Chapter 40 (continued)

"When I was thirteen, my teacher left this world. The elves sang songs all night to bid him farewell. Because I was his last apprentice, this tower now belongs to me. At that time, I had not yet been granted graduation. My teacher left a message in the tower, telling me that I could graduate when I could erase the spiritual imprint he left in the mage tower and fully control it."

This tower is filled with traces of time, and there are so many memories that they flash back. Most of them are fleeting. I turned my head and seemed to see a little boy in a small cloth robe, stumbling and learning to walk in the corridor, with a tuft of hair sticking up on his head.

"There are often echoes of memories in the tower, so don't worry about them..." Mel said, blushing, because I had used Magic Power to amplify this memory remnant, making it even clearer. The miniature Mel was walking unsteadily, as if she had looked up and seen something. Suddenly, I heard the little child start to wail loudly:

"Waaaaah~~~~Waaaah~~~~Teacher! Let's never go to the dungeon again, okay? Those priestesses pinched Mel's little face so hard~~~~Waaaah~~~~~~"

The grown-up version of Mel stamped her feet in frustration, her ears turning bright red, and waved her hand to scatter these flashbacks of memories.

"Stop laughing, Xipei!" Mel said, raising her hand to completely erase the memory, but I grabbed it.

"No! Mel, you were so cute when you were little, I really want to see it." I said, reaching out to pinch his cheek. "Mmm, it's still so soft!"

"Xipei!" Mel called out.

Ugh, the heat from under my fingers is contagious!

Soon, Mel started laughing after I pinched him. He retaliated by pinching my cheek and remarked, "Xipei's face is just as smooth and nice to touch!"

Here we go again! Two mages are pinching each other's faces and praising each other's features. This scene might make people think we've had a major experimental accident!

A faceless ghost suddenly appeared from the wall. He looked a lot like the ghosts played by staff members in haunted houses who wear a bed sheet, except that he was actually floating. His face was blurry, and only the features of a human could be vaguely seen. His two eyes glowed with a faint purple light, and the silvery-white mist on his body was like a bed sheet, but definitely lighter than a bed sheet, making him float very elegantly and comfortably.

"This is the Butler of the Mage Tower," Mel immediately introduced. "I hired him six years ago to do cleaning and kitchen work, and to keep an eye on Anna to prevent her from causing trouble."

The ghost Butler waved at me and then floated back into the wall.

"Because he harbored no resentment, he didn't become an evil spirit, and since his body is gone, he couldn't become an undead," Mel said worriedly. "And I suspect it's more than that; he's probably almost forgotten who he is, so I can't ask him why he won't rest in peace."

I looked up and saw him high up, with a dozen brooms floating around him, diligently sweeping the dust from the ground and the patterns on the pillars.

"The Butler is very good at cleaning!" Mel nodded. "He's called Butler because he doesn't remember what he was called when he was alive. We can change his name when he gets a new one."

This incomplete ghost cannot speak, but with the help of the powerful Magic Power in the mage tower, he can briefly touch the mortal world and possesses abilities such as telekinesis, enough for him to lift a spatula or swat a mosquito on the wall. However, I always feel that he seems very happy when he controls the broom to sweep the floor, much like conducting an orchestra, full of energy.

Although I had mastered the tower, the flow of Magic Power through it was different from viewing it with the naked eye. We walked through corridors adorned with exquisite oil paintings and saw many works of art from different periods and races.

"It seems your teacher is quite the collector," I remarked.

"No," Mel replied with a smile, "He just lived long enough; these are all things he used."

Oh my god!

I was surprised because I saw a mechanical phone on display in a cabinet, a popular model from at least four hundred years ago. Nowadays, everyone uses smart, magical phones; who would still use this kind of flip-type mechanical phone that can only make calls and send text messages?

"My teacher's name was Yamier Madsen Ellis. He gave me my surname; it's his middle name," Mel replied. "He received a gift from the Elven Sacred Tree, so he lived as long as an elf, and before he died, he was counting his own age... I almost worried he wouldn't be able to rest in peace because he couldn't count; in short, he was almost six hundred years old."

OMG!

I'm going to scream!

The legendary archmage Yamier! The "Lord of Flames" and "Dragon Conqueror" of five hundred years ago—this is the archmage I admire most. He was a legendary archmage who once defeated eighteen adult dragons—oh, I must emphasize, he defeated eighteen adult dragons all at once, and he also single-handedly fought the entire Temple of Light Knights; there are also stories of him helping the Grand National Defense Coalition to beat the cult's lackeys, which are still the most popular creative material for bards' graduation works.

"That's not accurate. The Temple Knights wanted to conduct an assessment, so they arranged to attack my teacher's tower. It can't be considered a one-on-one duel. The Temple Knights have over five hundred members; how could a single mage possibly defeat them?"

"And then what happened?"

"At the time, there were still more than a dozen apprentices and their partners in my teacher's tower, so the result was naturally... well... my teacher told me that after the Temple Knights returned, they were punished by the High Priest at the time to run naked through the streets fifty times around the city every day at dawn. Those who were caught by the city management officers received extra training, and those who couldn't finish also received extra training... So my teacher was once at the top of the blacklist in the eyes of the Holy Knights of the Temple of Light."

Oh my god... I'm so excited I almost fainted! So I really am standing in the place where the legends happened! I arrived at the same place as the legendary mages at different times!

Yamier Amir rose to fame over five hundred years ago, but he has long since disappeared from public view. Everyone assumed he had died a long time ago like a normal person. A six-hundred-year-old mage might not be considered extraordinary in the legendary era, but after experiencing the pollution of the world by technology, even elves who could originally live for a thousand years have had their lifespans shortened to just over five hundred years. Under normal circumstances, a human mage would be able to receive all sorts of attention by the age of two hundred.

"So..." Mel said, troubled, "It's not my fault I'm not used to electronic devices. You can't expect an old mage who's been living in seclusion in the elven realm for almost five hundred years to be adept at using social media!"

Well, in that case, it's understandable that Mel doesn't know how to use electronic devices.

"But if you gave me a mechanical record player that was popular four hundred years ago, I could even fix it. My teacher always liked to use that to play music."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh---"

As we were talking, a blood-curdling scream suddenly erupted from the foyer. Mel and I were both so frightened that we floated into the air. The entire mage tower's defense system activated instantly, and all the runes and magic circles began to flash...

Then, in a fit of rage, I took a deep breath and yelled, completely disregarding my image, "Moli!!!"

But Moli continued to scream loudly:

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh! I saw the real person! I saw the real person! Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Mel and I instantly arrived downstairs, only to find Moli embracing a dark elf girl, trembling violently, resembling an Abyss after being electrocuted.

"Moli! What are you doing!"

"Anna! What have you done to her?!"

Mel and I started scolding each other almost at the same time.

Anna? This dark-skinned, white-haired elf, is she Mel's apprentice?

Moli's luggage was scattered all over the floor. She excitedly hugged Anna and howled, embracing and kissing her face. The dark elf named Anna happily let her kiss and hug her, laughing heartily. Her laughter was no less loud than her screams, and she even seemed to be about to kiss back.

Slap slap--

After two crisp sounds, two new reliefs appeared on the ceiling of the front hall of the mage tower: Moli and Anna. Humans and elves were embedded side by side in the ceiling, perfectly blending with the stone carvings. Moli was stunned and forgot to scream for a moment, while Anna seemed used to it and rolled her eyes.