Chapter

Like the final calm before a superstorm, the atmosphere in the Swamp Tower felt quite peculiar.

As a minor resource outpost for a wizard family, it had a total of only forty-nine wizard apprentices, among whom three were merely novice apprentices who had just learned meditation.

Yet, from such a group with an overall low level of strength, four prominent quasi-wizards had emerged out of nowhere. Moreover, any single one of these four quasi-wizards could be considered exceptionally powerful among their peers. Such a bizarre situation would make anyone anywhere exclaim that it was sheer sorcery!

After all, any quasi-wizard required the consumption of vast resources to possibly appear, and to finally become a wizard required not only massive resources but also a tiny bit of luck. Given the current state of the Swamp Tower, nurturing even a single quasi-wizard would be considered a stroke of immense fortune, let alone having four burst forth all at once.

Perhaps precisely because of the existence of these four quasi-wizards, the Salubor family's attention to the Magical Swamp grew day by day. Aside from the mission hall, the Klute Arcane Cottage, the Popolier Mercantile, the Defence Gastronomy Association, the Fenrir Pet Shop—establishments and firms catering specifically to wizard apprentices—moved into the Swamp Tower one after another.

Mixed among them, the Goblin Shop run by the goblin Kabi also opened with a flourishing business.

Unlike others, Kabi's goblin Shop occasionally produced one or two items that could be called fine goods—either magic gems, spell materials, or spell equipment. Regardless of the type, every single one would trigger a mad scramble among the mid-level and senior apprentices.

As for that unremarkable Lord Goblin Kabi, it held a lofty status among the tower apprentices that outsiders could hardly reach. For no other reason than the three quasi-wizards standing behind it, no one in the Swamp Tower dared to provoke it.

Ever since Alice became a member of the tower, she had expected to be ordered around by Grimm day in and day out to do this and that. To her surprise, ever since that day, she had never laid eyes on this nominal "master" again. Unexpectedly, this Grimm turned out to be a complete homebody who never stepped outside. Every day, he either hid in his quarters flipping through books or buried himself in the alchemy laboratory, secretly tinkering with something.

His three daily meals were delivered personally into his quarters by the goblin Kabi, and he simply never showed his face during the usual days. Although this spared Alice the awkwardness of meeting him, it also stirred up a trace of resentment at being given the cold shoulder.

Taking advantage of a few days' time, Alice interrogated the goblin Kabi back and forth, digging out everything Grimm had done from his rise to prominence until now. Beyond that, using her status as a quasi-wizard, she also learned about Grimm's early deeds from several tower apprentices.

It could be said that the more she learned, the more bewildered Alice became!

If one were to say that everyone's life had its own encounters, then Mary's life trajectory was crystal clear at a glance.

Mary's apprentice career, truly worth mentioning, began entirely with that spell experiment. Before becoming a vampire, her life was unremarkable. After becoming a vampire, she began to soar, leaping directly from a novice to a senior apprentice, which eventually led to her glorious status as a quasi-wizard.

Therefore, what changed Mary's life was that bizarre spell experiment led by Wizard Anderson!

From this information, Alice could clearly see the trajectory of Mary's development and, based on her actions, estimate the height her life might reach. Everything was so clear and intuitive!

Yet such a set of theories fell apart when applied to Grimm!

The turning point of Grimm's transformation happened almost simultaneously with Mary's. He seemed to have suddenly acquired some magical power overnight. This frequently made Alice wonder if that Wizard Anderson had done something to Grimm while experimenting on Mary. Otherwise, the changes in him over this subsequent period were simply too astonishing!

During the three-month mission period, he grew from a novice apprentice into a senior apprentice, skipping the mediocre intermediate apprentice stage in between. And his secret to victory was the ever-reliable elemental puppets. As for himself, he clearly walked the path of an elemental wizard.

Alice still had vivid memories of the elemental puppets in Grimm's hands. Her two bitter defeats were inflicted by those detestable elemental puppets!

Plentiful in number, diverse in variety, immensely powerful, and highly targeted!

This was Alice's personal evaluation of these elemental puppets.

Logically speaking, operating such elemental puppets through the method of summoning elemental lifeforms would not only require special spell rituals but also force the summoner to bear a tremendous mental burden, making it utterly impossible to be as effortless and masterful as Grimm.

Alice had also noticed that every time Grimm summoned elemental puppets, he needed elemental cores as spell materials, and those cores were covered everywhere with runes, looking deeply modified. Therefore, she dared to conclude that the deep secret allowing Grimm to be so powerful must be hidden within these cores.

Out of this consideration, she had intentionally wanted to get closer to Grimm to extract more answers from him and lift these mists. Unfortunately, that Grimm turned out to be a thorough homebody who hardly ever stepped outside, leaving her, his nominal personal maid, with zero opportunity to put her plans into practice.

