"It's impossible to be invincible," Horn shook his head and said:
"First, the sea of consciousness in everyone can only accommodate a limited number of runes. It's impossible to learn infinitely."
"Second, the limitation of magical power. Magic cannot be cast just by learning it. The sea of magical power must have enough magic to cast spells."
"Third, the more advanced the magic, the more complex the magic circle becomes. And the more complex the magic circle, the harder it is to form in the sea of consciousness."
"Fourth, the issue of compatibility. Due to physical constitution, everyone excels at different spells. There are spells that I fundamentally cannot control."
"Fifth, the limitation of casting mediums. Casting spells of the same level without a medium is suicidal. And currently, the best medium I can find is a walnut wood wand, which has a limit of third-level magic."
Horn mumbled a lot, making Enoch full of question marks. Confused, Enoch said, "Alright, knowing that I can't be invincible for now is good enough. I'll leave the rest to you."
"By the way, I haven't asked why you were discovered. Didn't I tell you to be more careful?" Horn asked Enoch, puzzled about how his illusion could be so easily seen through.
Enoch slapped his thigh and started cursing:
"Just mentioning it makes me angry!"
"What happened?" Horn, seeing Enoch's reaction, felt something was odd.
"Ah, what else could it be? It's that Likal. I had to watch him after giving him a potion last night. When he was captured by the church, those deacons somehow discovered me. I only used a small illusion, so no one should have been able to find me."
"Be more careful when using illusions in the future."
Enoch's illusions were rarely discovered, especially not by the people of the North Wind Church. Although they are powerful, their perception of their surroundings is not much stronger than that of ordinary people.
"What's really bothering me is not that. I was over eighty meters away from that deacon!" Enoch said, rubbing his head in annoyance:
"And every time I tried to escape today, I was mysteriously discovered. I'm sure there's something wrong!"
What Enoch didn't know was that the black-clothed deacon had no ability to see through his illusion. It was someone else who saw through his illusion and summoned the church's troops. After all, a mere wild witch did not have the privilege to make the esteemed white-clothed deacons take action.
Horn and Enoch discussed for a while but could not figure out how those black-clothed deacons discovered Enoch.
Since they couldn't figure it out, Horn told Enoch not to worry about it for now:
"They have seen your face. Don't go out for the next few days and find an opportunity to leave Lien City. You've been exposed. Staying in Lien City is too dangerous."
"Remember my face? You think too highly of them!"
Enoch smiled smugly at Horn. He manipulated magical power and slightly twisted his facial muscles under Horn's gaze, changing his appearance, though the change was not significant.
"What is your real face..." Horn opened his mouth wide and after a while, said to Enoch.
"Of course, it's the one from before. I learned this face-changing skill after studying with you!" Enoch shrugged.
Horn let Enoch rest in his room, then neatly folded the black robe given to him by Douglas and studied the new wand inlaid with a magic crystal.
Douglas had said that this wand could withstand about ten uses of third-level magic, and Horn had already used it to cast third-level magic twice. Unlike the wands Horn made, this new wand did not turn to ashes but had a faint black mark in an inconspicuous place.
The wood used for this wand was oak, essentially the same as the wands Horn made himself. The only difference was that this wand had an irregular pale red crystal at its tip, a magic crystal stone!
It was taken from the brain of a magical beast that Horn had defeated when he last saved Enoch!
After studying for a while without discovering anything significant, Horn packed the wand and robe together and went to Douglas's room, knocking on the door before entering.
Old Douglas was carving something on a piece of wood with reading glasses on.
"Teacher, I brought Enoch home. Is it okay for him to stay temporarily?"
Horn asked politely. Although the house was always inhabited by the two of them and their relationship was like father and son, officially they were master and disciple. So, if Horn wanted to bring someone to stay, he needed Douglas's approval.
"Oh, let him stay. If you think it's necessary, let him move in. But he has to work. I don't keep idlers here," Douglas casually agreed.
"Teacher, I've brought back the things you lent me." Horn put the package on Douglas's table.
"Take it back. It wasn't lent to you; it was given to you."
Douglas's mouth curved into a slight smile, making the wrinkles on his face appear even deeper.
"By the way, teacher, there's a strange smell in your room."
Horn had actually noticed as soon as he entered the room. The smell was off, a strange, fishy odor,
like that of bedbugs!
"Oh, you mean this."
Old Douglas lifted his foot towards Horn, showing the sole covered in a thick layer of fluorescent green liquid.
"I accidentally stepped on a large bug earlier. The green oozy liquid was abundant. Too bad I didn't squash it..."
Old Douglas said with some regret
Horn looked at the green liquid covering the sole and felt a chill. The thought of a bug with so much body fluid...
Just thinking about it was somewhat nauseating!
...
In the center of Lien City, inside the grand hall of the North Wind Church,
Reeves knelt on one knee on the cold marble floor.
Severely injured, he was wrapped in bandages in many places. He had been extensively burned by fierce flames in the battle with Horn, especially his left half-face, which was burned so terribly he looked like a demon crawling out of hell!
Four individuals, also dressed in white deacon robes, stood on both sides of him,
They were the other four white-clothed deacons of Lien City.
In the direction Reeves was kneeling, there was an extremely luxurious chair. Sitting on the chair was a bald old man with a hooked nose and drooping eyes,
His robe was much nicer than Reeves's deacon uniform, pure white with several blue ribbons draped over it. This was the attire of the high priest of the North Wind!
In the Ceylon world, those who lead an entire church are honored as popes or patriarchs, those who govern a diocese are called cardinals or high priests, and those who oversee a city are known as bishops or priests.
Each priest usually has a varying number of white-clothed deacons under them, whereas black-clothed deacons in the Ceylon church hierarchy are considered entry-level positions, and North Wind knights have no status at all.
"Reeves, you have failed," said the bald high priest emotionlessly, his small eyes emitting a dangerous light.