Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Rommel looked with surprise at the so-called transaction items from Gilbert.

After sending away the junior mage who was glancing around, he weighed the slightly heavy silver box and closed the door to go upstairs with a hint of doubt.

Rommel did not have followers or students.

This Magic Tower was not only inhabited solely by him, but even the puppets were spider-shaped junior types, capable only of cleaning and organizing simple chores, unable to handle more complex tasks.

For instance, receiving gifts.

These little spiders were not large, so they could not open the tall Magic Tower doors at all.

Kamente Tower had certainly mentioned having his loyal subordinates work for him, but... Rommel dared to swear, once there was an outsider here, when he refused to accept the mountain of gifts piled outside, the fate of these people would be a dead end.

As followers, not handling their master’s trivial matters was their greatest fault.

Even if it was the master’s indication, it was the same.

Those looking for a reason to caution Rommel were not just Glaysia, and not only her male pets.

Rommel couldn’t move, but the people around him naturally became the best targets.

A show of force... No matter the world, it has always been the same since ancient times.

Rommel, although he didn’t need the gratitude from Kamente Tower’s subordinates, also had no interest in using others’ lives to add to Glaysia’s brutality.

If he needed to judge what kind of people they were, what they could achieve, and if there were any loopholes to be found, he certainly wouldn’t mind sacrificing others’ lives.

But knowing what Glaysia was like long ago, he might as well accept the tearful gratitude from others.

However, there was one thing Rommel found quite odd.

Hill seemed a bit too good towards Russell.

Of course, he knew that Little Bear must have reached some agreement to impersonate Gilbert... With Gilbert’s past stories, Rommel could easily guess what Gilbert would demand.

Therefore, he always had no reaction to the existence of Russell and Carpenter.

After all, if he were in the same situation, he would also think that nurturing new prospects for the Hainarson Clan was the best solution.

The importance of that clan had greatly diminished since the Tower of Dark Enigma fully integrated into Sia Tower.

As long as there’s a mid-level magician, they could live quite well over at the Tower of Dark Enigma.

Rommel had no doubts that Hill could nurture a proper Fifth Ring Mage.

But after formally meeting this child today, he discovered how much Hill truly valued him.

That Little Bear was genuinely grooming him as his disciple.

Some traces outsiders couldn’t see, but to Draculus, who had nurtured numerous mages and personally witnessed countless mages grow, those traces were exceptionally clear.

Hill was definitely using the most stringent teaching methods from Teraxil... Fran’s personal disciple education approach to teach this Russell.

On the contrary, the Carpenter he saw last time did have a bit of the appearance of a Magic Tower student.

According to Rommel’s initial thoughts... Carpenter’s position should have been Russell’s.

He felt nothing when he saw that girl, because Hill’s usual style of work was quite casual.

To him, regardless of Russell’s excellent talents or Carpenter’s poorer talents, how much difference was there?

Draculus could understand that kind of equal mindset very well: after all, he was the same back in those days.

What difference was there between a Legendary Laws with one law and a Legendary Laws with two laws?

They were all people who couldn’t see the Eye of the Universe.

Teaching them, there was no need to treat them differently due to such a distinction.

After all, the result was almost the same.

Yet Hill’s nurturing of Russell was evidently equivalent to a three laws Legendary... much like how Fran treated Adrian.

Rommel frowned a bit puzzled.

He felt there must be something wrong with his judgment of Russell.

Although it could also be said that Hill had a special fondness for this child and decided to use his own methods to give him a hand, allowing him to at least stand among the stars.

However, Rommel still trusted his impression of Hill: unless emotions ran deep to a certain degree, Hill would absolutely not interfere in others’ destinies.

Hill knew the difference between giving good things and practically nurturing someone with nothing into having everything.

If the child didn’t have that foundation, Hill would never take such actions.

But why?

Rommel recalled his observations of Russell once again; he still couldn’t see what was extraordinary about this child’s talents.

He could only say they were okay.

He silently sat at his desk and opened Hill’s return gift.

It was an incredibly delicate metal landscape painting.

Woven intricately with various metal wires only one-tenth the thickness of hair, adorned with crystals and gemstones in various colors.

Although the gemstones weren’t large, their purity was very high.

