Mr. Wallace

When Roland made his first escape attempt, the demon had actually thoroughly searched Wallace from head to toe.

For some unknown reason, however, that creature had not eaten Wallace's corpse.

As an intermediate apprentice, Wallace's body contained a rich amount of magical energy. Yet the abyssal demon had disdained it entirely, taking only Wallace's pouch as if Wallace were not a fine meal, but a piece of excrement.

Wallace's pouch contained many valuable items. There were potions and herbs, a book of demons, and several hell runes radiating a dark aura. However, there were no magic stones inside; those had presumably been consumed by the demon.

These findings made Roland's expression somewhat peculiar.

A few conjectures began to form in Roland's mind.

Shaking his head, Roland proceeded to check the other pockets.

The red-haired newcomer's pockets held nothing of value, but the blonde newcomer's pouch was packed with treasures.

That "Holy Chalice of the Yellow Fern" rested quietly inside the pouch of Claire, the blonde newcomer.

Aside from the Holy Chalice of the Yellow Fern, the pouch also contained a large quantity of silver and copper coins, along with a small number of gold coins. Not a single magic stone remained, however.

There were also several curios with damaged appearances inside the pouch, though it was unclear whether they were still functional. He could study them when he had some free time.

Stowing away the two pouches, Roland turned his attention to the three curios retrieved from the demon's ashes.

One was the lantern capable of projecting a defensive barrier. It was somewhat damaged, but still operational.

Its original effect must have been far more powerful, capable of providing a shelter barrier for a group of people. It belonged in the tier of top-grade protective curios.

Presently, however, its barrier could only cover a radius of about two meters, and its defensive efficacy had diminished significantly, relegating it to a lower-middle-grade curio at best.

Gazing at this lantern, Roland's eyes grew warm.

As a low-level apprentice, having even a lower-grade curio was already quite fortunate.

Moreover, protective curios were generally very expensive; had he possessed such a protective curio earlier, he wouldn't have been driven frantically about by those three streaks of black light.

That small, grayish-brown magic wand was also a curio, and those invisible, lethal bolts of black light had originated from it.

This black light possessed tracking capabilities and could be fired in triple bursts. It was extremely insidious and had left a deep impression on Roland.

There were three slots on the wand, embedded with three magic stones. Only one of those stones, however, still retained its magic energy.

Roland tried channeling the gray wand to release a bolt of black light, and discovered that the magic energy in the stone diminished by one-third. It seemed a single magic stone could sustain at most three bolts of black light.

"This thing consumes far too much magic energy!" Roland clicked his tongue inwardly.

Judging by the ratio of magical conversion, the energy consumption of the black light was somewhat excessive.

After carefully examining the gray wand, Roland realized that this wand was, in fact, damaged as well.

The original wand should have been capable of unleashing wizard-grade offensive magic. The current black light, however, was only slightly stronger in single-target damage than a chain lightning spell.

The wand was indeed damaged, downgraded from a top-tier curio to a lower-middle-grade one. Yet to Roland, it remained an absolute treasure!

After studying the wand for a moment, Roland had a persistent feeling that his power grew stronger whenever he held it in his hand.

He tried using the wand to cast an electric arc.

The electric arcs Roland usually cast could reach five or six meters at most, and striking someone with them would cause nothing more than a momentary sting.

Yet the electric arc cast using the wand flew over twenty meters away and left a small, charred mark on a distant stone pillar.

Roland was overjoyed inwardly: "Good stuff! This unassuming wand is the best item of all!"

The degree of damage to this wand was severe, and it could now only sustain minor tricks. For Roland, however, this curio was exceptionally useful!

Roland flipped through the *Notes of Ajelei* to check, and discovered that while holding the gray wand, the levels of all his tricks increased by 1!

The electric arc, which Roland had originally practiced to level 2, became a level 3 electric arc when holding the wand.

It seemed that upon reaching level 3, the electric arc would undergo a qualitative leap.

The current electric arc still could not kill anyone, and was only half as effective as the typical "acid splash" tactic used among low-level apprentices. Regardless, it was now an offensive skill.

Lifting the wand, Roland pointed a finger toward the gemstone on the ground.

