Chapter 41

The dark elf's white eyes were particularly noticeable, so she sank even deeper into the wall.

"You are mages, not goblins who only make meaningless noise!" Mel criticized sternly.

"Yes, making such a terrifying sound for no reason would make people think you are Death Banshee being baptized by holy light!" I added, "What on earth happened?"

Moli immediately apologized to me obediently. "I'm sorry, teacher... I just suddenly saw my favorite author and got so excited..."

Big Brother?

I looked at the tiny dark elf—dark elf females are usually quite robust and might be taller than human females, but males are usually smaller. I checked the gender, and this dark elf was indeed a girl. She was very young, her arms were even thinner than Moli's, and her height was about the same. She certainly wasn't a large elf!

"Oh... no," Anna replied, "She meant, I'm a novelist."

Moli cheered, "I'm reading a novel!"

"You can draw fan art! You're the first amazing artist to draw for me!" Anna exclaimed excitedly. "Wow, I never thought we'd be living together!"

I saw despair on Mel's face, and I think I probably feel the same way.

"No --"

"Teacher!" Anna cried, "You can't forbid me from writing novels! I've already followed your instructions and only used magic to type, what more do you want! How can you treat an elf child like this!"

"How could I have raised a child like you who writes lewd jokes every day!" Mel roared, the entire mage tower rumbled, and then Anna was shoved into the wall with a whoosh, only the hand that had been pointing at Mel was visible, twitching uncontrollably.

"Nobody's going to let you out! If you can't get out on your own, then stay inside and write all your raunchy stuff!" Mel said angrily.

"Alright, alright." I could only hug Mel again to calm him down. "Kids are all like that."

Mel snorted, put the relatively well-behaved Moli down, and patted Moli head worriedly. "Don't let that pointy-eared liar corrupt you."

Moli stared at me with her big, bright eyes, and secretly stuck out her tongue.

"Let me take you to your room," Mel said. "Anna should be able to pull out by dinnertime. I was thinking of letting you stay next door, but it looks like I'll have to move you to a different floor."

Anna defiantly flicked her middle finger with her hand outside, and the wall immediately sprang up, swallowing her hand as well.

Moli walked away with Mel, seemingly obediently. I couldn't help but laugh. That elf apprentice was really quite unique, and the way she deliberately provoked Mel was especially funny. As for Mel, who had provoked her... she was quite adorable too!

As I was thinking this, I strolled aimlessly down the corridor. Suddenly, I heard very light footsteps coming from the stairs. It wasn't Mel's footsteps... nor was it Moli's. Moli's footsteps sounded like a train heading this way. I used my Magic Power to investigate, and Anna had already struggled out of the wall... with only one ear pointed out, so it couldn't possibly be any other part of her body walking.

The Magic Power feedback on the stairs—that place should be empty.

I turned down the corridor and saw a monk in a white robe coming down the stairs. He was holding a ruffled cat in his arms; the cat had a broken leg and was meowing loudly. The monk was gently comforting it and stroking its soft belly. After a moment, the monk stopped in front of me. Sunlight streamed in from the window behind him, and I could even see the shadow at his feet. He looked vibrant and warm.

But I was certain there was nothing in front of me.

The monk raised his eyes, gave me a gentle smile, tilted his head, and asked, "How was your day?"

I instinctively replied, "That's great, I'm very happy."

The monk smiled and nodded, then carefully carried the injured cat past me. I could almost feel the breeze stirred by his robes as he passed by.

I turned to look at him, and he seemed to notice my gaze. He turned around and said to me, "It's good that you're here."

What?

The mage's echoing memories had already continued their descent on their own. At that moment, Mel appeared from another corridor, meeting the phantom face-to-face. Mel respectfully bowed to the mage's shadow. "Teacher."

The memories of Archmage Yamier, left in this tower, stood as they had in life, looking gently at his youngest apprentice. "Did you practice spells today?"

Mel replied cheerfully, "I practiced! And, teacher, Xipei moved in with me!"

After that, the mage, having received the answer, slowly dissipated into the air.

Mel came to my side. "Come on, let's go see the bedroom!"

"This is..." My gaze remained fixed on the spot where the phantom had vanished.

"That's what our teacher looked like when he was alive. There are many more in this tower because he lived here for hundreds of years and taught many excellent apprentices, so his memories are particularly clear," Mel replied with a smile. "I've never used magic to cleanse them because he always appears and asks me if I'm studying magic properly, which keeps me motivated to keep going!"

I looked up at the stairs that Archmage Yamier had walked down with a touch of envy. I felt both envious and very gratified that Mel had such an excellent teacher and had such a happy and warm childhood. How wonderful that was.

That's why Mel is so powerful and charismatic today!

Chapter 41

Mel's room is at the top of the tower. The observatory we mentioned earlier needs to be built by teleporting to the top of the tower. If you're too lazy to go out, you can also cast a spell to make the ceiling transparent, which is very convenient. And to be honest, in a big city like Holy Light City, the air is filled with the metallic smell of magical instruments. Even if you go to the top to enjoy the night breeze, there's not much comfort in being close to nature.

"The furniture was moved here with the tower; it's what I've used over the years. I don't know if you'll like it," Mel explained somewhat nervously. "Because we were in a hurry to move the tower over... Of course, if you want other styles, we can have them custom-made by the elves. They're fast and good, and they can even embroider magic circles on the cushions."

"No need for that." I happily touched the soft cushions on the recliner. "I like this."

Mel beamed with delight. "Great! I knew you'd like it! Only Anna kept complaining that the patterns and decorations weren't trendy enough."

"Well..." I said, "After all, we're both from the legendary era."

We looked at each other and smiled.

After a while, I felt the tower shaking, and at the same time we heard a piercing wail:

"Aaaaaaah! God of Light, why is this happening! Not only is there no TV or game console in the tower, but there's also no Wi-Fi or cell phone signal! God of Light, save me—"

Having already gained experience, we didn't rush to prepare protective measures this time, but we still questioned the limits of Moli's vocal range.

... Moli's scream was extremely piercing and long-lasting. In such a tall tower, with the apprentices' quarters on the middle level, we could hear it clearly even from the top. I even suspected that she had cast an amplification spell on herself, as if she was afraid that Mel and I wouldn't hear it.

I turned my head and was surprised to see Mel once again wearing that smug little expression. He was rubbing his fingers together, which made me think he was waiting for me to praise him.

--Okay, that's definitely something to brag about!

"I initially thought the tower just lacked internet access," I confessed.

"Ever since I found out Anna bought a signal booster and was constantly using Wi-Fi, I've completely blocked electronic signals with magic. After all, there are just too many people using Wi-Fi these days," Mel said very academically. "This way, the apprentices won't be distracted by anything else while we're in the tower. Besides, quantum communication signals from magical technology are very unstable, and we currently have no evidence that their radiation won't interfere with precision spell experiments."