Charlie said in a deep voice, "First, I'm very sorry that because of me, I've brought you all so much trouble and risk, especially you Davie, the two major events you've experienced are somewhat related to me, I'm truly sorry!"
Davie hooked Charlie's shoulder and said, "Between brothers, there's no need for such distant talk!"
Charlie gritted his teeth, "I swear I will find out the mastermind behind this! I swear I will seek justice for Colin! All those who plotted and participated in this will pay with their lives! This is my vow!"
Davie said, "It's also my vow!"
"Next, I want to state my decision." Charlie took a deep breath and said solemnly, "I have decided to withdraw from the team..."
"Huh?! Why?" Qingtong was alarmed.
Davie was puzzled, "Charlie, what are you trying to do?"
Only Qingtong frowned slightly without speaking.
"This idea has been brewing since the last incident, it's my fault for making too many enemies! On the magic ship, I provoked Daniel, in the Starry Meditation class, I provoked Prince Weining, at Sogo Beach I provoked Peter, and after returning to the academy, I also angered High Mage Felinando. I've brought too much hatred and risk to everyone! It can be said that all of this is because of me!"
Qingtong spoke up, "You angered Daniel, but Qingtong was also a factor; as for the enmity with Prince Weining, I was also involved; provoking Peter was just a normal conflict of interest; and angering Mr. Felinando was because of Peter's affair, none of this was your fault.
In my opinion, the outstanding will inevitably become the target of many, you don't need to take all the blame on yourself."
Qingtong added, "That's right! Big Brother Charlie, the matter with Daniel is already over, I can guarantee he won't bother you in the future."
Charlie shook his head, "Regardless of the reasons, the situation has reached this point, I've been targeted, and I haven't figured out who is orchestrating this behind the scenes yet, so I have to face it alone!"
Davie said coldly, "This means you don't see me as a brother, we should face difficulties together! That's what a real team is about!"
Charlie sighed.
Qingtong looked at him deeply and said, "Davie, you don't need to persuade him anymore, I think he has made his decision, and from a certain perspective, we are indeed Charlie's burden, if he wants to catch the person behind this, he has to shake off the burden."
Qingtong's words became the epilogue to Charlie's departure from the team.
And so, this team that had forged a deep friendship on the magic ship finally disbanded.
Master Nal soon brought the news, exactly as he had previously expected: the academy waived the fees for recovering the soul force, and also waived the team's round-trip teleportation fees, and provided a compensation of 500 apprentice points for each member, as well as a two-week vacation stay at the main campus.
For the last time as the team leader, Charlie led the team to accept the ritual of restoring their soul force.
Then he solemnly said to the other members, "I'm going back to Twilight Town right away, you all can rest at the academy for a while, especially you Davie, deal with Colin's aftermath first.
As for what choices your team makes from now on, discuss it among yourselves, my advice is to take it steady and slow, almost no team can meet the requirements within the time the academy suggested, you don't need to hurry."
"Understood! Take care, brother!" "Take care!"
Charlie gave each of them a hug, then left with a resolute stride, under the bewildered gaze of the team members.
Back in Master Nal's magic tower, Charlie made some preparations, changing his usual distinctive attire, completely covering his face, and then rested.
When it was deep night with no one around, Charlie stepped into the teleportation gate, returning to the cruel Twilight Town.
Facing the gloomy environment, the deep twilight, the crowds coming and going, the fierce beast lurking in Charlie's consciousness let out a roar, and being alone, Charlie actually felt a sense of lightness, without the constraints of the team, his decision could be made without so much hesitation, and his opponent would surely regret doing such a terrible thing to Colin!
The first thing Charlie did when he returned to Twilight Town was to consign a 'Holy Light Barrier' scroll to the Twilight Town auction house, priced at 1,000 points.
This was 20 times the normal selling price, quickly attracting the attention of many people, everyone cursing loudly, accusing the seller of the scroll of being insatiably greedy, narrow-minded, driven mad by the desire for points.
With more and more people's attention, they soon discovered the real purpose of the consignor, as there was a small advertisement embedded in the description text of the scroll.
"Undertaking the drawing of all kinds of scrolls, temporary enchantment of weapons and arrows, supporting all third-tier magic and a small amount of fourth-tier magic scrolls, supporting weapon enchantments like 'Holy Flame', 'Blade of Lightness', 'Split Arrow' and 'Black Arrow', price negotiable, contact location is the Blood Raven Tavern bar counter."
