and walked to the experimental platform again. At present, there was an alive Imp on it, convulsing and wailing, which made the entire White tower's atmosphere eerie and weird.
"That... you want to buy slaves!... do you want to do an experiment?"
Lo Lan glanced at the experimental platform and then quickly retracted her little head and did not dare to look at it again, then asked in a low voice.
But still, she couldn't help but subconsciously recall the scene on the experimental platform, where numerous neatly arranged, still wriggling internal organs were on display. This memory made Lo Lan's stomach churn suddenly.
"Do you think this is something that you should ask about?"
The sound of a knife cutting through the meat came to an abrupt halt, and Punk slowly turned his head, holding a frantically rolling eyeball in his hand.
Lo Lan was taken aback by the intense gaze in Punk's light blue eyes. For the first time, she felt an overwhelming urge to flee and find a place to hide. Cold sweat instantly soaked through her thin clothing, revealing her graceful figure.
Despite it all, she managed to keep her sanity and answered very loudly in fear:
"Sor... sorry."
Even as she sat in the carriage on her way back to the city, Lo Lan couldn't shake the discomfort in her stomach. She couldn't figure out how terrible of a mage Punk was, that he didn't even have a change in his expression while operating on such... evil creatures.
Lo Lan crumpled the paper in her hand, which contained the list of items Punk had requested her to gather within three weeks. Among them were a significant number of "experimental" slaves, the kind that only wicked mages would need. Regardless of whether they were ordinary nobles or lower-tier professionals, the mere mention of an "evil mage residing in an unknown town," would send shivers down their spines. Lo Lan used to think that those people were timid and fearful, but now...
Lo Lan looked at the sunset outside the window; her white teeth lightly bit on her pale lip. She felt like that now she understood the fear of those people. The mysterious young mage really made her afraid from the bottom of her heart. Just thinking of the kind of strange all-seeing gaze made her forehead covered with cold sweat, but in the young girl's heart, there was an indescribable feeling that made her unable to treat Punk as a terrible evil mage who should be avoided at all cost. On the contrary... it made her want to get closer to this mysterious existence that brought her fear.
"Forget it. I don't want to be put on the dissection table one day!"
Lo Lan roared from the bottom of her heart, putting all these thoughts and faint emotions in the secret corner of her heart, and she became busy with the tasks assigned to her by Punk.