Standing on the deck of the sailboat, the hazy figure of the old man turned silent. He remained silent for a long ti. anwhile, Adam stood there beside him with a faint smile on his face.
In the harbor before him, the swords of the masked assassins stabbed right into each other. The target of their attack, Anna, was nowhere to be seen.
The assassins found their comrades' swords lodged into their hearts. All of them coughed out large mouthfuls of blood, the grip around their swords gradually loosening up as their bodies trembled.
However, before they could even fall to the ground, they had already disappeared into motes of light!
"Surprised?" Adam glanced at the hazy figure with a look of amusent on his face. The figure remained silent, quite taken aback by the sudden turn of events.
"You see," Adam began, "the greatest illusion magic is not what you see, but what you believe to be true."
He then raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
SNAP!
The scene changed as Adam and the hazy figure suddenly appeared at the harbor, amidst the sea of people. There was no blood and flesh scattered on the ground, there were no corpses, and there were certainly no marks of explosion.
It was as if everything that had happened before was nothing but... an illusion!
Suddenly, a hooded figure walked past them, heading toward the sailboat. The figure stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking straight at them.
It was a beautiful young woman with scarlet hair and fiery red eyes. Anna gazed at the two of them montarily, but the smirk on her face couldn't be hidden. It was a smirk directed at the hazy silhouette of the old man.
Then, without uttering a word, she turned back around and disappeared into the crowd, covertly boarding the rchant vessel.
"It was quite an elaborate illusion," said Adam. "If I wasn't proactively looking for any flaws, I'm afraid I would have never paid attention to this subtle change."
The old man heaved a long and deep sigh. He glanced at Adam and asked curiously, "So when did you realize?"
"A little while back." Adam shrugged. "This entire illusion is based on my mories. Everything in it was true up until the mont that I boarded the carriage and left for Moon City."
"Very perceptive," the old man sincerely praised.
"I had no mories of what happened to Anna after I left because I was never there to begin with," Adam smiled. "Essentially, this was an illusion inside an illusion."
Hearing his explanation, a look of approval blood on the old man's hazy face. "The whole point of making you relive your childhood-the good and bad-was to slowly lower your guard for this final illusion."
He paused for a mont, adding with an inquisitive look, "But how were you able to take control of the illusion?"
This was what he was most interested in. It wasn't that Adam had seen through the illusion inside the illusion that surprised him, but the fact that he was able to directly control the illusion.
"My real body back in the chamber is currently subrged in so sort of liquid, isn't it?" Adam asked with a smile. "A liquid that contains an incredibly large amount of mana." "Hoh!" The old man was now visibly surprised. "You can sense that? Despite having spent more than 250 years inside the illusion? Very impressive!"
Adam simply smiled in return. Although he hadn't activated the white lotus to break through the illusion, his Sphere of Resonance was still passively activated at all tis, allowing him to sense his physical body's imdiate surroundings.
Of course, he was not about to disclose that to the old man.
The old man glanced at the sun in the blue sky with a gratified smile on his face. "It appears that a very talented child has appeared at the Castle. It makes truly happy."
Adam glanced at him and smiled, "You're him, aren't you?"
The gray fog around the old man gradually dispersed, revealing his true appearance. It was an old man with long, white hair and a beard that reached to his chest. He wore plain black robes and a black cape that appeared to be made of raven feathers.
He looked at Adam and displayed a kind and gentle smile. "Yes, it is I, Dendar Saratoga, the founder of Ravenfell and the first Headmaster of Saratoga Castle."
Although Adam had already guessed it, his heart still skipped a beat when he confird it. He placed his right hand over his chest and knelt on one knee.
"It is a great honor to et you, Headmaster!"
The smile on Saratoga's face deepened, revealing the deep wrinkles on his face. "Rise, young magus."
Adam got to his feet and deeply looked at the old man before him. He looked completely harmless, but from the historical records that he had read in the Grand Library, he knew that the first Headmaster was a mighty Mana Core Magus!
"You... this is not your real body, is it?" Adam asked. "It doesn't appear to be your soul body either."
"Hoho, you really are a perceptive young lad," Saratoga laughed heartily as he stroked his long beard. "You are right. This is only a remnant will of my soul body."
"I see." Adam nodded. "So you..."
"Yes," said the old man. "It has already been a very long ti since I passed away. Before I died, I imbued my remnant wills inside the final trial of all the Raven Inheritances I had left behind in the Castle."
This was an arrangent that Saratoga had left behind in order to see the type of Magus who would go on to lay claim to his inheritances.
Needless to say, he was quite approving of Adam's character and his deep understanding of magic. It made him happy that a Magus of such caliber was studying in the great institution
that he had built.
"Headmaster," Adam called out. "Is the trial finally over?"
"There was supposed to be one more hurdle after this illusion, but considering how deep your understanding of illusion magic is, you don't have to go through that hurdle," said the old
man with a chuckle.
"So, Adam Constantine," he continued. "You have successfully passed the Trial of Death!" Hearing this confirmation straight from Dendar Saratoga, the first Headmaster of Saratoga Castle, made Adam feel a great sense of accomplishnt.
Saratoga snapped his fingers, causing the illusion around him to shatter like fragnts of broken glasses. He then looked at the raven-haired young man with a gentle smile.
"Now then, are you ready for the rewards?"
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