Setting a Trap

"Or, could you give me a precious spell?"

"Spells?!"

Sean's brows furrowed suddenly, as if he had heard a very unexpected answer.

"Why?"

Fran responded with a smile.

"It's just that I'm not interested in any of the things you've suggested. If I had to say, what I want is the magic of the Astrology School."

"This is just a personal hobby of mine. You know, obtaining spells from other School is incredibly difficult, isn't it?"

Fran didn't need any of the three things Sean suggested.

Her Silver Alchemy Award alone would far surpass the network of connections that the ring brought her.

She doesn't need a house in the Floating City right now, and even if she did, it wouldn't be a difficult task for a mage like her with awards and achievements.

As for Gold Coin, forget about them.

Of course, Fran didn't actually expect to get anything out of Sean.

The best thing Sean could get was to die without causing any trouble.

Now, Fran is feigning agreement with Sean, her sole purpose being to create a plausible scenario for her murder plan.

For her, the less information she left behind, the better. This applied not only to the information Sean left behind when she carried out her attack, but also to the communication Sean left with the outside world.

She can take advantage of this candid exchange, but at the same time, she should be mindful of the information it leaves behind.

If she takes the ring, Sean will definitely inform the Felistin Family, as a promising Second Order Mage may be interested in joining forces with the family.

If she chooses a house in the Floating City, the name change alone during the property transfer will be enough to establish her identity.

As for BRICS, real-world funding might be a good option.

But who can say that the Lorenbu Family accountant wouldn't have noticed that twenty-three gold bars were missing from the family assets?

This is no small sum; many Third Order Mage might not be able to come up with that much cash.

In order to prevent Fran and Sean's actions from being recorded, Fran chose an option that would absolutely not leave a record.

Why do you need Astrology School magic?

Sean's face was full of surprise. He glanced at Fran's clothes but didn't see any School's insignia.

Fran is not a mage of the Astrology School; the Stone Tablet placed in Wolf Fang Territory and the external mental fluctuations can prove this.

Of all the Astrology School mages Sean had ever encountered, none had exhibited mental fluctuations like Fran's.

Since Fran isn't Astrology School mage, what would she need Astrology School magic for?

Seemingly sensing Sean's confusion, Fran slowly said:

"I will reveal key information about my experiment to you, so shouldn't you exchange it for equivalent information?"

Sean suddenly realized, and a hint of admiration rose in his eyes as he looked at Fran.

In his view, Fran didn't want the material things he offered, but instead inexplicably asked for the knowledge of the Astrology School —something Fran seemed to have no use for at all, which could only mean one thing:

Since I've taken the risk of revealing crucial knowledge to you, you should also exchange it for knowledge that involves risk.

Since I have already made an exception to reveal the contents of the mage's experiment, Sean will also have to take the same risk.

Sean was stumped by this thought, knowing how strict the School were in controlling knowledge.

If the School were to find out that the knowledge was leaked from him, and that it wasn't even given to a member of the Astrology School.

Even though the Northern Lands Society had already leaked many spells through the relatively legal means of publishing Paper.

However, as mentioned earlier, publishing Paper is a more legitimate method. By directly revealing information about magic to others, he is practically dancing on the edge of the School's bottom line.

This was a huge risk for him, but...

He glanced at Fran again, and Fran's eyes seemed to shoot out a sharp light that made him unable to look directly at her.

"I... agree."

Ultimately, Sean agreed to the proposal, because if this matter were exposed, Fran would also be unable to escape the charge of recklessly probing other School magic.

"But... what kind of spell do you want?"

When it came to the specific spells to be given, Sean ran into trouble again; he was unsure which specific spells to give.

If it's a second-tier spell, then its value is rather low; within their School, the highest-ranking second-tier spell only costs three thousand Gold Coin.

However, a Third-Order Spell starts at 15,000 Gold Coin, which is a bit too high a price.

"Give me three First Order spells and two second-tier spells."

Fran seemed to sense Sean's predicament and stated her request directly.

"You even want First Order spells?"

Sean now believed that Fran simply wanted him to make a knowledge trade.

It's important to know that most of the mainstream First Order spells from various School can Northern Lands Society, while each School has at least one or two higher-tier spells.

Fran's refusal to accept Third-Order Spell was enough to illustrate her meaning; she simply wanted Sean to express his opinion.

"Okay, I agree."

Sean quickly agreed, afraid that Fran would change her mind.

