Chapter 9 – The Green-Robed Alchemist

The Seasonal Tide this time lasted for thirty days before gradually showing signs of subsiding. The waves on the sea surface weakened, and it seemed that in a few days, the sea would return to its usual calm.

The magical creatures in the sea no longer lingered on the surface as they had before, and only occasionally could faint shadows be seen.

Lin Wei’s magic training ground had been moved to a clearing specially carved out in the island’s forest. The reason was simple: when Lin Wei learned how to form various soul contracts and began attempting summoning, the room filled with soul crystals was clearly no longer suitable.

“The Servant Contract allows for the random summoning of creatures across space. With sufficient mental strength and soul power, one can command numerous summoned creatures for extended periods. When the summoning ends, the contract terminates, and the summoned creatures are automatically sent back to their original space.

The Master-Servant Contract remains effective for life unless dissolved. The summoned creature has a certain degree of freedom and can stay away from the summoner for long periods. The summoner and the summoned creature can communicate through the contract regardless of distance, and the summoned creature can be teleported to the summoner’s side at any time.

The Lifebound Contract cannot be dissolved except through death. There is no master-servant relationship; the two parties share a deep connection, both in heart and soul. When one party’s strength increases, the other party gains the same effect. If one party dies, the other suffers severe soul damage.

Apart from these three, there are many other types of contracts, but they are either extremely difficult to fulfill or have long been lost. The existing contract methods can be found in the library, and you can study them on your own.”

Just by listening to Adele’s explanation, the difference between the Empire and the deeply rooted Magic Academy became evident.

In his previous life, Lin Wei only knew the Servant Contract, but now he had his first Master-Servant Contract with a summoned creature—the Abel Vine.

Adele’s Lifebound summoned creature was a fully grown Abel Vine, and the one Lin Wei had was cultivated from a seed of that vine.

Unfortunately, the Abel Vine grew slowly, and Lin Wei had not formed a Lifebound Contract with it. He felt that he might not live to see the little thing grow into the form of Adele’s Lifebound companion.

At this moment, the adult Abel Vine, named “Alu,” extended thousands of thick, deep green vines from its main body. One of the vines at a higher position formed a seat, on which Adele sat leisurely, while the others waved menacingly.

Behind Lin Wei, a large door composed of milky white light points floated in mid-air, with a gray soul passageway behind it, occasionally flickering with flowing light.

This was the large-scale summoning magic “Gate of Contracts” using the Servant Contract.

Intermediate-level magical creatures continuously walked out of the Gate of Contracts and began attacking the menacing Alu.

Of course, Adele’s requirement wasn’t just to summon as many creatures as possible to fight. Lin Wei had to control them as precisely as possible while summoning.

Adele watched from above as the twenty or so magical creatures sometimes gathered and sometimes scattered, attacking her vines. Alu also moved in and out at her will, as if teasing, until her student’s face turned pale, showing signs of mental exhaustion, before she called a halt.

“Stop.”

Alu retracted its vines, and the magical creatures were all returned to their original places by the Gate of Contracts.

Adele’s eyes showed satisfaction, and after giving a few pointers, she let Lin Wei leave.

As Lin Wei was about to exit the dense forest, he looked back in the original direction. Adele was still standing there, her back unmoving, as if she was watching or thinking about something.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

To Lin Wei, Adele, as his teacher, possessed extremely high attainments in summoning magic and never lacked patience.

But that didn’t stop him from feeling that Adele was somewhat peculiar.

This peculiarity wasn’t about her being reclusive or aloof, but rather an elusive feeling.

Even though she always appeared gentle and composed, it seemed as if she carried heavy shackles and had never truly relaxed.

—If she wasn’t truly unfathomable, then she must be burdened with heavy concerns.

Was it that everyone in the Astrology Tower was like this, or was it just her?

Lin Wei shook his head, trying to dispel this strange feeling.

He thought perhaps he was overthinking it. The Astrology Tower was too mysterious, and it had made him overly suspicious.

Haitie had mentioned many things about the tower, but they were all trivial matters and not very useful.

Before long, Lin Wei returned to the small courtyard shared by the three of them. As soon as he entered, he saw Haitie happily packing things. When she saw Lin Wei come in, she immediately said, “Ah Wei, come and help me see if there’s anything else we can bring?”

The Siren Island had a magical barrier. Normally, students couldn’t come and go freely. Only after the last Seasonal Tide of the year ended and before the next one arrived would the barrier open. This long interval was also the time when the academy tacitly allowed young mages to travel outside.

