Notes

In the dense forest, Old John crouched low, carefully studying the broken plants and bloodstains on the ground by moonlight.

"This way."

Old John made his judgment and pointed in a direction as he spoke softly.

Loken's trail was obvious. Even though the flames had destroyed many traces, Old John still found his tracks without the slightest effort.

Following those traces, Richard made his way to a valley.

Vegetation was sparse within the valley. Lying prone on the high ground, Richard easily spotted Loken beside a campfire.

"That fat man seems to be looking at something," Ellie whispered.

Richard also saw the object in Loken's hands—it was a notebook.

"Later, I'll go at him head-on. Ellie, stay to the side and use magic to stop him from escaping. Old John, hide for now."

After laying out the plan, Richard activated his bloodline once more. Once Black Scale covered his entire torso, he cast Silence Spell on himself.

With everything ready, Richard burst from the woods, greatsword in hand, and charged at Loken like a streak of black lightning.

Under the effects of the Silence Spell, Richard's movements made almost no sound. Loken, meanwhile, seemed utterly absorbed by the notebook in his hands and failed to notice anything amiss around him.

Splat.

Blood sprayed.

At the very last moment, Loken finally sensed the danger. He rolled desperately to one side, and a terrifying wound slashed across his back continued to seep blood.

"You're not dead?!" Loken's face was full of shock.

"Not only am I alive, I'm here to take your dog life."

Richard's face was cold as he swept his greatsword sideways again.

This time, Loken was prepared. Two invisible barriers instantly appeared before the blade.

Two Force Field Barriers!

Loken looked at Richard with a mocking expression.

"Even fools can have long lives. You're already a Wizard Apprentice, yet you still only know how to use a sword?"

But all he received in return was Richard's scornful gaze.

If Saban could break through a Force Field Barrier, how could Richard possibly fail?

The gleaming sword tip shrieked as the barriers before Loken were shattered in an instant. This was Duke Blackwood's signature technique, Wind Raven Slash. Before a blade moving at such speed, even plate armor could be split in two. On the battlefield, one stroke often shattered both man and horse.

The blade swept past, and a head flew into the air.

Loken's eyes were wide open. Even in death, he remained filled with doubt.

How could his sword break through two layers of Force Field Barriers?!

Seeing that Richard's attack had gone smoothly, Ellie and Old John followed at once.

Looking at Loken's headless corpse, Ellie muttered an incantation as magic power surged within her. A stream of black gas flowed from her fingertips and entered Loken's body.

A moment later, Loken's corpse shriveled rapidly like a deflated balloon, his entire body instantly becoming little more than skin wrapped around bones.

"It's done." Ellie looked at the corpse nervously.

This was her first time using Curse Magic, and she did not know how effective it would be.

Suddenly, a large bulge rose from the shriveled corpse. Moments later, a white worm the size of a fist when curled up broke out from the bulge.

"It worked!" Ellie shouted excitedly.

"What is that?" Richard asked curiously.

"This is a Curse Worm, a casting material required for many Curse Magic spells." Ellie picked up the worm. Unlike an ordinary insect, once it was in her hand, it became completely still without the slightest struggle.

"It's so big. It could probably sell for five Magic Stones."

"It can be sold?"

"Of course it can." Ellie rolled her eyes at Richard and carefully placed the worm into the pouch at her waist. "Aside from being used as casting material to curse others, it can also be used as casting material to ward off curses."

"Then it really is a good thing."

After testing the spell, Richard picked up the notebook Loken had been reading from the ground.

The pages of the notebook were somewhat yellowed, and their edges had become wrinkled from dampness. It looked as though it had been left in the wild for quite a few years.

The notebook was written in Wizard language. Some of the writing was blurry, but most of it remained clear and legible. That saved Richard the trouble of refining mental power.

Come to think of it, Richard did not know whether blurry writing like this could even be refined.

After casually flipping through a few pages, Richard understood why that group had wanted to hunt Loken down.

"An Advanced Apprentice's notebook? How could something like this appear in the Black Stone Mountain Range?"

Filled with doubt, Richard began reading the notebook by the campfire.

"July 10th, heavy rain

The weather was terrible today. It had been raining nonstop since the day before yesterday. If this continued, mushrooms would start growing in my room.

July 15th, clear

The rain had finally stopped. The Black Tower next door opened a Massage Parlor today. I heard it could ease mental fatigue, but I didn't know if that was true.

I'll go take a look tomorrow.

July 16th, clear

The Massage Parlor's effects were pretty good. I heard the special services worked even better.

I'll try them tomorrow.

July 17th, clear

Went to the Massage Parlor.

July 18th, cloudy

Went to the Massage Parlor.

July 19th, clear

Fuck, those bitches actually used Aphrodisiac Incense as Meditation Incense!

July 20th, clear

Went to the Massage Parlor."

Richard quickly flipped through several pages and discovered that they were all this fellow's reviews of the Massage Parlor.

"Fuck, not even a civil engineering bro could go that often."

Skipping over the Massage Parlor section, Richard finally saw something relevant.

The notebook's owner specialized in the Shaping School. It recorded his ideas for modifying the spell model of the First-Circle Spell Hand of Flame, as well as the results of his experiments after the modification.

"An increase of one Energy Level in power, with consumption reduced by one-tenth. This modification idea alone made tonight worthwhile." Richard was somewhat excited.

Energy Level was the basic unit the Shaping School used to evaluate spell power. One Energy Level was equivalent to the power of one spell missile. However, because many wizard spells could not be evaluated by direct destructive power, this unit was generally used only by the Shaping School.

Richard continued reading.

"May 12th, clear

I only have one Magic Stone left. How many Magic Stones did those bitches at the Massage Parlor scam out of me?

May 13th, cloudy

The Mission Hall was packed. Why aren't these newly enrolled guys listening to class properly? What missions are they doing?

May 15th, clear

Finally, there's a decent mission. Collecting medicinal herbs in the Black Stone Mountain Range pays twenty Magic Stones and even reimburses travel expenses. The wizards of the Alchemy School really are rich enough to bleed gold.

May 19th, light rain

It was raining again. I've been in the Black Stone Mountain Range for a day and haven't found so much as a hair. There's a reason the reward is so high."

At this point, there was suddenly a stretch of blank pages in the diary.

Richard flipped several pages further and found a few lines of hurried scrawl. The final line had even been written in blood.

"What is that?! What kind of damned thing did the mudslide release?!"

"Living Iron Net—how could something like that appear in the Black Stone Mountain Range?"

"Guardian Golem! I understand now. I entered a Wizard's laboratory! Those strange things are all a wizard's defensive measures!"

A Wizard's laboratory!

Richard felt as though his heart had skipped a beat.

The gains from a Wizard's laboratory were simply enormous. The various specimens stored inside, the experimental materials gathered by the wizard, even the experimental instruments themselves, were all supreme treasures to apprentices.

Richard continued reading. After a long stretch of blank pages, a Blood Letter written with a finger appeared at the end of the notebook.

"The wizard is dead!"