Chapter 58 - Cops Called on Florida Man for Staring at Elderly Mage on Smoke Break
Archmage Garudeer, a sixth-circle wind mage, co-founded Aero Academy before delegating its administration to one of the Alchemy Saint's disciples. He currently served as a professor at the Royal Magi Academy, where he trained royalty and talented noble children.
Garudeer had sunken eyes, thick white eyebrows that covered half of his eyes, long silver hair touching his back, a full beard that reached his chest, and traces of aging. Despite being a 500-year-old undying archmage, he was as healthy as a teenage athlete.
Dressed in a Royal Magi's navy long-sleeved shirt, long pants, high boots, a winter coat, and a golden cape made of rain dragon scale fibers, he looked like Saruman cosplaying a fantasy military officer.
Levitating over Terra City, Garudeer observed the aftermath of the raid. Upon seeing the many ruined houses and mutated townspeople, he deeply sighed.
"Pitiful. The Lundop family was a role model noble house. It's a shame they got swept by the surprise attack. Well, the empire should have seen it coming since they allocated land so close to the Black Forest."
Garudeer didn't want to waste his time in this city. He turned around, planning to fly back to the headquarters.
Suddenly, a weird noise caught his attention.
*POP*
A muffled sound of something rushing out of a long pipe made Garudeer flinch. As the noise was unusual, he postponed his return and rushed to the source.
Flying closer to the inner district, Garudeer noticed an absurd scene. Among the destroyed wooden houses, one building stood out from the rest as it was made of strange white stones, covered in a bubble dome barrier.
As an experienced mage, Garudeer paid attention to the mana flow of the barrier. He sensed an element that no mage could cultivate or learn—the Lightning Element.
*POP*
Another noise reminded Garudeer of his objective. He looked left, gazing at the source of the sound. Two blocks away, a man and a woman wielding strange tubes waltzed on the street, pointing the muzzles of their tubes at the mutated locals.
*POP*
*POP*
Fire came out from the tubes, and two disfigured zombies collapsed on the ground.
"Hoh?"
This piqued Garudeer's interest. He crossed his legs as if he sat in mid-air, watching the show from above. The couple below toured the neighborhood, killing everything in sight.
After watching for 30 minutes, Garudeer planned to greet and interrogate them about the city. But suddenly, the man below touched one of the corpses and sucked it into his palm.
Garudeer raised an eyebrow, surprised and bewildered.
"Storage magic?"
He, too, could use a similar spell. However, Garudeer mastered it when he was at the fifth circle after some difficulties. Therefore, seeing a young man casually using storage magic shocked him.
"Who is that young mage? Should I talk to him first, or should I report back to the emperor?"
Gathering more information, Garudeer narrowed his eyes, scanning the mysterious mage's mana with his sense.
Suddenly, the man below paused and looked up, staring straight at Garudeer.
"!!!"
Startled at being detected, Garudeer smirked. He silently nodded at Felix, giving him courtesy. Then, he quietly returned to his headquarters.
…
It had been 16 days since Felix's return. Felix and Jane finally agreed to bring Valley along to visit her ruined mansion. With the city cleared of mutants and hostile entities, they arrived safely at Robert's mansion.
The place had already been ransacked by the Lamias and the survivors half a month ago, but they still entered the building. Without electricity or maintenance, the floors were already dusty. Adding broken furniture and murky liquid left behind by the Lamias and their victims, the mansion reeked of mold and rotten bodily fluid.
Braving the smell, the dark, and the dirty hallway, Valley led the group to her bedroom, where the entrance to the secret chamber was located. She pointed at a large bookshelf full of books, asking Felix to move it aside.
Strangely, all bookshelves in the mansion were left untouched. It seemed looters didn't like reading, similar to Earth's mass looters.
"There's a storage room behind this bookshelf. My father stored the family heirloom in there, including some ancient gold coins."
"Not a hidden passageway?" Felix tilted his head, puzzled why Robert or Roland didn't create a hidden passageway in case of emergency.
Valley pouted. "We used to have one, but a thug accidentally discovered the exit and backtracked to the mansion. He broke in and killed one of our maids during the robbery. The exit was sealed after that."
"…My condolences."
