The main building of the Navia estate is a three-storey white villa, which is located in the very center of the estate, in the style preferred by the southern aristocracy, with a well-groomed garden in front and a road paved with pure cobblestones.
The living room was on the second floor of the villa, and out of the mage's study, the maid led Austin here and left, leaving him to wait here.
Admiring the luxury of the living room, the huge crystal chandeliers overhead, the fine leather sofas, the intricately crafted silver tea sets, and all the other unnamed knick-knacks, all dazzled Austen, as if she were in a dream.
He also remembered the maid's words: don't walk around, don't touch. Therefore, he did not touch these precious and fragile things at first glance, not because there would be spell traps on them, but because he could not afford to break them. In view of the fact that his clothes were really not clean, he did not even use the right to sit down that every guest should enjoy, for fear of soiling the sofa for others.
But he didn't stand still, and he was fascinated by an oil painting in the center of the living room: a portrait of a couple. Among them was the mage he had seen, who was still young and not wearing a robe, and the woman was supposed to be his wife, a beauty with an indescribable charm that caught Austen's eye.
The lady in the painting is a plump beauty on the whole, she wears a sea-blue low-cut dress with a very well-tailored cut, which sets off the mature figure is particularly attractive, but this is not the most attractive to Austen, her eyes, the pair of eyes that seem to be able to speak, the corners of the eyebrows like a crescent, and the soft gaze like water, are the reasons why Austen can't extricate herself for a long time.
In his memory, his mother, who was not a beautiful woman, seemed to have a pair of eyes that would bend when she smiled, and when she saw him eating, playing and falling asleep, those eyes were also so soft and full of warmth.
In the end, it was the sound of the door being opened that pulled Austen's spirit back from the painting, and he quickly turned around, and sure enough, he saw the mage who didn't know his name, and there was also an old nobleman with gray temples and a well-dressed old aristocrat.
"Lord Earl, you see that I still have a guest, so I will not send it far away, and I will consider the matter you said. "The mage's attitude is not humble or unrelenting, and he does not lose his arrogance as a spellcaster just because the other party is the master of Oni City.
Saying that it was consideration, in fact, Count Haniri, who had been rejected, was not annoyed, he nodded politely, and said, "No need to send it, Master Zecier, I have bothered you a lot recently, and when the matter is over, I will come back to visit." "
When the two of them had finished their polite exchanges, they did not say much, and the Count walked slowly with his diamond-encrusted staff, not noticing that the young man who was standing in the drawing-room and bowing was the unlucky man he had knocked into yesterday.
But the listener had a heart, and Austin unconsciously shrank his pupils when he heard that Master Cezel's guest was the Earl of Oni City, but he didn't show anything, but finally quietly glanced at the earl's back and wrote it down by heart.
"Well, hard-hitting lad, we'll meet again. Well, you sit down first, don't be too restrained. Mage Jersey didn't put out a big shelf, and after he sat down on the couch, he also realized that Austin sat down.
"Praise be to you, noble lord. After Austen sat down, he used the most humble attitude in his life, it was a matter of life and death, and he couldn't help but put the other party at the level of a god.
Master Jersey smiled, and after carefully examining Austin from head to toe, he suddenly let out a 'huh', then stood up in surprise, walked quickly to Austin, put his right index finger against his eyebrows, and said, "Don't move or speak, I'm going to check your condition." "
Immediately afterward, Austin felt a faint coolness coming from the center of his eyebrows, which was very comfortable, like a soaked towel on his forehead on a hot summer day.
"Strange, really weird. What is your name, young man, tell me how you've spent the past three days. The mage was anxious and excited, and Austen's special situation couldn't help but arouse curiosity and curiosity as a mage.
"Austin, my name, my lord. I'll start with the day I got out of the sewers...."
Although Austen's eloquence is not particularly good, there is no problem at all in telling a story, not to mention that this story is still experienced by himself, he tells it very specifically and in detail, and even tells some of his own psychological processes.
