"
Seeing that no one below had objections, Leilin nodded and said, "Now then, please enjoy yourselves!"
Everyone nodded, returned to their seats, and sat down. The sounds of knives and forks clinking against plates filled the air.
Ever since Leilin had announced the appointments, a heavy silence had settled over the room. Although the dinner was exceptionally lavish, everyone wore expressions weighed down by troubled thoughts.
After the dinner concluded, Leilin received the three who knew his identity as a
Gelin and Fuleisa were both wearing leather armor and looked sharp and capable, while Anna was still dressed in her formal gown.
"You all already know — I am a Wizard. Now I'm about to embark on a journey, and for certain reasons, I can only leave you here..."
Leilin sat behind his desk, addressing the three people who wore heavy expressions.
"The orders I gave in the dining hall just now were merely for show — for the benefit of those outside. From now on, Gelin, Fuleisa, you are to treat Anna as you would treat me. Understood?"
"Understood!" Gelin and Fuleisa nodded. Compared to outsiders, they knew all too well how terrifying their master could be, and they had absolutely no objections to Leilin's orders.
Having dismissed Gelin and Fuleisa, only Anna and Leilin remained in the room.
"Y-Young Master!" Tears welled up in Anna's eyes.
"The Mandragora essence in your body — I've already prepared an antidote. Also, take this!" Leilin's expression softened considerably.
As he spoke, Leilin handed Anna a vial of potion and a roll of parchment.
"This is..." Anna unrolled the parchment and her expression turned to one of great astonishment.
"This is a letter of authorization, granting you the right to take over all my assets in Polar Night City. Furthermore, if I have not returned in ten years, these assets will automatically transfer to your name!"
Leilin interlaced his fingers. "Also, Meierfeile and
These worldly assets were something Leilin could acquire as many of as he wished, so he naturally didn't mind handing them all to Anna as a safety net for the future.
Besides, even if this particular piece on the board proved useless, there would be no regrets.
After all, Leilin was only an apprentice at Black Bone Forest Academy, and according to Academy rules, apprentices could not bring their followers or maids into the Academy.
Since these were things he would have to abandon sooner or later, Leilin naturally wasn't too distressed about letting them go.
"Also, this is the Desert Stinger Scorpion, a tool specifically used to control Gelin and Fuleisa. Keep it safe..."
Leilin then handed a red box to Anna.
"No!" Anna bit her lip and finally said, "Young Master, don't send Anna away! Anna wants to stay by your side, I'll do anything, please!"
Leilin looked at Anna, a hint of gentleness in his eyes, and comforted her.
"I'm very sorry, Anna! The place I'm going is far too dangerous for you..."
"But..." Anna raised her tear-streaked face, as if she wanted to say something more.
"Stop fussing and listen!" Leilin's face suddenly hardened.
Anna was, after all, a trained slave. Seeing her master like this, the memory of the pain she had suffered for disobedience in the past resurfaced vividly. Although those methods were used by slave traders, they were deeply imprinted upon Anna's soul.
"Yes! Young Master!" Anna stifled her sobs, put away the scroll and the box, and simply gazed at Leilin, like a little kitten abandoned by its owner.
Seeing the young girl like this, Leilin wasn't entirely made of stone after all. He reached into his pouch and produced several vials, handing them to Anna.
"These are healing potions; they can recover injuries quickly. Keep them safe!"
"Also, this purple potion is an offensive type. If one day you encounter a danger that even Gelin and Fuleisa cannot handle, throw it hard. Understand?"
Leilin pointed to a purple vial as he gave his instructions.
"Anna understands!" Anna's eyes were red-rimmed, but knowing her master's words could not be defied, she stored the potions away.
"Sigh..."
Watching the young girl's retreating figure, Leilin let out a sudden sigh.
Although he had made many preparations, he knew that after a decade or so passed, the influence he left behind would most likely have vanished completely.
But he had no regrets. These were all mortals, without the talent for Wizardry, and their future help to him would be limited.
Perhaps the only use of this small faction was as a fallback for him to retreat to in the event of future failure — and not a terribly secure one at that.
Handing it all over to Anna was not a bad choice, either.
Aside from the Mandala compound, every other restriction on Anna had already been resolved by Leilin. Combined with today's potion, from this point forward, Anna was a free woman.
"I hope that with all of this, you'll be able to live a little more happily!"
Leilin's eyes glimmered with a quiet depth.
