Chapter 133: Chapter 132 An Invitation from the Sanctuary
Mr. Fang Zheng felt that his luck was not too bad.
Although he did not gain the specialized ability to be immune to mental control, obtaining “Free Will” was a decent choice, and it even came with a bonus—a black cat… Well, although this black cat could not provide much assistance to Fang Zheng, most of the time it just played by itself, but for Fang Zheng, having a cat to pet was not bad at all, right? It could at least provide some relaxation, couldn’t it?
In the following days, Fang Zheng continued to climb the ranks in the Sky Arena while testing his new ability. He was pleased to find that “Free Will” had indeed increased his resistance to the Enchantment School’s spells substantially; now, most low-rank mages from the Enchantment School could no longer affect him at all. Only occasionally, a few high-level apprentices would cast Enchantment School spells that could influence Fang Zheng for a brief one to two seconds.
This was a good thing for Fang Zheng, but not so much for the other mages in the Sky Arena.
Mages are no fools; noticing his own weakness, the other mages naturally discovered it as well. Thus, in the following days, the number of Enchantment School mages who challenged Fang Zheng increased significantly; clearly, they also sought to use various methods to block the progress of this Wild Mage. Unfortunately for them, with “Free Will” now in his arsenal, Fang Zheng was no longer afraid of such spell attacks, and soon, the apprentices of the Enchantment School became the second group, after the Necromancer Class, to deliberately avoid him whenever they saw him.
Nonsense, most spells from the Enchantment School require close proximity to cast. If it is a battle between two mages, casting spells up close isn’t an issue, but against a Templar… Ouch… My jaw still hurts!
By the time Fang Zheng had advanced to the top hundred ranks in the Sky Arena, he had already mastered fifth-level spells from four factions. This had left Rex completely speechless; he had never seen such abnormal skill in learning spells. You must know, those spell texts were extremely complex and quite the mouthful, and many mages spent a lot of time just memorizing these texts, not to mention embedding them in their Power of the Soul.
Spells themselves contain powerful forces, thus the higher the rank of the spells a mage masters and learns, the more difficult it becomes. Aside from the complexity of the spell itself, another reason is the powerful force of the spell itself.
If you compare mages to hard drives, then spells are like the programs installed inside; perhaps those low-level trickery spells only occupy a few MB or dozens of MB, but as time goes on, the more powerful the spells become, the more “space” they take up, even reaching tens of GBs or hundreds of GBs.
This is why the White Tower makes mages make constrained choices while specializing in factions; after all, every mage’s “capacity” is limited, so the number of spells they can “install” is naturally also limited. In fact, even within the White Tower, it is rare for mages to truly specialize in one faction before choosing three others. Given their qualifications, just studying and learning the spells of a specialized faction was already burdensome, let alone studying other minor factions; they usually just needed to understand a little and then select a few for daily use.
If you compare ordinary mages to mechanical hard drives and Rex, as a faction instructor, to a solid-state drive, then Fang Zheng was like a black-technology quantum hard drive. At least for now, he had no apparent “capacity” limits, and even his “read” speed was incredibly fast.
This made Rex even more convinced that choosing the path of magic was the right choice for Fang Zheng; he was already considering how to bring Fang Zheng into the White Tower.
But before that, Fang Zheng still had one troublesome matter to face.
Looking at the invitation Rex had thrown over, Fang Zheng scanned the invitation in surprise and saw that it was actually issued by the Sanctuary…
“That’s right, you also know that the Order Fortress was almost breached recently, right? The situation there has finally stabilized now. So, the Sanctuary plans to host a banquet to invite all the brave warriors who have achieved great merits in this battle… you are one of them, got it?”
After hearing Rex’s explanation, Fang Zheng put away the invitation and nodded. He had heard about the situation at the Order Fortress a few times; although initially, the Demon Beasts were indeed ferocious, the situation eventually stabilized after the Sanctuary increased their military efforts. Now it seemed that those ambitious Demon Beast Lords had finally retreated, so the Sanctuary could finally take a breath and celebrate their victory.
