A clear escape route

On the final day of the Champion Mage Challenge, Fran got up very early on the Number Three Floating City, not to prepare for today's final, but to prepare for her escape.

"How many flights are there tonight?" Fran asked the staff at the airship's ticket counter.

The staff member rubbed his eyes and handed over a flight schedule. He wasn't even an apprentice, so his energy naturally couldn't compare to that of a Profession.

"There are six flights tonight. Buy me six tickets, one for each flight..."

Upon hearing this, the staff member snapped out of their daze and looked at Fran with a mixture of confusion and shock.

This way of buying tickets is unheard of. If you're buying six tickets for a friend, how could you possibly buy six different tickets for six different trains?

Fran did this to prevent herself from being delayed by some trivial matter and ending up without a ticket to leave.

Her destination is definitely Number Nine Floating City, where Fran can regain her identity as ' Fran ', and ' Philly's' hometown happens to be there, which can interfere with the investigation to the greatest extent.

She only needs to mislead some people at the port and land in the Number Nine Floating City under the identity of ' Fran ' for a period of time, which will allow her to avoid most of the attention.

However, not all six flights go directly to Number Nine Floating City, but leaving Number Three Floating City first is definitely the best course of action.

Based on the timeline, she should be able to finish all her objectives in Number Three Floating City around 3 PM and won't need to linger here any longer.

But it's not that she can leave just because she wants to; she has to leave gracefully.

The previous Champion Mage Challenge always lasted a whole day, and the final format remained the same: best of nine games. Even if it dragged on, it would still be over in an hour and a half.

Clearly, this shows that the final day was not just about determining who the Champion Mage was.

A standard Champion Mage Challenge Final process is as follows:

The event starts at noon, and the audience will be given some entertainment and competitions. They will also usually invite celebrities or High-Order Mage to give speeches.

Then comes the real final, Fran will have to compete with her opponent to determine who is the true Champion Mage.

After the final, Fran had to accept her award, express her gratitude, and then ride in a carriage to survey the audience.

In the evening, Fran will ride in this carriage to the streets of the Number Three Floating City for a parade, complete with a very elaborate Champion Mage outfit and related event procedures.

Fran, of course, didn't want to do all that. She used the identity of ' Philly ' to board the airship and escape. Due to procedural issues between different departments, it would take some time for these people to realize that ' Philly ' had escaped directly by airship.

By the time they handed it over to the Investigator, Fran estimated that they would have already arrived at Number Nine Floating City, and it was also unknown whether Number Three Floating City was still floating in the sky at that time.

The attack on Number Three Floating City was such a huge event that it overshadowed the possibility of a Spirit Realm Mage winning the Champion Mage Challenge.

With the tilt of the Number Three Floating City, all affairs of the Alliance will shift.

At that point, the ' Philly ' matter will be a minor issue.

However, what those mages didn't know, and Fran knew but still tacitly approved, was that her impersonation of ' Philly ' to obtain the title of Champion Mage was the prerequisite for the Gods to tilt the Number Three Floating City.

Fran knew without even thinking that she would run away just like she was now. She would probably still be there during the awards ceremony, but she would have already found a chance to slip away during the parade that night.

That's why the news of the champion of this year's Champion Mage Challenge disappearing spread so quickly. At this time, the believers of the Deity spread some rumors, which may even be the truth.

If we were to create a scale for the level of order in the Number Three Floating City, it would likely be at the lowest point it could reach.

At this point, the Deity can make their move.

Fran had considered secretly telling Nathaniel, the chief of the Elementalists, about all of this. She had his number on the Alliance's communication network, so he could naturally notify her in advance.

However, since the Star Gazing Art had already revealed the tilt of Number Three Floating City, she didn't want to create unnecessary trouble or challenge the arrangement of the Stars.

Moreover, the attack on the Number Three Floating City is detrimental to the entire the Alliance. The Alliance's reputation has been tarnished by the Gods, and the Alliance deterrent power will be greatly damaged.

Moreover, there are countless young mages, High-Order Mage, and precious magical instruments on the Number Three Floating City, losses that the Alliance is unwilling to bear.

However, this is advantageous for Fran.

She didn't know why the Gods would do this. If it was a warning, then it was tantamount to an act of violence. If it was to weaken the Alliance, what was a mere Number Three Floating City? The Alliance's greatest strength lay in the various School.

This will almost certainly lead to one outcome: the mages throughout the Alliance will be temporarily united, even more determined to fight the Gods to the death, while most of their power will remain intact.

The Alliance and the Gods waged an even more frenzied war, which benefited Fran, who had to do something, allowing her to better take advantage of the chaos.

And what about the Gods? To be honest, Fran didn't know why the Gods had to do this. If the Gods needed to save their Divine Power for later, then why did they have to expend their Divine Power to attack the Number Three Floating City?