Instantly, this message spread like lightning throughout Twilight Town, silencing the vast majority of the informed, even including some teachers.
What this advertisement means, without a doubt, is that of a qualified "Intermediate Rune Engraver", an extremely rare profession.
For rune engraving apprentices, being able to master more than two weapon enchantments can shed the apprentice title, this symbolic moment is usually passed in the lonely nights of the Arcane Circle, and Charlie had quietly risen to this level before coming to Twilight Town.
Twilight Town is not without rune engravers, but the few rune engravers have been hired by the Necromancy Division, highly revered, enjoying noble treatment, and rarely have any contact with ordinary apprentices, let alone valuing the resources in the apprentices' hands.
However, now there is a junior rune engraver willing to deal with ordinary apprentices, this is an extremely rare opportunity.
The effect of 'Holy Flame', as verified in the carousel battle between Charlie and the necromancy apprentices, is difficult for most undead creatures to resist, except for the heavyweight stitched monsters.
Peter is a second-year student, belonging to the 'Wind Speed Team', composed of five combat specialists: two rogues, two rangers, and one shield-axe wielder, also an anomaly among the second-year students in the main campus, but this team without any mages has become a recognized strong team in the town, a formidable competitor for the advanced private tasks on the task platform.
The Wind Speed Team is famous for their speed, the shield-axe wielder is quite agile even without heavy armor, they didn't intentionally not want to recruit a mage, but just hadn't found one who could fit into their combat system, and if they forcibly recruited one, it would become a weak link in the team, out of sync with their overall tactics.
Without a mage, it means a lack of damage capability, especially against undead summoned creatures without a sense of pain, the pure physical attacks are particularly ineffective, so they are so interested in equipment and magical items, magical equipment can to some extent make up for the five people's damage capability, obviously, if the weapons could have the effect of holy flame, dealing with undead creatures would be much easier.
Peter hesitated, "Tony, do you think this person is bluffing? From the information he exposed on the auction house, he's a first-year apprentice, becoming an intermediate rune engraver at the first year? I really don't believe it!
In this industry, which 'engraver' has gotten the title before 30 years old? There are so many basic runes, countless composite runes, there's so much learning content in it, how can he master it so quickly?"
"I don't know, go see for yourself." Tony shook his head, "Peter, hurry up! The boss told you to try to recruit this person, if you can't handle this, the boss will get angry!"
"Why the rush? Who dares to compete with our Wind Speed Team for people?"
Soon, Peter and Tony appeared at the Blood Raven Tavern, and the sight immediately left them dumbfounded.
It was as if they had encountered the annual festival celebration of Twilight Town, there was a sea of people outside the tavern, the tavern had announced it was full and stopped receiving guests, the tavern doors were also closed.
Peter said sourly, "What's going on? It's just a junior rune engraver, why is it making such a fuss?"
Many people with the same mindset as Peter were gathered around the tavern, listening to the discussions around them while chatting.
"I heard the team ranked third among the second-year students in the main campus has gone in, not sure if they're going to find that person."
"That's just stating the obvious!"
In fact, it was just stating the obvious.
Charlie was currently communicating with the captain of this team.
"I know you're a first-year, I really can't believe a first-year apprentice has become a rune engraver, may I ask who your teacher is? He must be a master to have taught such an outstanding student!"
Charlie shook his head, "I'd rather not disclose that."
The captain didn't mind Charlie's refusal, and continued to probe, "Since I'm here, let me just state my purpose. I wonder if you have any interest in joining our team?
If you already have a team, we can provide you with free team leave points.
The apology is that our official team members are already full, we can only offer a reserve member position, but we promise to give you the treatment and benefits of an official member, this should be the best deal in Twilight Town, no one can offer you equivalent conditions.
And you should know that in Twilight Town, among teams in the same grade, our team is ranked first in strength, although we are ranked third on the academy's points leaderboard, that's last year's data, and the first and second place teams are not active in Twilight Town."
Charlie shook his head, "I only do business, not discuss other matters, if you want to talk business, then stay; if it's anything else, then please leave!"
The captain still wanted to make some more effort, "Won't you consider it again? We can discuss the details of the treatment, there's a suitable range."
Charlie shook his head.
A young man standing nearby sneered disdainfully, "Hmph! The captain shows you some respect because you have some ability, but you really think you're a big shot?"