Although Felix consoled Valley, he secretly wanted to mock Robert for having skill issues. He should have made the exit somewhere out of reach and well-protected, like a military camp outside of town.
Everyone helped dismantle the two tall bookshelves, revealing a wall with a magic circle pattern. Valley gulped and pressed her palm on it.
The patterns exuded a golden light and magically vanished, revealing a new path.
The passageway was a short corridor leading to a large library full of empty bookshelves and boxes. Valley rushed in as if this wasn't her first time here. She reached for a small box and opened it. Inside was a thick book made of papyrus papers.
What Valley did next surprised everyone. She ripped the book's cover and removed the bindings, discarding every page except seven. After arranging the seven pages on the ground, the puzzle pieces were put together.
The pages formed a hand-drawn magic circuit, which had been separated into seven parts on purpose. Valley had just assembled it to create a complete magic circle.
After completing the magic circle, she picked a blank paper and redrew it. Then, she dropped her blood on the paper.
"What are you doing, Lady Valley?" Jane started to get worried.
"Oh, nothing much," Valley grinned. "It's a security procedure to unlock the real heirloom."
"But how did you know all of this?" Felix grew suspicious.
Valley averted her eyes from Felix and looked at Jane, confessing, "It's already starting."
Suddenly, the magic circuit Valley had written ejected a shining black pill, which floated in front of her.
Felix gazed at the pill and thought of a certain item he hadn't touched in a long time. Its shape and color were different, but it somehow had the same aura.
"What is that?" Jane pointed at the floating pill.
Valley didn't reply. She deeply inhaled and grabbed it, then passed it to Jane.
"What is that?" Jane repeated, pointing at the pill.
Valley continued to ignore Felix and only talked to Jane, "A repayment for what you have done for me."
"But what about you? I thought you wanted to return home because you forgot something."
The young lady bitterly smiled. She reached out and grabbed another box containing another pill. This one looked the same as something Felix already had. She passed it to him. "Here, for you."
Felix awkwardly received it and glanced at Jane's pill. He deeply sighed.
"Girly, how long do you think this med has been sitting in this moldy room?"
Valley lowered her gaze, staring at Felix's feet, "Probably longer than my age?"
Silently, Felix put the pill in his inventory to appraise it. The result was as he had expected.
.
Expired Pill of Longevity
This pill was created by Wu Buyi, a disciple of the Great Singularity. As it was produced a thousand years ago and stored poorly, the pill's effectiveness greatly diminished. At best, it can be consumed as a cosmetic pill.
Consumable item
Effects:
- Reduces physical age by 2 years
- Highly poisonous
.
Seeing the description, Felix shook his head. As for Jane's version, he borrowed it from her and appraised it as well.
.
Pill of Immortality
This standard life-extension pill was created by Dao Sovereign Gao Yan. He distributed a million pills of the same quality to his followers and disciples as attendant gifts during his 1,000th coronation anniversary ceremony. One of these pills was passed down to the mortal world and became a secret treasure of a noble family.
Consumable item
Effects:
- Increases lifespan by 1,000 years
- Grants new innate talent: Instant Regeneration (does not affect immortals)
- Reverts the physical age of the consumer to their youth; if the consumer is younger than 18, their appearance will be fixed at the state when they consume the pill
.
The quality disparity between these two pills was like Heaven and Earth. Felix quietly returned the pill to Jane and told her to eat it.
However, Jane refused and passed it back to Valley. "No, my lady, this is your heirloom. You should use it, not me."
Felix facepalmed while Valley reluctantly took it back and then ate it without warning. This made Felix double-facepalm. He didn't bother telling Jane or Valley its effects since it was too late.
"What a waste," Felix lamented.
Jane bantered, "If you're mad, you should eat yours."
"No, thanks. I'll do it when I need to."
Felix ended the conversation and returned home. Valley also finished what she came here to do and followed everyone home, continuing their slow, peaceful days.
…
However, others did not leave them alone. The next day, Garudeer returned with three other archmages. They hovered around Felix's house. Garudeer, the leader of the group, landed in front of the building. He calmly approached the barrier and passed through it. Then, he gently knocked on the door.
"We're archmages from the royal palace! We wish to meet the owner of this place!"