Chapter 82: The Arcane Priory (I)

“Now the players have started to expand out.”

"Not only in the Dragon Valley and North Wind Castle, but also in southern cities such as Katis City and Kerry Castle, players have appeared."

"It's really amazing..."

Cassius browsed the player forum and Trump's magic mirror, and sighed to himself.

Yes, in addition to Langli Baitiao, some players have already left Batuo City and come to unknown areas.

This is not easy. First of all, we have to break through the numerous obstacles of monsters outside the Storm Peak. In addition to the Burning Embers, there are also scattered resistance tribes such as Frost Giants, Hill Giants, orcs, etc. Although they are squeezed to the edge of the slope, they still retain some strength.

Moreover, these players who travel far cannot die easily. Once they die, all their previous efforts will be wasted and they will have to return to the city of Batto.

"Hmm? What's the sound?"

Cassius's frilled, active dragon ears twitched and swirled as he tracked the sound - a red dragon's hearing was far more acute than a human's, with the ability to recognize what an important sound was and filter out background noise to focus on the noteworthy one.

"Ding--"

There was a noise coming from somewhere in the corner of the cave.

I saw the "Medal of the Arcane Priory" flashing with magical power, and a magical image emerged.

"Anzeta Branch sincerely invites you to join!"

"Party Time: Three Days Later"

“Location: Stratford”

"Teleport coordinates: 1345.8375.527"

The Arcane Priory, a famous wizard organization in later generations, was founded by the famous legendary wizard Trafranallo.

Initiates would gather regularly to share magical knowledge, exchange research results, and sometimes take the opportunity to seek help to eradicate evil. This time seems to be the first gathering of the Arcane Hermitage - Anzeta Branch.

"Many famous figures in Anzeta will attend this branch meeting."

"We have to join in the fun—"

Thinking of this, Cassius called for the magic mirror.

"Trump, come here immediately."

Trump's ugly face appeared on the image, but at this moment he seemed to be counting his gold coins obsessively. It seemed that the greed in the red dragon's blood also had a profound impact on him.

"One hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three."

Gold coins fell one by one, making crisp tinkling sounds.

It was not until he heard Cassius's impatient second call that he came back to his senses and said in panic:
"Oh, sorry, Master. I'll be there in a minute."

After a while, Trump staggered down from the sky and came in front of Cassius.

The ogre magician muttered, "Master, these 'Starfallers' you got are too easy to cheat. I sell magic scrolls at three or four times the market price, but they still rush to buy them from me. It's a pity that these guys are so poor that they don't have many gold coins in their pockets. If everyone is so stupid, I don't have to rob those adventurers."

"Master, do you think I should raise the price a bit to earn you more gold coins?"

Cassius exhaled a puff of white smoke from his nose: "Trump, you have to understand the concept of playing the long game to catch the big fish, and not exhaust the pond to catch all the fish."

"The price of our goods should change as their spending power increases. You can send people to check their assets regularly and control the price to a level that will just leave them penniless but not too unaffordable. Isn't that enough?"

Trump thought for a moment, clapped his hands and said, "Master, I admire your wisdom. I will ask my men to prepare now."

Cassius nodded in satisfaction.

Trump is getting better and better at exploiting players, which is really cause for celebration.

"But I didn't come to you this time to talk about the Falling Stars."

"Here, look at this—"

Rumple looked towards the corner of the cave and saw the translucent magical image.

"The Arcane Priory?"

"Yes, do you want to go and see it?" Cassius said with a smile. Trump's ugly and ferocious face suddenly revealed a trace of nostalgia and relief.

"Of course, Master..."

At first he was ignorant and didn't understand what was happening. He just felt that he had become smarter inexplicably.

Now, as the chief steward of the Burning Embers, Trump has been in a high position for many years. He has devoted himself to the study of magic for many years and owns his own magic tower. He has long understood what happened in the past. He has even been able to further transform the [Ring of Wisdom Research].

Everything seems to be deliberately arranged by the god of fate.

If this young and energetic wizard apprentice had not gone out for the parade, if he had not knocked him out with a stick and eaten him, Trump might still be just a mediocre ogre who was doing nothing and living in a daze.

——Like all ogres, he only thinks about eating and sleeping, and he is definitely not qualified to be a part of the Red Dragon's "grand blueprint".

And it was this experience that changed his life, or rather his life.

"Transfiguration!"

The huge red dragon once again transformed into a young noble with black hair, golden eyes and noble temperament, but this time he did not show any dragon characteristics.

“It’s still a bit restrained.”

Feeling the enormous power in his body being restrained by the human form, Cassius flexed his wrists.

He stared at Rump's huge body, frowning slightly: "The Arcane Hermitage should be a gathering of the good camp. I'm afraid you can't show up in this form..."

"Yes, Master."

Trump quickly waved his staff, communicated with the magic network to construct a spell model, and turned into a human being.

"Transfiguration!"

However, the human in front of him was more than two meters tall, fat and strong, with fat all over his body and a swollen face. He was simply unbearable to look at, and looked like an ogre in human skin - although that was indeed the case.

"Master, is this all right?"

Cassius looked at Trump in silence:

"Can you modify it... This form doesn't look like a normal human at all."

"It might even be better to just take an ogre with you."

But Cassius forgot that ogres were not "artist" warlocks who cast spells based on intuition and consciousness, but wizards who required rigorous construction.

Trump touched his head embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Master, my spell model parameters are not adjusted properly. It may take uh... seven or eight days to slowly perfect it."

"Seven or eight days?"

"The Arcane Priory is coming to an end."

"How about this……"

Cassius thought for a moment.

"You can transform into an iron golem and still look somewhat normal. It's normal for a noble spellcaster to have a construct guarding him."

"Yes, Master."

Trump cast the Transfiguration spell again, and this time there was no mistake. He easily turned into a three-meter-tall, steel-clad giant.

Although it still looks ugly, at least no one will suspect that it is some kind of chaotic evil creature.

"Give me a cloak."

Rumple took out a long cloak with the "anti-spying" magic from his collection and put it on Cassius.

Cassius played with the mithril necklace in his hand, stroking the door-shaped pendant on it.

"Dimensional Gate."

As the coordinates were confirmed, space gradually distorted and a crack opened up in front of Cassius.

(End of this chapter)