Alchemist

"Don't worry. I believe no one will laugh at you again in the future."

Pempes ended by saying those not particularly funny words in a joking manner.

His words also made it clear that he had chosen to support Wisdom Shield. Wisdom Shield could now deal with those fellows hoping to watch a good show.

"Today's wine suits my taste perfectly. I need to go have a few more cups."

Then the old man staggered out of the reception room, already somewhat drunk.

At that moment, Wisdom Shield only wanted to throw back his head and howl at the heavens, while Chen Cheng beside him wore an expression whose meaning was impossible to describe.

The two then exchanged a glance as they watched the drunken Pembez, both revealing helpless looks toward the professor.

"Looks like we'll have to carry the professor back later."

Fini also said apologetically:

"Your Excellency the Earl should know that Professor Pempes is just that kind of old man, so..."

She thought Pempes's reeking, drunken state had offended the earl.

Wisdom Shield raised a hand and waved it dismissively.

"It's fine. The professor has accepted me as his disciple now. He is my master now."

The two of them then rose and took their leave of Wisdom Shield.

After the banquet finally dispersed, Pempes had indeed drunk himself unconscious, just as Chen Cheng had said. In the end, Wisdom Shield had servants carry him back.

A blood moon hung high in the heavens, its light spilling over the earth in a crimson tide.

Crows cried atop a hill dotted with grave mounds. Mixed with the blood-red night and the cold wind howling through the mountains, it painted an eerie, terrifying scene.

Along the lonely path winding through the hill, a carriage hung with kerosene lamps creaked its way upward.

Once the horse reached the hilltop, it let out a neigh, startling all the crows perched upon the tombstones into spreading their wings and flying away.

An old hand with grotesquely long nails and skin like gooseflesh stretched out from behind the carriage curtain.

Then an alchemist stepped down from the carriage, bent over, his skin wrinkled and his hair white as a crane's feathers. He wore a wizard's robe and held a round Magic Crystal in his hand.

The alchemist approached the rows of grave mounds, then began uttering an unknown and strange chant, punctuated now and then by his shrill, chilling laughter.

His wrinkled palm swept across the Magic Crystal in his hand, and a bottle of dark green potion appeared in his grasp.

He pulled out the bottle stopper and slowly poured out the potion while chanting.

Accompanied by his incantation, the green potion spilled onto the ground divided like living creatures into many streams, flowing toward the neat and abandoned grave mounds.

Then came a rustling sound of dirt collapsing, as skeletons and corpses still bearing rotting flesh crawled out from the graves.

At last, the disturbance here alerted the gravekeeper in the wooden hut.

A stream of curses came from the other side of the graves, followed by the sound of a door opening.

"You bastards born without assholes, you actually dared set your sights on Grandpa Peiqi's territory! Today I'll show you—"

When Peiqi thought some grave robbers had come to rob graves in the land he guarded, he opened the door and saw the alchemist's face, illuminated by the blood-red moonlight like an evil ghost from Hell.

Before he could react, the alchemist gave him a sinister smile.

That nearly scared Peiqi to death. The curses poised on his lips changed instantly into a string of terrified screams.

Perhaps his cries startled the horse grazing nearby. He then watched as that utterly ordinary horse transformed in the blink of an eye into a Skeleton Horse that could speak human words.

"The aura of your soul is still quite strong."

At that instant, Peiqi's mind completely collapsed. Shouting at the top of his lungs, he ran straight down the hillside. Then, in a moment of carelessness, his foot caught on a stone and he tumbled down.

The Skeleton Horse took a deep breath toward Peiqi. A phantom image identical to Peiqi was then sucked out of his body and swallowed by the horse.

After swallowing Peiqi's soul, the Skeleton Horse returned to the appearance of an ordinary horse and lowered its head to continue gnawing the weeds on the ground. Yet amid the breath it snorted, the phantom image of a wailing person could still vaguely be seen.

Once the alchemist had completely poured out his potion, skeletons finally emerged one after another from the grave mounds.

Among these skeletons, only a very small number ignited the fires of their souls and became dark creatures known as Undead Skeletons.

At the head of those skeletons stood an Undead Knight whose body was made of mist. Clad head to toe in armor, with scarlet eyes, he rode an undead horse beneath him.

The alchemist was extremely satisfied with his creation. He then walked toward the carriage, while the skeletons followed behind it under the Undead Knight's command.

The carriage wheels began to turn, and drawn by the horse, the entire carriage headed into the forest as though traveling over level ground.

Morning sunlight spilled across the land, waking the people who had slept through the night.

And our great Earl Huidun stood before the gates of Huidun Academy amid the golden radiance of the morning sun.

At this moment, the events of last night kept replaying in his mind, along with the Image Recording Crystal sitting on the desk in his office.

He did not know where that crystal had come from. Yet when he recalled Adolf's prior attitude toward him, the images within did not seem to be groundless rumors.

However, having always kept a firm grip on the governing power of his territory, he had long heard of a miraculous item appearing on the market—glasses.

Melinda's eyes had been able to see the world clearly again because of that small pair of glasses.

After witnessing Achilles die before him, his temperament had matured in that moment. He was no longer that rash little noble who had nearly led his entire force to destruction after being fooled by an unfounded rumor.

Not to mention that he also held a measure of appreciation for that little slave.

The greatest source of help he could obtain within his territory now was the academy, and there were only a few students in the academy who bore the name of genius.

Among them was Brown, a student of slave status, and tied to him was Fini, the newly risen genius with the greatest reputation.

Moreover, because he had invented glasses and solved Melinda's eye problem, the network of connections tied to him was even broader.

If Wisdom Shield were still as rash as before and truly dealt with Chen Cheng because of those inexplicable images, then it could be said that his chance to turn things around would truly be gone.

He also vaguely sensed that the person pulling petty tricks behind the scenes had a grudge against Brown, that little slave. That person did not dare go against the academy's rules to deal with Chen Cheng, so he had turned his attention toward Wisdom Shield instead.

When he thought of being treated as a fool and used by someone again, anger rose in his heart.

So after watching the images inside the Image Recording Crystal, he directly destroyed the crystal. At the same time, he used detection magic to investigate who was behind it.

Unfortunately, Coles, that little boy, truly had the makings of a villain. He had actually used a Shadow Tracing Magic Crystal when placing the crystal.

As a result, Wisdom Shield had discovered nothing at all.

But now that he had come to the academy, he could investigate slowly in the days ahead and see who held a grudge against Chen Cheng. He could also see whether Melinda truly had an unusual relationship with Chen Cheng, that little slave.

That was right. Although he knew someone wanted to borrow his hand and that the scenes within were very likely deliberately captured, he still wanted to confirm it.

Only, he would not be as rash as before. He would first devise a foolproof plan.

Like Wisdom Shield, Coles, the venomous little boy hidden in the shadows, had also slept poorly all night.

Ever since placing that Image Recording Crystal yesterday, his heart had been pounding wildly. This was the first time he had done something so wicked, especially the torment of waiting for the matter to ferment and reveal its results—a feeling he had never experienced before.

Before this, he had only regarded Chen Cheng as a mere little slave. Once that deceptive image reached the earl's hands, Chen Cheng's death would be as certain as a nail driven into a board.

Yet his violently pounding heart was telling him that Chen Cheng was no longer an ant that could be crushed at will. Chen Cheng was the academy's undisputed number one genius, and his disrespectful behavior at the banquet had not earned the earl's punishment. Instead, he had been invited into the reception room.

All of it told him that Chen Cheng was no longer an ant. He had become an enemy who would be extremely difficult to deal with.