The magic puppet looked brand new, and the first thing to do was to get familiar with everything about it.
But Hilia hadn’t gotten used to it for long before a ssage ca through the bracelet.
It wasn’t Hilia’s own bracelet, but the one picked up in Beia Village—the purified Duke’s bracelet.
This bracelet, carrying Duke’s soul ring, had always been in Hilia’s possession.
It wasn’t that she liked collecting dead people’s stuff, but because Duke’s father, Emma, hoped Hilia could find Duke’s brother, Eric, to confirm his situation—whether he had really joined the Sect.
If he joined the Sect, try to persuade him to turn back; if that failed, then...
Emma hadn’t said anything further, but Hilia understood what he ant.
The only way they kept in touch with Eric was the bracelet Eric had gifted.
Duke would go to Xue Shan Town at specific tis, buy necessities, and also check if Eric had sent any ssages.
And now, Hilia had finally received one.
"So Eric doesn’t know what happened in Beia Village. That’ll make things easier."
Hilia read the ssage Eric sent.
Eric had heard about the unusual phenona at Lake Beia and hoped Duke could provide so samples for him—so he could bring them to the organization he had joined for research.
On seeing the ssage, Hilia waited until the ti Emma ntioned before replying, saying she’d bring the samples tomorrow and asking where to deliver them.
"Collect so samples of the white fish and deliver them to the Deep Red Town."
Seeing Eric’s reply, Hilia was a bit surprised. "It’s actually not Xue Shan Town?"
She checked the location of Deep Red Town. It was between Xue Shan Town and Huijin City, about 300 kiloters from Huijin City. Not too close, not too far.
"With that distance, just a few hours’ flight and I’ll be there. Leaving tomorrow!" Hilia was energized.
Dealing with heretics could happen anyti, and the Holy Court would use it as a performance rating.
Eric could be confird as just a Tier One Mage, having beco a mage only about a year ago.
If she couldn’t handle even such a heretic, Hilia felt she might as well forget about becoming the Holy Daughter.
"Just one heretic is enough to satisfy you?" Rose’s lazy voice drifted in.
Hilia, about to pack up, paused. "What do you an?"
"Given the current situation, Eric doesn’t know what happened in the village. He plans to take the samples for research—why not just wipe out the base he’s in?"
Hilia’s hand trembled, "W-wipe out the base?"
"Of course! The other side isn’t on guard. This is the perfect opportunity."
"I think I..."
"What are you worried about?"
"I’m worried they have powerful mages and magic puppets, and I’ll get myself killed."
"Anyone below Tier Three Mage, don’t worry about it."
"Tier Four then?"
"Let ask you—what level is a Tier Four Mage?"
"Very strong. At the Academy, the minimum requirent for instructors is Tier Four."
"Then, do you think Tier Fours are common, especially in a small town?"
"So... should I go?"
"Of course, go." Rose asserted, "I’ll teach you Disguise Skill. Tomorrow, disguise yourself as Eric’s younger brother and go to the base with him."
"..."
The next day, Hilia requested leave from school, citing continued commission work as the reason.
The Academy, considering Hilia’s special circumstances (aning poverty), approved her leave but asked her to keep up with her studies.
After so ti, Hilia arrived at Deep Red Town, as Eric had instructed.
This small town was nad after a nearby red spring called the "Deep Red Spring."
"Supposedly, the Deep Red Spring was ford during the great battle between the Twelve Main Gods and the Evil God... The Evil God’s heart fell here, turning into the springhead, endlessly bubbling up scarlet water."
Hilia explained the origins of the Deep Red Spring to Rose:
"Originally, the water from the Deep Red Spring was heavily polluted. Later, after the Gods’ tireless purification efforts, the spring no longer carries pollution—it only has concentrated Magic Power."
"However, the Magic Power from the spring can’t be absorbed directly. It needs elaborate processing, which is too expensive. This ans nobles and mages aren’t interested in taking on purification work, so the spring just flows freely."
"Later, although nobody processed the Deep Red Spring water, plenty of people settled here for research purposes, and that’s how Deep Red Town ca to be."
Rose was intrigued by the Deep Red Spring.
"Once we’re done, let’s check out the Deep Red Spring."
"You want to see your own corpse?" Hilia blurted out, then realized her slip and hurried to correct herself, "I an..."
"That’s right." Rose cut off her excuse with a laugh, "I just want to know what my ’corpse’ looks like."
He truly wanted to see whether the bragging of the Gods was for real.
To see what the Deep Red Spring really is—whether it’s truly so sinister.
After arriving at Deep Red Town, Hilia’s appearance had already transford.
The Disguise Skill Rose taught Hilia wasn’t physical camouflage; it was an illusion crafted with Spiritual Power and Magic Power, belonging to Dark Elent Magic. By twisting light with Magic Power and simulating shapes, it lets you turn into soone else.
Spiritual Power was used to alter the voice, making her sound like whatever target wanted to hear—effectively casting Illusion Technique on the target.
Duke’s bracelet had his recorded video imagery, so disguising as Duke was easy.
The only difficulty was that Magic Power might be insufficient, but Rose solved that effortlessly.
"Leave the magic puppet to . You go et up with Eric. After all, you’re ’his brother’ now—a newly minted Tier One Mage who’s also a Sword Master."
Rose controlled the magic puppet to wave at Hilia, and also cast Disguise Skill on himself before wandering around the town.
"Hilia’s Spiritual Power has improved lately, so the magic puppet has a broader range of movent. Not bad."
Rose gauged the magic puppet’s range of action and was quite pleased.
The Mage’s Hand and Sleep ditation Skill ant both Hilia’s Magic Power and Spiritual Power were rising steadily.
"At this rate, in a few months, she’ll be able to attempt stepping onto the second step of the Ascension God Stairs and beco a Tier Two Mage."
"Co to think of it—the Gods have gone silent, but the training system is still all about Ascension God Stairs. So far, the number of people surpassing the human limit tier—Tier Six—is tiny, let alone reaching Tier Ten to form a Divine Format and ascend to godhood."
Rose was seriously suspicious that the Gods, before going dormant, had imposed so special restriction, preventing humans from breaking past the limits.
He went to a high point in town, looking southward.
Faintly, the horizon seed shrouded in a golden tree.
A certain mory deep in his mind stirred, and Rose couldn’t help but show a nostalgic look.
"Star Spirit Tree... Didn’t expect it to bloom again after I burned it down. But, is today’s Star Spirit Tree still the old Star Spirit Tree? Can it still condense the God’s power?"
He definitely needed to have a look.
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