“Same place, during the New Year festival; I have to say, these old fellows really know how to pick the time. You’ve also received an invitation; it wouldn’t hurt to go and check it out. These kinds of gatherings are meant for eating, drinking, and playing with women; as a young fellow like yourself, you shouldn’t miss out on these good things.”
At this point, Rex tapped his forehead, as if he had suddenly remembered something and looked at Fang Zheng again.
“By the way, kid, if you stir up any trouble this time, don’t come back for now. When the time is right, I’ll come find you, got it?”
Although Fang Zheng did not know what Rex meant by that, he still nodded respectfully. He took the words of a Prophecy System instructor seriously. After hearing Fang Zheng’s response, Rex then waved his hand.
“Alright, off you go. Enjoying the fun of the festival is the real deal in life; everything else is nonsense. Go and enjoy the festivities.”
It was because of Rex’s words that Fang Zheng, along with Nymph, once again used the Teleportation Array and returned to the Northern Capital City of the Northern Alliance.
Unlike before, the Northern Capital City was now adorned with festive lights and a joyous atmosphere. Lanterns were lit everywhere, and the streets were bustling with people. From afar, one could even faintly hear the sounds of music and the noise of the crowd.
Compared to the tense atmosphere before, the Northern Kingdom capital now seemed quite lively.
“No matter where you are, parties are always boring.”
Standing on the balcony, Mr. Fang Zheng stroked the black cat in his arms and squinted at the brightly decorated city in front of him, while Nymph who stood quietly by his side, looked around somewhat bored.
What Mr. Fang Zheng hadn’t expected was that he had only been here a short while before he bumped into an acquaintance.
Looking at Knight Conan, who was rushing toward him excitedly, Mr. Fang Zheng suddenly felt a bit regretful; he thought leaving now might have been the right choice. Otherwise, if some “Midnight Ritual Murder” were to occur… that would really be troublesome.
“I really didn’t expect you to still be alive?”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect it myself either.”
Hearing Mr. Fang Zheng’s words, Knight Conan also showed a bitter smile.
“Honestly, when I arrived at the fortress, those terrifying Demon Beast Lords had already launched a fierce attack on the Order Fortress, if not for the timely arrival of reinforcements, the entire fortress might have fallen. And many of my colleagues were heavily casualties in that battle…”
According to Knight Conan, after he arrived at the Order Fortress and relayed the rear’s messages to the Fortress Commander, he was immediately assigned to a defense squad. This defense squad soon encountered an attack from the Demon Beast Lords, and nearly everyone was annihilated. Fortunately, at the very last moment, the Sanctuary’s reinforcements arrived in time, allowing Knight Conan to narrowly escape.
But this was not beyond Mr. Fang Zheng’s expectations.
“No matter how one puts it, you did manage to survive, Knight Conan, and…”
As he spoke, Mr. Fang Zheng glanced at Knight Conan’s chest.
“You even received a medal, didn’t you?”
“Although you say that…”
Hearing Mr. Fang Zheng’s words, Knight Conan showed a slightly embarrassed smile, but soon, he let out a long sigh.
“But… I have to tell you, Mr. Fang Zheng, I’ve already planned to retire.”
Upon hearing Knight Conan’s revelation, Mr. Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow. Templars indeed could retire, just like soldiers, they had their own service period. Of course, unlike those soldiers who must leave the army after their service period, Templars have specific restrictions. For example, during the first five years after you become a Templar, you aren’t allowed to leave voluntarily. But after those five years, you can choose to stay or retire. The time Knight Conan had served in the Templar Order was not short, so his decision to retire seemed a natural choice.
Especially considering everything he had been through… yes, you should retire.
“Yes, to be honest, always watching my comrades die around me has become somewhat unbearable for me, I think… it’s time for me to leave the battlefield. Perhaps I’ll return to my hometown and become a sheriff, maybe even find a wife or something…”
As he spoke, Knight Conan sheepishly scratched the back of his head, while Mr. Fang Zheng merely smiled slightly.
“Well then, I wish you all the best in advance, Knight Conan.”
And silently, he lit thirty-two candles in his heart for Knight Conan’s hometown.
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