Fran smiled with satisfaction and then said:

"Then our deal is done."

"However, I cannot tell those believers anything yet."

"It will take at least half a month, after I've sorted things out here."

"When that time comes, wait for me near Horn Pass in Lorinvik. I'll tell you the answer there."

When Sean heard the first sentence, his brows furrowed tightly and his expression froze.

But when he heard Fran tell him to wait in Lorinvik, his expression relaxed, and there was no sign of displeasure on his face.

The fact that Lorinvik was the location of the prophecy he had originally predicted, and that it had come full circle back to, made even more sense to him.

"Is it ultimately related to Lorinvik?"

Sean asked somewhat impatiently, while Fran simply smiled.

"I'm sorry, I can't reveal anything about that right now."

Sean didn't press further, but instead brought up the topic of what kind of spell he was going to cast.

To avoid being mistaken by Fran for someone who had simply made up a spell, he directly produced a Notebook bearing the inscription of the Astrology School.

He tore out a few pages and handed them directly to Fran.

Fran took the silver-edged papers, knowing that this was a rule of the Alliance; all papers recording spells needed to be in a specific format, and papers that were not in that format were considered illegal.

Each of these sheets of paper has a serial number within the Alliance.

"One First Order spell and one second-tier spell—I think that should be enough as a deposit."

Fran nodded in response. If this thing falls into the wrong hands, it can be a death warrant.

If they were caught trading this stuff privately, neither she nor Sean would escape punishment.

After agreeing on the agreed-upon timeframe with Fran, Sean left the Royal Capital and headed towards Lorinvik.

Fran remained by the table, looking at the two spells she had just received.

One is First Order spell [Stellar Shield], which is basically a shield, but its defensive power increases with the number of stars that can be sensed at the moment.

In extremely rare and special circumstances, this thing's defensive capabilities can even surpass those of a second-tier Physical Profession's physical body.

The other one was the second-tier spell [Falling Star Spear], a very special spell that Fran had not seen any record of in the Northern Lands Society.

After carefully examining the spell's effects, Fran realized that Sean probably didn't want to give her any mainstream spells.

It's probably an attempt to mitigate some risks.

This spell is very powerful, far more powerful than most spells Fran has ever seen; its cost is low, lower than most second-tier spells Fran knows.

It releases very quickly; you only need to guide it for two and a half seconds to release it easily.

The only drawback is that it can only be used when the number of stars that can be perceived from the current location is below a certain limit.

Generally, there are five or six such windows a month, each lasting about two hours.

This directly resulted in the spell having a very narrow range of applications.

Fran was faced with this spell and didn't know how to modify it, because the principle of the spell was to utilize the additional power that appeared when the stars in the sky were reduced to a certain extent in space.

This is not a problem with the spell's structure at all.

This has led to a situation where the spell is quite effective, but few mages are willing to use it; no matter how good the effect is, it still needs to be used.

"But it is, after all, an Astrology School, and a second-tier one at that. It seems there are no records of it, and it appears to be well-preserved within the School, meaning that no one else besides the mages of the Astrology School can master it..."

Fran licked her lips. She still possessed the Divine Power given to her by the Lord of Radiance, enough for her to alter the cause of death of a Third Order Mage's corpse.

Thus, the scenario of a Third Order Mage Astrology School mage being killed by another mage using the [Falling Star Spear] when he was at his weakest appeared in Fran's mind.

In addition, she specifically sent Sean to Lorinvik so that Sean wouldn't die in Antir.

"I wonder how long it will take for the Alliance to notice that Sean has lost contact with the Alliance and then send someone to investigate..."

Fran stood up and paced around the room.

"However, dying in Lorinvik will at least clear my name somewhat. And to prevent the Alliance from investigating my followers too much, I need to publish my Paper on the Territory Mage as soon as possible after killing Sean."

Within the Alliance, everyone greatly respects a mage's groundbreaking achievement. Once Fran publishes her Paper, the Investigator dare not conduct any in-depth investigations, fearing they might be accused of probing the deeper contents of the experiment.

Of course, some Investigator can overcome these difficulties when there is direct suspicion, but Fran doesn't believe that when those Investigator find the body, they will first suspect Fran instead of the School's internal crime.

"It's time to tell Anna and the others to hurry up. Before I'm ready to kill Sean, the entire territory of Antir needs to be in place."

Fran had made ample preparations for this murder plan.