Response

"I have a few friends. They helped me a great deal when I was first learning the Rock Bear Potion."

Malena nodded in agreement. Ian had not simply abandoned his original partners; that showed character worthy of working with her.

"Here, this is some Fairy Honeyflower Tea I've been saving. It's good for Mental Power."

After they finished discussing business, Malena eagerly took out her treasured tea leaves, brewed them, and poured Ian a cup.

"Thank you." Ian lifted the cup and took a sip.

The scalding tea entered his mouth, yet a cool breath surged into his mind. His spirit trembled, and he felt his Mental Power slowly increase by the slightest amount.

Ian closed his eyes and savored the sensation. After a while, he opened them again.

"Excellent tea. Is this also a specialty of the Elf Race?"

Malena nodded gently. "Wizard Alivia gave it to me as a reward. I'll give you some later, though I don't have much myself!"

Malena seemed somewhat reluctant to part with it, showing just how extraordinary the tea was.

"Thank you, then. I'll shamelessly accept it."

Naturally, he would not refuse something that could increase Mental Power.

"Don't call me manager. When you call me that, I feel old. I'm not much older than you, really. Just call me by my name from now on."

"Alright." Ian readily agreed. After drinking tea for a while, he returned to his residence with a packet of tea leaves.

In the courtyard, an Eye of Vigilance floated overhead.

Ian had been living quite comfortably these past few days. During the day, he brewed potions and practiced wizardry, while at night, he maximized his meditation time.

Using three Rock Bear Potions, he repaid the 800 magic stones he owed Malena.

Unfortunately, the peaceful days were shattered by news brought by Kenna and the others.

"What? The Shadow Society's upper ranks have completely disbanded, and its lower members have scattered and fled? It's completely finished?!"

Ian froze. The situation had changed too quickly for him to react at once.

"Yes. In just a few days, chaos has broken out outside. Fighting is happening everywhere, and even low-level apprentices don't dare go out casually."

Wade was deeply frustrated. They had only enjoyed a few peaceful days, and it was all because of that damned Shadow Society!

"One of my friends said that an Advanced Apprentice from the Shadow Society named Nolan is desperately looking for someone—the Simon you killed."

Ian sighed inwardly. The other shoe had finally dropped.

The man he had killed had not revealed his identity at the time, but judging from the fact that he had appeared with Simon and from his physical features, Ian could almost certainly conclude that he had been Nolan's brother or someone similarly related.

Although Ian felt the crisis drawing near, he did not panic or lose his composure.

With his current strength and the backing of the Magic Potion Shop, he was no longer some little wizard who could be bullied by anyone.

Still, he needed to go out less often for the time being, lest someone ambush him from the shadows.

As long as he stayed inside, an Advanced Apprentice would never dare barge into a Formal Wizard's Magic Potion Shop to kill someone.

"Wade, use your friends to help me find out some general information on Nolan. This is dangerous, so make sure your friends act carefully."

After speaking, Ian handed over ten Awakening Potions.

Wade accepted them and nodded. "The information we find may not necessarily be true, so you should be mentally prepared."

He had many friends, so gathering some information was still possible. But if it came to probing core secrets, he was powerless.

"Mm, I understand." Ian nodded to show his understanding, then turned to look at Kenna.

"You had a direct conflict with Simon because of me, so you need to be even more careful. Don't go home either. It would be best to leave and hide for a while."

Ian's suggestion was not excessive caution. When Advanced Apprentices came to these outer areas, some of them acted extremely brutally, especially those from organizations like the Shadow Society.

Ian's advice made Kenna and the others look grave.

After they left, Ian had intended to begin purifying the blood of a Rock-armored Demon Bear, but his heart was restless, and he could not calm down no matter what he did.

He knew that if he failed to handle this crisis properly, he truly risked losing his life.

That Nolan was no simple character. Wade had said that when competing for potions in the ruins, he had killed no fewer than ten Advanced Apprentices.

And Ian had heard of few of the methods used by Dark-Attribute Wizards, making them difficult to guard against.

Ian paced around the room once, then suddenly grabbed several potions and hurried out.

He arrived at the place where Kenna's team was staying in town and told everyone to leave immediately and hide, warning them not to take any chances.

If there was an emergency and they needed to contact him, they were to send word directly to the Magic Potion Shop.

In addition, Ian wrote an urgent letter home and asked Kenna to send it out.

The letter clearly explained the trouble he had encountered and told them to make preparations. His father had been an earl for so many years and would certainly make suitable arrangements.

After Ian left, Kenna and the others saw how tense he had been and recalled the Shadow Society's past methods. Their expressions changed.

After discussing things for a while, they hurriedly packed their belongings and headed straight out of town.

Ten days later.

Nolan stood before Ian's former house, his face gloomy.

By then, Ian's house and Kenna's next door had both been completely destroyed by Nolan, leaving the area in ruins.

"Reporting to Lord Nolan, there are also no signs that Kenna from next door has returned for a long time. He should have fled as well."

A Shadow Society member stood behind Nolan and reported in a low voice.

"Then it must have been them. They have some nerve, daring to kill my brother."

Nolan's tone was icy. His brother's death did pain him, but what he cared about even more was that the Bloodline Potion Formula he had painstakingly acquired had been lost.

He had paid a price to purchase that Bloodline Potion Formula from a declining wizard family. After agreeing on the price, he had only needed Gavin to retrieve it.

He had planned to immediately find someone to brew it once the formula was in hand, making up for the weakness in his constitution.

During the process of breaking through to become a Formal Wizard, one's vitality would burn and deplete frantically, transforming into Mental Power to break through the upper limit and shatter the barrier of the realm.

Many Advanced Apprentices with insufficiently strong constitutions had fallen at this stage. The breakthrough to Formal Wizard allowed no retreat—advance or die!

His foolish younger brother had relied on Nolan's influence and learned to act with the same wild arrogance.

Yet he lacked the ability to be arrogant. Now he had died without a sound and ruined Nolan's grand plans.

"If I hadn't been preparing for the ruins at the time, I never would have entrusted this matter to a fool like you."

He had visited the place where Gavin died. Too much time had passed, and not even a bone could be found, only scattered scraps of clothing.

However, faint traces of wizardry remained. Judging by their power, either an Advanced Apprentice had acted, or someone had used a Wizard Tool with comparable power.

Nolan usually acted cruelly and had no idea how many people he had offended. After investigating many enemies without results, he had finally traced the matter here.

He had not expected these little rats to be so unexpectedly vigilant that they had fled in advance.

"Hmph! Do you think you can escape?"

Nolan rose and headed toward Nightfall Town, issuing orders to his subordinate behind him.

"Pass this down. Post a bounty in the Black Market and double the magic stone reward for Kenna and the others."

The subordinate shuddered, silently mourning for them before hurriedly replying, "Yes!"

The bounty on Kenna and the others had now reached the insane amount of sixty magic stones per person.

None of them was an Advanced Apprentice. It was a lucrative mission with little danger.

"And that Ian. This started because of him. I'll deal with him personally."