Chapter 187: Raticati
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I turned my attention to the rat.
— What trick did you use just now?
Raticati blinked.
— Trick?
— The one that made you look like a rock.
My gaze turned cold.
— If it weren’t for my perception, you would have managed to fool me.
The rat looked proud.
— That’s one of the secret tricks Raticati learned!
— A combination of a camouflage spell and partial transformation.
I stared at him.
A simple rat knew magic.
— How many spells do you know?
Raticati became nervous.
— A-actually...
He lowered his head.
— Three.
My heart skipped a beat.
— Three?
— Yes.
— What’s the third one?
The rat answered almost in a whisper.
— Invisibility.
I was completely speechless.
An animal considered one of the weakest magical creatures in that world, with those three abilities combined, made that creature a specialist in stealth.
If I hadn’t had the Biochip to enhance my perception...
And if Ruby hadn’t been able to sense its life aura...
Perhaps that rat would have remained hidden.
I placed my hand under my chin.
What exactly was I supposed to do with that creature?
While I was still deciding, Raticati began to grow increasingly frightened by my silence.
Then he raised his hands.
— My lord!
I looked at him.
— You don’t want to kill Raticati!
— Master! Raticati knows of a secret treasure!
My pupils contracted.
The rat realized that he had managed to get my attention.
— The secret treasure of a powerful Official Mage!
He pointed at himself.
— Raticati can take the master to it!
If there was anything at that moment capable of awakening my interest... It was that.
— It seems you’re a magical slave who escaped from a Mage Tower.
— Tell me which Mage Tower you came from.
The truth had finally begun to emerge.
How could a wild rat possess such high intelligence?
How could it learn such a complex set of magic?
The pieces began to fall into place.
It had probably been created by an Official Mage and had luckily escaped.
Its small eyes moved from side to side.
Then it looked at the earth spear of the Hunter Knight, which remained resting against his shoulder.
There was no way out.
He lowered his head.
— Darkgem City...
He paused.
— Master Mage Lucary.
Ruby frowned.
— Mage Lucary from Darkgem City?
She looked at me.
— That name sounds familiar. George, have you ever heard of him?
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Then sighed.
— Ruby...
She raised an eyebrow.
— You really should spend more time in the library.
— What?
— Knowing our enemies is essential to staying alive.
Ruby crossed her arms.
— So this Lucary is really famous?
I looked directly at her.
— Of course.
— Because Mage Lucary is a powerful Level 2 Official Mage.
Even Ruby knew the weight of those words.
The difference between an acolyte and an Official Mage was already frightening.
A Level 2 Official Mage... Was a completely different existence.
Perhaps even other Official Mages would need to think twice before confronting him.
Ruby looked at me.
I looked at her.
We didn’t need to exchange words.
We understood each other’s thoughts immediately.
We needed to place Raticati under our control. After all... He had served a Level 2 Official Mage.
Any magical knowledge we could extract from him would be extremely valuable.
As for the supposed secret treasure...
I simply dismissed it from my mind.
I wasn’t an idiot.
Would a powerful Level 2 Official Mage really entrust the location of his treasure to a simple rat?
That was ridiculous.
Perhaps Raticati had found some discarded remains of a magical experiment left behind by Lucary and, in his naivety, had considered it a treasure.
In any case, I would find out later.
First, we needed to get out of there.
I looked at Ruby.
Then I approached and picked her up in my arms.
Next, I climbed onto the Giant King Shark.
The enormous golem made its way forward.
Raticati was placed with us.
The small rat remained huddled up, looking around nervously.
The earth opened up before us.
Then we plunged back underground.
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POV Outlaw Acolytes.
Inside the broken tunnel, three acolytes of different heights remained crouched before the remains of the black stone basilisk.
The spiritual core, now completely devoid of its glow, was in Netalp’s hands.
The Pseudo-Mage examined the object in silence.
Sharniz, beside him, seemed increasingly impatient.
— So? Did you find anything?
He yawned.
— You’ve spent almost half an hour staring at that thing. Just tell me what’s so special about it.
Netalp took a few seconds before answering.
— This is a spiritual core taken from a Pseudo-Mage-level terrestrial creature.
Sharniz immediately grimaced.
— Trash! Anyone could figure that out!
He pointed at the core.
— If that’s the only conclusion you managed to reach, why do we still need you, an alchemical enthusiast?
Netalp didn’t let himself be provoked.
— There are between twelve and fourteen magical matrices configured inside this core.
Sharniz finally stopped yawning.
— Continue.
— Most were created to absorb and store elemental earth energy. The remaining ones have different functions.
— Granting elemental life.
— Summoning elemental particles.
— Imprinting the life-control system. Tempering elemental particles...
— Through an extremely unusual method, all these independent matrices were connected to one another.
— The result was a completely new three-dimensional magical matrix.
— That’s why this basilisk possessed such absurd strength. Its core wasn’t merely storing energy. It was using that energy extremely efficiently.
Salin, who was listening to the conversation between the two, snorted.
— So with that, it managed to restrain a Pseudo-Mage and allow those two to escape.
Sharniz, upon hearing this, looked at Salin and, despite being the smallest of the group, did not let himself be intimidated.
— And you want to blame me?!
He pointed at the corpse.
— You told me to prevent a newly consolidated Level 3 Acolyte and a newly advanced apprentice from leaving the area!
— You never said that kid had a monster like this!
After saying that, Sharniz looked back at Netalp.
— Netalp! With all your knowledge of magical alchemy, tell me: do you know any newly advanced Level 3 Acolyte capable of controlling a Pseudo-Mage-level Golem?
— Does that make any sense?!
Netalp remained calm.
— It’s not as absurd as you think.
Sharniz became irritated.
