Chapter 0061: The Training Camp

Seeing that the crowd had finally quieted down, Ryan in the blue robe nodded in satisfaction. At that moment, the attendant following behind him suddenly tugged at his sleeve and gestured toward Grimm’s stall.

“Master Ryan, I have a feeling those items are not ordinary equipment either.”

Ryan bent down for a closer look and immediately noticed the extraordinary nature of those items.

“Croaking Toad, Elven Boots, Root of the Wood...”

With each name he uttered, a collective gasp swept through the hall. When he mentioned the Root of the Wood, even the few apprentices skilled in plant magic among the crowd clutched their chests as if the intense stimulus might shatter their hearts into pieces.

Fat Sam, for his part, looked as if he’d just lost his own father—ashen-faced and utterly crestfallen.

As for the leaders of several teams, they decisively abandoned any thought of pocketing the treasures, pulling their people aside to watch the unfolding drama. Their thoughts were clear: if a low-level apprentice had been blessed by outrageous luck, perhaps he might have laid hands on a single tier-three magical artifact. But for him to produce two or three such items at once—this could not be attributed to mere fortune. Such an apprentice must either possess formidable abilities or powerful backing, and in either case, he was not someone they dared provoke. Only Ryan, blinded by greed, seemed unable to grasp this simple truth.

Sure enough, confronted with so many tier-three magical items at once, even Ryan lost his composure and reached out, intent on snatching them for himself.

Smack.

His wrist was seized by a large hand that shot out from the side.

“Sir, you seem to have no right to forcefully buy my goods,” Grimm cut in, unable to bear the clownish performance any longer.

“What? You dare refuse? Every apprentice making a living in this wizard tower knows that all tier-three magical items are exclusively acquired by the Murphy Trading Guild. To sell here is a violation—better watch yourself, or I’ll have you arrested.”

“Heh. Sir, if I remember correctly, the agreement between your Murphy Guild and the wizard only covers members of the tower. Yet I am not part of your tower, and these items aren’t produced here either. What, are you planning to seize them by force anyway?”

“Don’t try to bluff your way out. If you’re not a member, how did you get inside this tower? Hmph, let go of me, or else—”

“Or else what?”

“Or else I’ll have the Enforcement Council teach you a proper lesson!”

“Heh, if you really plan to do that, I fear you’ll be the one embarrassed in the end,” Grimm replied with a toothy grin, finally angered by this fool who didn’t know his place.

“Oh? You dare make a move?” Ryan said, slapping his waist. Suddenly, coarse black hair sprouted from his once-fair face, and his entire body began to swell.

Beastification!

Grimm frowned, stepped back two paces, and with a flick of his fingers, drew two summoning crystal cores from his storage belt.

Just as he hesitated over whether to fight, a cold, commanding voice rang out from beyond the crowd.

“Enough! All of you, stand down!”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar. With a nudge from his chip, Grimm instantly realized who had arrived. His heart skipped a beat; he tightened his grip, but did not toss the crystal cores. Truth be told, this was not the place for the Crocodile Hunter to fight. There was no soil in the hall, and relying solely on earth elements drawn from the air would make shaping difficult. Moreover, the Crocodile Hunter was his trump card—the less it was exposed, the greater the advantage in battle. Unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to reveal it.

While the two men stood locked in standoff, a figure strode in from the edge of the crowd. The way people bowed and made way for him made it clear he was a person of great renown.

“Master Kevin!”
“Master Kevin!”
...

As one apprentice after another bowed in greeting, the senior apprentice known as Black Hand Kevin—whom Grimm had met once before—approached the center of the commotion. Seeing Kevin, Ryan, still half-transformed, growled softly before baring his teeth and letting his beast form subside.

“Master Kevin, what brings you here?” Ryan, the blue-robed enforcer, bowed and greeted him obsequiously.

But Kevin, young yet highly respected, ignored Ryan altogether. Instead, he nodded at Grimm, crouched beside the stall, and casually examined the wares.

“Elven Boots, Croaking Toad, Root of the Wood... My, all tier-three items—no wonder everyone’s going mad. I heard there was a Revitalization Earring as well?”

“Th-that... Master, the Revitalization Earring is right here!” Ryan stammered, sheepishly handing it over.