This was a thankless task. In Fran's understanding, it meant putting in a lot of effort, but ultimately, from her perspective, not gaining much.

She could only conclude that the Gods were doing this for some unknown reason.

"Hello, here are your six tickets. If you need a refund, you can..."

The staff kindly provided a refund option, but for Fran, too much contact would only increase her risk of exposure, so she really didn't plan to get a refund.

"Chief, the investigation results regarding the person who attacked you last time are in." The assistant handed a document directly to Nathanael.

Both of them were inside the Mage Tower at the moment. Although they were free now, they knew they would soon be busy, and they were just using this break to discuss some matters.

"Who was it that attacked last time...?" Nathanael frowned. As the Chief the School, he had been attacked far too many times. However, many of these attacks were actually harmless to him, and many of the masterminds were not even Third Order Professional.

As the Chief of the School, it was inevitable that he would attract hatred. Because of this, Nathanael could hardly remember the people who attacked him; he had to constantly recall them to barely remember them.

"That outstanding junior from the Champion Mage Challenge you found last time was attacked..." the assistant reminded him directly.

"Oh, so that's what it is... Is it what I thought, that it's all about ' Philly '?" Nathanael didn't even open the file in his hand.

"Yes, the Investigator used a very sophisticated spell interrogation technique on these mages. As you know, Chief, this kind of interrogation is time-consuming, which is why it's been so long."

Normally, a magical interrogation would take at most half a day, but since this involved the Chief of the Elemental School, it couldn't be resolved easily. Also, since the Attackers were a group of Second Order Mage, they were obviously not that important, which is why it took so long.

However, Nathanael had already guessed this, because it was obvious that going to find ' Philly ' was a spur-of-the-moment decision for Nathanael, so there was no way anyone would be lying in ambush there. Therefore, it was clear that they were looking for ' Philly '.

"How come the Alliance is so unsafe now? Even a talented junior can be attacked by six Second Order Mage." Nathanael was somewhat dissatisfied.

He was indignant that someone would use a team of six Second Order Mage to try and attack a talented junior.

If it weren't for Fran, an exceptional junior who made him believe he could face six Second Order Mage without getting hurt, the other Second Order Mage wouldn't have been able to achieve what Fran did.

Nathanael still didn't open the document in his hand; it seemed he had no intention of reading it. His assistant could only explain it from memory:

"The captured mages revealed that they were members of the Felistin Family, and that Philly was also Felistin Family Member."

"What is this? A family murder, or does some of ' Philly's ' relatives not want her to live so well?" Nathanael was truly speechless, his brows furrowed tightly.

The assistant continued:

Based on clues from their family, they believe that ' Philly ' is likely an imposter, either a Spirit Realm Mage or Elemental School, because ' Philly ' simply doesn't possess such power.

"Having failed to get help, they had no choice but to take the risk and launch an attack."

Nathanael was even more dissatisfied, and he continued:

"No wonder the Chief of the Necromancy School kept telling me that these Mage Family are a cancer on the Alliance. The Felistin Family is truly something else."

He did not question the authenticity of these interrogation results. After such a long period of time, the Investigator would definitely be able to extract accurate information. Unless Third Order Mage could barely withstand the interrogation, the content revealed would be the truth that the interrogated person was forced to confess.

However, he also didn't believe that what these mages said was true, because changing a mage's mind in this way was far too common in the Alliance.

If we were to say who is most likely to use this method, according to the Chief of the Necromancy School, it would definitely be those Mage Family.

"I really don't know what the Felistin Family is doing. Is it deception or magical means?"

Nathanael paused, then gave the order:

"Have the Investigator check whether the Felistin Family has illegally used magic to control the minds of mages or apprentices."

"Yes." The assistant noted down Nathanael's orders.

"Very well, today is the day ' Philly ' participates in the finals, right?" Nathanael changed the subject.

The assistant also gave a definite response.

"Then she can become Third Order Mage today. So young. I never expected that besides Aolain, the Elemental School would produce such a genius."

"It's just a pity that she doesn't seem to have much Talent as a researcher, but she is very Talent in combat. It seems that advancing to the Fourth Order will not be a problem for her, and she can be regarded as a new generation of strength in the Elemental School."

The assistant hesitated for a moment while Nathanael sighed, then slowly said:

"Should we have the Investigator do a little research on ' Philly,' since the interrogation records show..."

"No need, this is just malicious slander from the Mage Family against talented mages." He waved his hand dismissively.

Nathanael never doubted ' Philly's' identity. In his view, such a powerful mage should be a mage of the Alliance, and those Spirit Realm Mage could not possibly have such strength.

Moreover, as the Chief of the Elemental School, he was naturally happy to see geniuses emerge from within the Elemental School.

So when this genius encountered some intractable trouble, the Chief naturally had to use his power to indulge in a little bit of his whims.