— What?
— If he found an alchemist master capable of extracting enough energy from the core and using it properly, the amount of mana required to control the golem would be considerably reduced.
Netalp looked at the corpse.
— Therefore, it isn’t impossible for a Level 3 Acolyte to control a Pseudo-Mage-level Golem.
— The problem is something else. With the mana of a Level 3 Acolyte, it’s extremely difficult to unleash this golem’s full combat potential.
Salin sighed and spoke.
— What if these golems were created by George himself?
Netalp ficou imóvel por alguns segundos.
Then he slowly shook his head.
— In that case...
— He would be one of the greatest alchemical geniuses of this generation.
Salin shook his head and smiled like a demon.
— Then we’ll find out the next time we encounter him. After all, George will still need to return to the Subterranean World.
Sharniz crossed his arms and turned toward Salin.
— Ever since I followed you on this mission, Mine Number Seven, which I was supposed to protect, was robbed by those bastards from the surface.
— I’m afraid you’ll have to compensate me for my losses.
— And if Official Mage Uzel asks anything...
— I hope you’ll be able to calm his anger.
Salin’s face tightened.
The temperature of the cave seemed to drop a few degrees.
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POV George Gill - MC
Half a day later, we finally returned to Kar-Dur Tower.
As soon as we entered, we received the news.
Selene had died.
The rest of the team was injured.
Our mission had ended in a complete defeat.
According to the survivors, four outlaw Pseudo-Mages had suddenly appeared.
Lyra and two other Pseudo-Mages had confronted three of them.
The fourth had attacked Selene.
The situation quickly spiraled out of control, and they were forced to flee.
Selene died during the retreat.
And according to the reports, those Pseudo-Mages had said that they were specifically there to take revenge on Ruby and me.
Naturally, after returning to the surface, some members of the team decided that it would be much more convenient to place all the blame on our shoulders.
When we arrived at the main hall, the atmosphere was heavy.
Then Official Mage Pretel appeared to receive the mission items.
Elara immediately began to complain.
— Master Mage!
—All of this happened because of them!
—They insisted on leaving the team, attracting the revenge of four outlaw Pseudo-Mages!
—Because of them, we failed the mission!
Kael and Rowan also began to speak.
The other two Pseudo-Mages remained silent.
They didn’t accuse us directly.
But I could see the dissatisfaction in their eyes.
The only member who had returned completely unharmed was Lyra.
Pretel listened to everything.
Then...
— Hahaha.
The man let out a cold laugh.
— Stop with these childish tricks.
The room fell silent.
— I’ve spent years watching teams of acolytes destroy themselves because of petty internal intrigues.
He looked at everyone.
— I’m not interested in your disputes.
— I only want to know one thing.
He extended his hand.
— What did you bring back to Kar-Dur Tower?
Everyone looked at Lyra.
Without showing any emotion, she handed over four items.
Pretel analyzed the objects.
His face darkened.
— Only one of them was completed.
No one answered.
— Where is the other one?
Ruby stepped forward.
— Here.
She extended her hand.
A second item appeared before everyone.
Pretel looked at the two objects.
— Out of the five missions, you completed only two.
— According to our agreement, you are free from punishment for the failure.
— But you can also forget about the rewards.
— In addition, I have an internal decision from the Council of Kar-Dur Tower.
— Considering George and Ruby’s exceptional performance during the elite training ground mission...
— The council has decided to transfer them to the training ground.
— From now on, they will no longer need to participate in mandatory missions.
Absolute silence.
It was as if thunder had exploded inside the hall.
Elara was the first to react.
— That... that can’t be right!
She stepped forward.
— Master!
—Our team will be left with only eight members!
—If you remove the two of them, how will we complete the remaining missions?!
She raised her voice.
— We protest!
Pretel simply coughed.
— Cough.
Elara was suddenly thrown backward.
BOOM!
Her body crashed through a table, destroying it upon impact.
My expression remained unchanged.
Pretel didn’t even seem to have exerted himself.
— What?
— Is there anyone else who wishes to challenge the authority of the Council of Kar-Dur Tower?
No one answered.
He slowly walked toward Elara.
— Girl, listen carefully.
— Never challenge the authority and dignity of a Mage.
He closed his hand.
A stream of energy emerged.
Then it transformed into a long, glowing-hot metal chain.
The chain wrapped around Elara’s body.
Chhhhhhh!
It began to burn her skin.
Elara screamed.
Pretel tightened his hand.
The chain contracted.
— This is a lesson.
The sound of cracking bones echoed through the hall.
— Next time, perhaps I won’t be so merciful.
Elara let out several miserable screams before fainting.
Pretel snapped his fingers.
The chain disappeared.
Then he raised his eyes.
I lowered my head along with the others.
— That was merely a small punishment.
— You came here to train and complete the assigned missions.
— Not to blame one another.
— If you don’t possess enough strength to crush those bastards, use your brains!
— Use strategies! Work together!
— Don’t have enough manpower?
He pointed toward the exit.
— Then go to the main hall on the first floor and recruit new acolytes!
A cold smile appeared on his face.
— See for yourselves if any idiot will be willing to work with you.
Pretel then turned his eyes toward me.
— Boy.
— I heard that you’re very good at hiding your abilities.
— Hahaha... it seems you know how important being discreet is for staying alive.
— But hiding your strength too deeply can also be a mistake.
— A strong man should display his bearing and dignity.
— If you had shown your true capabilities earlier, perhaps every member of this team would already be your subordinate.
— And perhaps these girls would be much more interested in sleeping with you.
Ruby raised an eyebrow.
I simply ignored the comment.
Pretel extended his hand.
— Then come.
— Show me what you brought back this time.
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2079 Words
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