Thus, enduring for seven days, Alice snatched the food tray straight from the goblin Kabi's hands and stood in its place at the door of Grimm's quarters. Only that annoying Mary was allowed to freely enter and exit Grimm's quarters, and even the goblin Kabi needed to obtain Grimm's permission every time it delivered meals.

It did not take long before Grimm, sensing Alice's mental fluctuations, finally removed the protective barriers on the doorway.

Reaching out to push open the door, Alice strode in carrying the tray.

The room remained as spartan as ever.

Compared to last time, it had even become messier!

Even though it was broad daylight, the illuminating crystal on the wooden table still cast a bright yet soft, non-glaring glow. This made Alice wonder whether the fellow had been busy from last night until now without resting even once in between.

The floor was littered entirely with discarded parchment scrolls—some rolled up, some unfolded, some crumpled into balls... Each one was covered with dense, excruciatingly complicated rune lines and mysterious spell arrays. Alice had no particular study of spell arrays, and thus the sight of such highly professional esoteric knowledge gave her a dull headache.

Walking on her tiptoes, cautiously dodging the debris scattered all over the floor, Alice arrived at the wooden table.

The wooden table was equally chaotic, filled everywhere with unfolded spell books, stacked one upon another, pressing one over another, almost burying the majority of the tabletop. Meanwhile, Grimm was hunched over the edge of the desk, silently tracing something stroke by stroke on a piece of parchment.

Clearly, however, his progress was not going smoothly.

Halfway through the tracing, he lifted the parchment to scrutinize it hard, then quickly shook his head, cursed in a low voice, and crumpled the parchment roll into a ball, tossing it behind him.

Alice tilted her head to dodge the paper ball hurtling toward her, and angrily slammed the food tray down heavily onto the wooden table. Because of her "carelessness," the towering stack of books finally collapsed with a crash.

Uh... What was going on here?

Grimm raised his head and swept a dazed glance around, his irritated gaze crashing straight into Alice's provocative look.

"Hm? When did you arrive?" Grimm rubbed his temples, feeling a dull, stinging pain in his skull.

Ever since his personal strength had surged, Grimm had discovered the numerous benefits of high constitution.

Three consecutive days and nights without sleep—if it had been in the past, he would have been exhausted and drained. But now, aside from the fatigue brought by excessive mental consumption, his body remained as robust and vibrant as it had been three days ago.

"I came today to ask you, just how do you plan to arrange for me? Are you going to let me wander around aimlessly day after day in this dirty, shabby place just like now? The spell facilities here are simply too backward and outdated; compared to the outside world, this place is nothing short of a barbaric desert in the wizarding world!" Alice protested angrily with her hands on her hips.

It was evident that these days in the Swamp Tower had driven her to the limit of her patience.

Not a single high-grade spell potion to be found; not a single normal meal or cuisine to be found; not a single high-grade material needed for spell experiments to be found; personal quarters so crude they looked like a sheep pen... In such a backward and dilapidated place, Alice simply could not imagine how Grimm and the others managed to survive!

If not for the recent influx of merchant houses and organizations bringing some changes to the Swamp Tower, Alice felt she would have already rotted away in this dark, damp magical swamp.

Faced with a diligent "subordinate" who had voluntarily come to offer her services, a gratified smile appeared on Grimm's face. Casually, he picked up a piece of white bread from the food tray, shoved it into Alice's hands, and smiled gently, "If you want something to do, then allow me to witness your skills first. Can you throw this thing onto Kabi's head?"

As soon as the words fell, the white bread in Alice's hands vanished.

She patted the breadcrumbs from her hands and glared at Grimm with a disdainful expression, adopting the posture of someone daring him to bring it on.

Grimm's jaw dropped slightly in astonishment.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset, picked up another piece of bread, and stuffed it into Alice's hands. This time, however, he snapped his fingers, activating all the protective barriers of the magical quarters.

Alice curled her lips in disdain, grasped the bread in both hands, and gave it a slight twist. After a bizarre spatial fluctuation, the bread disappeared once again.

Grimm's expression grew increasingly solemn.

After handing the last piece of bread from the tray to Alice, Grimm not only activated all the defensive arrays of the magical dwelling but also focused his mind slightly, abruptly opening a pale red barrier capable of enclosing the entire room.

Keep in mind that at this moment, Alice was situated within as many as four layers of elemental defenses and spell barriers. If she were still able to...

Unfortunately, before Grimm could finish his train of thought, Alice flicked one hand, and a miniature void black hole appeared before her. Then, the hand holding the bread reached rapidly into it, and when she pulled it back out, her hand was completely empty.

And that void black hole vanished rapidly as well!