If Anna had ended up in the hands of another Wizard, she would have been treated as nothing more than a humanoid tool at best. Once the Wizard's interest faded, she might even have been turned into experimental material or something worse. Now, by following him, Anna not only had the slave restrictions lifted, but Leilin had also rescued her from the ravages of the Mandala compound. On top of everything, he was handing over both the manor and the apothecary to her. No matter how things developed from here on out, Leilin had a clear conscience!
"Most of the troublesome matters have been dealt with. The last thing is to clean out a few things from the laboratory and the basement!"
Leilin considered for a moment, then rose and made his way to the basement.
This was the restricted zone he had designated — even Anna and the two Knights dared not come down here casually.
Under the dim candlelight, Leilin produced a crystal ball. Trapped inside was the figure of an old man, his expression a mask of madness laced with terror.
"We meet again, Mr. Roman!" Leilin greeted him with a smile, but in Roman's eyes, that smile was more horrifying than a devil's grin.
"D-don't come any closer!" Roman's face twisted in agony as he pressed himself against the glass wall behind him in fear.
Yet Leilin keenly spotted a trace of steely resolve hidden beneath the wraith's terrified facade.
"Let me tell you one piece of good news and one piece of bad news!"
Leilin deftly arranged a number of tools from the nearby workbench around the crystal ball, drawing even sharper screams from the wraith, all while speaking casually.
"The good news is, I'm leaving this place temporarily!" Before the wraith could react, Leilin added with a smile, "The bad news is, no matter where I go, I'm bringing you along!"
"Oh! No! No! Please, I beg you…"
"Very well! Then, tell me everything you know!"
At first, Roman naturally refused to say a word, but after more than a year of torment, he had gradually begun to leak bits of information.
Once the wraith finished his account, Leilin shook his head. "It seems Mr. Roman still harbors illusions. Very well, then — let's continue…"
Immediately, an extremely piercing shriek echoed from within the laboratory — like the feeble scream of a person on the verge of death.
Although this wraith's mental state had already shown signs of collapse half a month ago, every time Leilin had questioned it about hidden secrets, it had given deliberately misleading answers.
The wraith had dispensed a large volume of information in a single burst, and it was exceedingly chaotic, but Leilin had the Chip, which could rapidly record everything it narrated and then sort it into organized categories.
After several rounds, he had identified the problem.
When it came to ordinary matters and common knowledge, Roman had been forthcoming and clear, but regarding other critical knowledge and secrets, Roman had done a great deal of tampering, withholding a great deal of important information.
But Leilin didn't care in the slightest. Every day, the wraith would cough up a massive amount of information, and after running it through the Chip's filters and reorganizing it, he could still extract quite a bit of useful intelligence.
Moreover, as the interrogation and torture deepened ever further, Leilin was confident that one day, this wraith would surrender everything, if only to beg for a swift death.
Once the daily routine of "interrogation services" was completed, Leilin made his way to the other rooms in the basement.
The walls here were hung with all manner of blood-soaked torture implements, and on the ground lay several corpses, their bodies covered in wounds so severe that they were barely recognizable as human.
"Ding! Negative Energy concentration in the environment has reached 34.5%, meeting the minimum conditions for spirit entity survival. Subject's physical body has undergone various forms of painful torture. Estimated probability of spirit entity manifestation: 1.23%."
After scanning the several corpses, the Chip produced its data.
"Compared to the naturally occurring probability of less than one in ten million, this rate is already quite high!" Leilin stroked his chin. "Given a bit more time, I can definitely artificially force the birth of a spirit entity!"
To study the soul, beginning with spirit entities was the fastest approach — a principle universally acknowledged by all dark Wizards of the Wizard world.
What Leilin was doing now was to continuously simulate external conditions and artificially induce the birth of a spirit entity!!!
If this situation were ever leaked, Leilin's reputation would be permanently branded with the words "bloodshed and cruelty," which would be extremely detrimental to his future development.
"Reputation is a form of benefit too! I don't care what others think of me personally, but even Wizards would certainly prefer to deal with a Wizard who has a good reputation, rather than a notorious freak!"
Leilin let out a deep sigh and scattered a quantity of powder over the corpses.
With a sizzling hiss, the corpses dissolved into yellow pus that corroded and evaporated, quickly vanishing without a trace.
"It's a pity to have halted the experiment, but it hasn't been without results!" Leilin consoled himself. "At the very least, regarding the final step in the Luoyan Scripture — Spirit Awakening — I've already collected sufficient data!"
As for the other ancient potion recipe,