Especially the winding little river, where the depths stirred with ripples and whirlpools, the brilliance of white crystals and diamonds shone brightly.

Rommel calmly glanced at that river filled with thousands of crystals and hundreds of small diamonds, then took another look at the white clouds and blue sky... above, that Silvermoon seemed also formed with crystals and a bit of translucent Carlokin.

The Carlokin was controlled to not solidify too much water, but form a slight mist... This is the nature of this mineral.

And the most interesting thing about this mineral is that it emits a faint glow under the sunlight.

Rommel pondered for a moment and then turned on the light overhead.

Unfortunately, besides seeing a round moon with a dim glow, there were no other discoveries.

Near the Silvermoon, the stars comprised of various gemstones, of course, all capable of sparkling a faint purple glow when the bright moon emits light.

This painting is truly exquisite and heartfelt.

Rommel let out a faint wry smile.

He knew that Little Bear wouldn’t give him news for free.

Since the sky bore no traces, the mountain, woven with glazed crystal iron wire and fine iron wire as the background, remained in its indifferent blue-black color except for flashing a teal hue at certain angles.

Then, the message from Hill could only be in that little river.

It’s not surprising Hill could draw the natural form of glazed crystal iron into wire.

Although very troublesome, it’s not impossible for an archmage above Seven Rings to spend a month drawing a few meters of crystal iron wire if willing.

If it were Draculus, the time could even be halved.

This painting by Hill was apparently made from various scraps, so even a bit of crystal iron wire was normal.

Such precious materials found from external meteorites, though immensely valuable, it wasn’t surprising that Gilbert, Ruth’s prized disciple who received several storage rings from Ninth Ring Archmages, could possess it.

Rommel was even more astonished that Hill managed to hide a crystal with a certain secret in this little river without revealing any traces.

Although white crystals have many functions, due to the material’s extreme purity, any discordance when they are gathered is quite apparent.

Normally, a glance is enough to spot the anomaly.

Rommel initially thought the message from Hill was one-time, but now he felt a bit disoriented... Was it necessary to be so meticulous for a one-time message delivery?

Despite the confusion, Rommel knew Hill was just toying with him.

After all, the existence of this painting couldn’t be a secret... Glaysia would certainly enter his tower again next time and insist on seeing it.

The Princess of Hell, though not resembling her parents in many ways, inherited their mutual trait of suspicion.

Unfortunately, the least useful trait was passed on to someone who didn’t need it.

Taking a deep breath, Rommel began to trace along the river upstream... He knew this was a psychological test.

If he chose the wrong direction and hesitated midway, shifting to another direction, the crystal might just be in the middle.

But if he probed the middle and made a wrong choice, he might miss the crystal he could have found.

That Little Bear dealt with the Undead Tribe far more, surely adept at such games.

As long as Rommel wasn’t in a hurry, it would only waste a little more time... Considering Glaysia’s next visit would be three days later, he could afford it.

Finally, he understood why Fran smiled enigmatically while nodding when others praised Hill’s stability and reliability.

A bear is a bear.

No matter how good-tempered, still a bear.

When mischievous, it truly leaves one at a loss for words.

Who could think of using thousands of crystals to make a river just to conceal one illusion crystal?

If Rommel wasn’t so experienced, his first instinct would undoubtedly be to head for that round moon!

Quite a number of crystals were on that moon too!

Luckily he knew something about the properties of recording crystals and Carlokin... That hazy water essence would expose the presence of an illusion crystal.

Rommel could only inch forward while feeling relieved that he wasn’t a hasty person.

After an afternoon of meticulous exploration, Rommel could no longer maintain his composed demeanor.

What does it mean?

What happened?

How could that crystal not be in the little river?

Where did he misjudge?

Rommel wouldn’t go so far as to suspect that Hill sent this painting just to mess with him without conveying any message.

That Little Bear was mischievous but not brainless.

Taking yet another deep breath, he finally resolved to probe from start to finish again.

Be it those stars, or that mountain.

At this moment, Rommel has cleared all other thoughts and just wants to uncover the secret hidden by that damned bear... Yet he entertained some ideas: Hill’s alchemical technique was clearly not Elven heritage, much less from Teraxil.

It seems quite interesting.

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