Master Jersey also listened attentively, and from time to time gave a brief explanation of some of the encounters that Austen experienced:
"After your body is eroded by the breath of hell, your physique will slowly approach the creatures of purgatory, and the healing magic will naturally not work, and it will be good if it doesn't counteract you. "
"Nightmares are the means by which the breath of hell eats away at your soul, and once you are completely lost in it, your soul becomes the plaything of the devil, and your body becomes a walking dead at the mercy of the devil. "
"You said that you dreamed that you were being sacrificed to some monster, but that was a sign that your soul would be devoured by the three-headed dog of Hell. "
"Hehe, young man, your plan is good, but you drank the wrong medicine, the kind of thing that is suitable for going to bed will make that hellish breath more active. "
"Did you run out and were hit, or was you hit by the Earl's carriage? I don't know if you should say that your life is bad, or that your life is too good. "
But when the mage heard that Austin was in a near-death coma, not only was he not hooked into a nightmare, but he was in a place of nothingness, his eyes widened in surprise, "Say it again, what does that place look like?"
"Well, it's empty, there's nothingness, there's no light, there's no darkness, but I can feel my soul. Austin honestly repeated.
"The God of Knowledge is above, this is really incredible, you have unintentionally entered the sea of your own spiritual power! It's amazing!" Jersey became a little fanatical, and his eyes were full of fire when he looked at Austin. "You go on, what was the state of the last time you woke up?"
"It hurts all over my body, but after the examination, the internal injuries caused by the carriage are basically healed, only the epidermis is still all kinds of bruises. "Austin had slowly heard that something had changed in him, and although he didn't understand the 'Sea of Spiritual Power', he could guess from the mage's attitude that it was good, and he couldn't help but be complacent.
"Haha, that's great, Austin, right? You can survive such a mess, and by the way, you have exhausted the power of the infernal breath that invaded your body, it's really!
As a mage known for his calmness, it is not an exaggeration to call Zecil's current state madness, but the mages of the prophecy faction, in order to peek into the skirt of the goddess of fate, do not deliberately control their emotions, and only in the most natural state, can they make more accurate predictions.
Austin waited for the mage in front of him to regain his composure, and plucked up the courage to ask, "Master, that... Can I ask a few questions?"
"Tell me about it. Jersey looked at Austin very well at the moment and nodded.
"What do you keep talking about hell and what does it have to do with the dagger that stabbed me?" was the question that had been bothering Austen, and now he finally had another chance to find the answer.
"Have you heard of the Nine Layers of Hell? Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Layers of Hell, he has a servant named Kelberrot who is the original form of the Three-Headed Dog of Hell, this Kelberlot has been very active in the Felaman Continent in the past hundred years, not only widely developing believers, but also specially casting a batch of dagger sacrifices called Kelberrot's Blade to collect souls for it. This dagger has three special effects: one is to harvest the souls of the dead who have been killed directly, the second is to use it as a sacrificial vessel to communicate with Kelberrot and trade it with sacrifices, and the third is to create Hell Dependents, which is what you have been facing. "
"The so-called Hell Dependents are nothing more than a group of monsters whose souls have been eroded, they have a physique comparable to that of purgatory, but they have no mental ability, they only know how to slaughter, and cause trouble and fear to this world. But not everyone is suitable to become a dependant of hell, the Blade of Kerbolot will inject the breath of hell into all the bodies that are stabbed, if the vitality is weak, the blood will be directly sucked dry by the breath of hell and die, only people with strong vitality can temporarily save their lives after being injured, and only have the value of being further transformed. "Usually only professionals have enough vitality to hold on, and only a few ordinary people are incredibly strong enough to do it!" Speaking of this, Jersey glanced at Austin meaningfully. "There is also a situation, if the person is born with the power of hell, then this force will naturally not kill him immediately, and will slowly and deeply transform it. Look at yourself, your thighs are not as thick as those warriors' arms, and you're not a professional, do you understand what kind of person you are?"
"Master, you mentioned the 'Sea of Spiritual Power' before, what is that?" At the mention of this, Austin's heart couldn't help but flutter and beat faster, and he had a premonition that his future fate would change because of it.
"The sea of spiritual power. Zecil muttered, "That's the key to whether a person can become a mage! Only those who open the sea of their spiritual power are qualified to further try to connect to the magic net." "
"That's .....," Austin was so excited that she could barely speak.
Mage Zecil replied for him: "You now have the potential to become a mage, and after my test, your spiritual power has become much stronger than ordinary people after experiencing the baptism of nightmares, which also meets the standard of becoming a mage. "
"But!" the mage suddenly took a turn of his mind, "you're not fit to follow the path of a mage!"