There were various kinds of food, a pile of crystals, a few high-level magic scrolls given to them by their teachers just in case, and some strange magical potions and small gadgets made by alchemists.

“Well… there’s nothing else, I guess.”

As for the clothes to wear, the robes of mages had been improved over many generations by imaginative alchemists. They could change shape, change color, were waterproof, fireproof, and wouldn’t get dirty. Having two or three sets was enough to last the whole year, and they only needed to be changed at different times due to the different magic arrays embedded in them.

Of course, two or three sets were out of the question for Haitie. The pursuit of beautiful clothes was just as strong among female mages, and Lin Wei suspected that Haitie’s magic robes alone could fill a space ring.

“By the way, when I ran into Daniel today, he said he wanted to go out to sea with us.”

“Daniel?” Lin Wei was puzzled when he heard Haitie’s words. “Why isn’t he going with his classmates?”

“Daniel’s classmates are going to the Valley of Ice with their teacher this year. He said that place is not only useless to him but could also cost him his life…”

Listening to Haitie’s retelling, Lin Wei could almost imagine Daniel’s feigned pitiful expression: “A delicate alchemist like me, how could I go to such a freezing place full of man-eating magical beasts!”

Indeed, Daniel was an alchemist, and he was one who had a fateful connection with Lin Wei and the others—on their first day at the academy, the blackened figure that fell from the alchemy floating island, howling, was none other than Daniel, who had been struck down by his teacher Sirius in a fit of anger.

As for how an alchemist, who couldn’t communicate with magical elements like a summoner, could fly—alchemists always had some strange gadgets, as everyone knew.

As the two were talking about Daniel, there was a knock at the door: “It’s me, Daniel!”

Haitie sighed helplessly, stuck out her tongue, and went to open the door.

A green figure rushed into the room, with six out of ten fingers adorned with colorful space rings. Even though Daniel had a decent and somewhat handsome face, his outfit was simply unbearable to look at.

“Beautiful Lady Haitie, your robe today is truly admirable!” Daniel’s icy green eyes darted around. “Has your companion heard about my wish to join you?”

“It’s possible,” Lin Wei looked at Daniel and smiled, extending a finger, “but I have a small request.”

“What request?” Daniel asked cautiously, eyeing Lin Wei.

This noble kid was no good, as Daniel had learned over the past year.

“The three of us can generously let you join and protect you, a powerless alchemist… In return, you must not be stingy with your potions and gadgets. Also, that thing that lets you fly, you’ll have to make one for me later!”

Daniel thought for a while and agreed: “That’s fine, but you have to promise only to use them when necessary, and not just take them at will!”

“Deal,” Lin Wei stood up and headed for the stairs, “Well… since you have time to talk about this, why not stay and help Haitie pack the things we need for the trip?”

“Lin Wei, you’re exploiting me! I’m not one of your obedient little furball summons!”

Lin Wei leisurely walked through the door.

Duan Yu was, as usual, meditating with his eyes closed.

Thanks to Duan Yu, Lin Wei’s meditation skills had improved significantly over the past year.

He had also discovered that Duan Yu could enter meditation quickly and wake up just as easily, unlike Lin Wei, who used to meditate rarely and felt heartbroken when interrupted.

So, without hesitation, he walked to Duan Yu’s bed and shook him awake.

“Duan Yu, Duan Yu, wake up!”

Duan Yu, who was already leaning against the headboard, seemed accustomed to Lin Wei’s occasional interruptions and quickly came out of his meditative state.

“What is it?”

“Daniel wants to go out to sea with us, and I got him to agree to let us use his potions and gadgets!”

“It’s good that he’s coming… Can Daniel fly long distances?”

“I don’t know about that,” Lin Wei scratched his nose.

He had only seen Daniel flying between the main island and the floating island, and he wasn’t sure if that little gadget could keep someone flying indefinitely.

Duan Yu could fly him across the Siren Sea, but Haitie wasn’t at that level yet. Having two elemental mages carry one person each… wasn’t going to be easy.

But that wasn’t a big problem. Lin Wei said, “If it really comes to it, we can ask Teacher Ansel to lend us his Magic Wheel. Since the rain hasn’t stopped, using the Magic Wheel to go to sea would be fine.”

As for who would pilot the boat… of course, it would be the green Daniel!

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