An electric arc carrying golden sparks flew out, knocking the gemstone far away. Before the gemstone even hit the ground, several consecutive electric arcs struck it in rapid succession.

The Fire of Dawn ignited upon the gemstone, and Roland did not stop until faint cracks began to appear across its surface.

"It doesn't seem to be anything like a soul stone."

There was no magical aura characteristic of curios upon this gemstone. It looked more like something condensed after a demon's death.

Fearing that residual malicious will of the demon might still linger on it, Roland had prudently scorched it with the Fire of Dawn.

He had worried needlessly.

"I wonder if Wallace's book of demons contains any knowledge regarding this kind of gemstone."

Looking at the gemstone now marred with cracks, Roland felt a pang of secret regret.

Having never undergone orthodox wizard education, he belonged to those who possessed capability but lacked a foundation, missing breadth of knowledge and common sense.

Strictly speaking, Roland still fell into the category of a wild wizard. He needed to undergo systematic education at an academy, otherwise his future path would be exceedingly difficult.

Roland had no intention of staying with Catherine and the others forever, but he did want to attend the academy.

After mending his shortcomings at the academy and completing his apprenticeship, Roland desired to journey toward a much broader world. As for his senior sister, she would remain anchored to their mentor's sect forever. Their paths diverged.

Of course, finishing his apprenticeship did not mean cutting off all future contact; perhaps they would meet again someday. But Roland did not wish to join any factions, nor did he want to cling indefinitely to anyone's side.

"Mentor, you simply must survive! I'm still waiting to attend classes with you and call you senior sister!"

The great demon outside could defeat the mentor and the others at any moment and breach the palace.

Yet Roland showed no intention of leaving.

He thought to himself: "I want to wait for that demon. If the mentor and the others pay with their lives and beat the boss down to its very last drop of health, but I run away... then all our shared efforts will have been wasted for nothing."

"I have a scroll in hand and can leave at any time. At the very least, I must wait for that demon to enter and assess its condition before I leave. If I have a chance to slay it, I will give it my all. If I clearly cannot defeat it... then I will simply have to leave."

Roland shook his head and murmured: "Don't overthink it, Roland. Perhaps the mentor and the others will be the ones to survive."

"Let's wait a little longer."

He stored the gemstone into his dimensional pouch and unhurriedly searched the grand hall for Wallace's corpse.

Since Wallace's body had been near the center of the explosion, Roland searched for a while before discovering that he had been blown far away near a stone pillar.

The fellow's physical body seemed extraordinarily sturdy; having endured such a violent sweep of flames, he had not been torn to pieces.

His limbs were only slightly twisted.

His clothes had been burned to rags, exposing his entire back, yet there was not a single trace of burn marks upon his skin.

It was as if this fellow possessed near-immunity to fire.

Recalling the items from hell found in Wallace's pouch, Roland's expression inevitably turned peculiar.

Come to think of it, Roland had found Wallace's storage pouch on the demon, which meant the demon had previously searched Wallace's corpse.

Yet that abyssal demon had only taken Wallace's storage pouch without consuming his flesh.

This was the body of an intermediate apprentice! It contained a massive amount of magic energy!

Even though the abyssal demon had been starving to that degree, it had shown zero interest in Wallace's corpse, as if in the eyes of the abyssal demon, Wallace was not a sumptuous feast, but a lump of excrement.

"Stop pretending, Wallace," Roland said. "The mentor told me your identity beforehand; I know you're not entirely dead."

The corpse remained completely motionless.

Roland narrowed his eyes and raised the gray wand in his hand. Immediately, the corpse began to tremble slightly, and slowly, an ugly face grew out from Wallace's back.

"R-Roland, d-don't kill me! The curios are all yours... No, there are no curios at all, they were all eaten by that bastard from the abyss! Including our belongings, everything was eaten by it! Considering the years I've served the young mistress, please don't send me back to purgatory..."

Gazing at that ugly demonic face, Roland's expression grew increasingly bizarre: "No wonder Wallace knew so much about demons, and no wonder the abyssal demon held such utter disdain for him... That abyssal demon possessed near-immunity to all magic, while Wallace possessed near-immunity to intense fire."

Normal wizards kept sprites and pixies as servants by their side.

Catherine's servant, however, turned out to be an ancient sprite and a lesser devil minion.