“Mm.” Kevin took the earring and tossed it back onto the stall, then solemnly picked up and flipped through the witchcraft notebook.

At last, Kevin looked up with a sigh.

“I heard as soon as I returned that someone had slain the Vine Witch deep underground. I could hardly believe it. And now you’ve even recovered her witchcraft notes. These pieces of equipment must have been stripped from her corpse? Truly, the younger generation is to be feared.”

“The Vine Witch? You mean that woman who could mutate her body? She was slain by Lady Mary, and the equipment was consigned to me for sale on her behalf.”

“Mary? That mutated vampire?” Kevin mulled it over and chose to accept Grimm’s explanation. After all, a low-level apprentice killing a notorious senior renegade apprentice was difficult to fathom from any angle. “Pack up your things. Come with me—you won’t find what you seek here. I’ll take you to where you belong.”

With that, he helped Grimm gather up the stall cloth, bundling everything together, and strode off, completely ignoring the blue-robed enforcer Ryan.

Only when their figures had vanished from sight did the hall erupt with heated discussion once more. Several team leaders hauled Fat Sam aside, grilling him about the mysterious young man’s origins.

But none of this mattered to Grimm anymore—he was already too stunned by what he was witnessing.

Kevin led him to a small training camp outside the wizard tower, a place only accessible via flying mount. Thus, Grimm followed Kevin and, for the first time, rode a magical beast known as the Socratic Giant Eagle.

The Socratic Giant Eagle was a wind-element magical beast suited for senior apprentices, standing three meters tall with a wingspan of five meters. Its powerful build, wind blade attacks, and mastery of minor wind spells made it a rare aerial overlord in forested regions.

Because of their strength and speed, these beasts were captured and tamed by wizards, serving as high-quality flying mounts.

To say Grimm wasn’t nervous leaving the ground for the first time would be a lie.

As the majestic eagle, covered in golden plumes, soared into the sky, Grimm clung tightly to the soft feathers on the back of its neck, his heart pounding in his throat.

Kevin, riding another eagle ahead, glanced back and let out a hearty laugh, clearly well-accustomed to such scenes.

Grimm kept his eyes tightly shut until the eagle ceased climbing and leveled off, gliding steadily through the blue sky. Only then did he release his sweat-soaked grip and dare to open his eyes.

For the first time, the sky felt so close—the cottony white clouds floating above him like spun sugar. Below, precipitous mountains and deep valleys, endless forests dense as velvet, and now and then, great birds swooping joyously above the treetops...

For someone long immersed in scheming and intrigue, the sight made Grimm feel a rare sense of liberation. After so much time in the eerie, oppressive tower, he’d felt his spirit and body decaying, unable to reclaim the easy freedom he’d known upon first arriving in this world.

As his mood lightened, the anxiety of his maiden flight began to fade. Grimm sat cross-legged atop the eagle, even finding the leisure to appreciate the breathtaking scenery below.

Fortunately, he didn’t suffer from vertigo! Otherwise, a future great wizard with a fear of heights would have been a stain on his illustrious life.

The training camp wasn’t far—barely more than thirty miles in a straight line from the tower, nestled in a tranquil valley surrounded by mountains.

When the two Socratic Giant Eagles descended in slow, powerful sweeps, Grimm’s face was still a bit pale, but he was in much better shape than he’d been at takeoff.

Dismounting, Kevin tossed a magic crystal, which the eagle snapped up and swallowed. Grimm’s own mount eyed him coldly until Grimm, imitating Kevin, offered a crystal as well. Only then did the eagle brighten, swallowing the crystal and ambling off to a clearing.

“Come, let me show you a real circle of friends. We are a world apart from that rabble in the hall! Mixing with them brings you nothing, and you’ll never find what you seek among them,” Kevin said, arms spread as if to embrace the world. “Only here will you discover your true worth. This is the future of battle wizards!”

Ah, such a rousing declaration! Pity there was no applause, making the scene rather awkward.

Before Grimm could decide how to respond, a booming, good-natured voice called out from afar.

“Oh, Kevin the sentimentalist, at it again! So, who are you trying to lure into your little team this time? Bring him over and let Bald Arf take a look!”

Kevin’s previous heroic air collapsed in an instant. Muttering curses under his breath, he led Grimm toward the source of the voice.