It was obvious that this old man was at least a rank 2 Magus.
“Don’t hold back. The Four Seasons Garden was created by the great Potions Master, Amesandenisa, for the sake of exchanging research and potion formulas. Our objective is to create equality and freedom!”
The white-haired man laughed with a kind demeanor.
“Being able to enter the Four Seasons Garden is an honour, my lord!”
Leylin bowed once more.
“Now then, are you prepared to sign the contract?” Reynold asked.
“I hope you don’t mind, but could I see the contents of the contract?” Leylin asked.
“Right! Don’t mind me, I’ve already gotten so old that I have forgotten these things…” The old man chuckled and pointed at a piece of parchment on the table.
Leylin picked it up and looked through the conditions.
Just as he had expected, the specifications were quite lax.
It was stated that Leylin had to swear not to harm the Four Season Garden’s interests and that he had to complete a specific number of missions per year. In exchange, the Four Seasons Garden would provide him with information and resources. In all other areas, the conditions were lax and did not restrain him in any way. There wasn’t even any mention of what would happen to Magi who left the organisation.
“It is just as Crew mentioned. Due to some history, the Four Seasons Garden’s pact is quite loose!”
Of course, Leylin was aware that this was just for him to gain access to some of the Four Season Garden’s resources. He was unable to gain further access to the more important items.
That was only possible from the start if the contract was much more strict, to the point that he had to leave a part of his spirit here.
However, Leylin wanted to enter a large organisation by taking on the role of a guest professor or special guest. It was for his convenience to obtain high-grade information and resources in the future. He had planned to travel across the world in the future and search for various Magi remnants and did not want to just be tied down in one place.
Leylin took extra care to examine the margins of the parchment paper, which was extremely clean, with no additional conditions or runes inscribed onto them.
Some ancient characters were extremely difficult to notice and even similar to runes. Leylin had heard that many magicians loved to use such devious traps in order to trick others.
Although the Four Seasons Garden might not stoop down to such a level, Leylin still felt that he had to be more careful for his own sake.
“A.I. Chip! Scan! Check if there are any pitfalls or unknown constraints in the contract!”
Leylin commanded silently.
[Mission establishing, beginning detailed scan!] The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned.
Currently, after several upgrades, the A.I. Chip was still able to hide all traces of its existence before a rank 2 Magus.
[Beep! Scan complete! No strange or concealed restraints on the contract!] The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned.
“These conditions are very good, I have no reasons to refuse them!”
The A.I. Chip’s indication could only be heard by Leylin. From Wade’s point of view, Leylin had only given it a cursory glance, before readily agreeing.
“Very well!” Reynold chanted an incantation.
*Buzz buzz!*
There was an undulation in the air, and immediately, a mysterious eye appeared in mid-air.
This eye was completely black, save for the scarlet light within the pupil.
“Trial’s Eye!” Leylin said inwardly.
This eye was extremely similar to the clone he had summoned, but it was at least ten times bigger than what he had seen before!
It was obvious that when summoned by a rank 2 Magus, the Trial’s Eye’s might would be multiplied.
If it was said that the Trial’s Eye that Leylin had summoned when he was an acolyte had less than a billionth of the strength of its true body, this vertical eye that Reynold had summoned would most likely have the strength of a millionth of the Trial’s Eye’s real body.
The Trial’s Eye floated in mid-air quietly, and Leylin seemed to even see a trace of intelligence within its pupils.
“This is different from a phantom that has no consciousness when summoned by an acolyte. The might of the Trial’s Eye, when summoned by an official Magus, is even stronger. Moreover, it is intelligent and can think on its own, so it is able to judge the contract fairly between both parties!
Reynold explained to Leylin.
That was to say, if this Trial’s Eye had appeared in the past, Leylin’s past ploy in deceiving the vengeful spirit Roman with a word game would have been exposed, and he would have suffered the punishment of the Trial’s Eye.
“I declare that the ceremony starts now!”
Reynold announced in a low voice, and the moment he spoke, the Trial’s Eye trembled. Leylin could tell that the atmosphere in the air had changed and became denser.
“Witnessed by the mighty and impartial Trial’s Eye! Leylin, do you agree to sign this agreement?” Reynold asked, his voice clear and powerful in the ancient Byron language.
“I agree!” Leylin answered his speech also in the ancient Byron language.
The moment the words left his mouth, he could feel his spirit tremble, seeming to repeat the words that he had just said.
The phantom of the Trial’s Eye shook, seeming to be the witness to this contract.
“So then, I, Reynold, hereby declare the contract as established!” Reynold called out.
*Boom!*
The contract on the parchment paper in Reynold’s hands suddenly combusted, turning into ashes as they entered the phantom.
*Xiu Xiu!*
The Trial’s Eye exploded and turned into two black rays, entering Leylin and Reynold’s bodies at a speed that the naked eye could not follow.
“Congratulations. From today onwards, you are now an extrinsic Magus! Not only can you obtain a portion of precious resources every month, you are also allowed access to most of our labs and the library!”
Reynold said to Leylin.
158 - Decarte
“Good, now let’s speak about your allocations…”
Reynold told Leylin.
“According to Wade, you have an amazing talent and ability in Potioneering. We cannot allow such a talent to be neglected. After some consideration, we are prepared to arrange you into the Potioneering team. Do you have any objections?”
“I couldn’t wish for anything better!” Leylin smiled.
Since there were Potioneering teams, there should be other alchemy teams, battle teams and more. Leylin only wanted to enter the organisation to get a salary and gather some resources. He definitely would not be willing to endanger his life fighting battles for them.
As for being able to join the Potioneering team, the requirements should be related to Potioneering, which was something he specialised in.
It seemed that intentionally having exposed his innate skill and strength from before had helped him in his promotion.
“Alright! Wade, bring Leylin to the Decarte of the Potioneering team, and then come back. In regards to the Moonflower Flame incident, I think there are better ways to deal with it…… ”
“Yes, teacher!” Wade gave a bow, and took Leylin away with him.
“What do you think? My tutor is a good person, right?”
Wade asked Leylin with a sense of pride and boasting. Being in front of Leylin, who was now a fellow comrade, he was visibly much more relaxed.
“He is a wise and amiable senior!” This time, Leylin naturally would not sing a different tune.
“Ha ha…… everyone says that. Come, let me bring you to the Potioneering team. Decarte, over there, is overly conservative, but he still attentively cultivates truly talented young magicians….”
Wade divulged a quite a bit of information without much thought.
At the end of the turn, a magician in black robes emerged.
This magician exuded a twisted and chilling murderous aura with faint howls from vengeful spirits, causing Leylin to feel sensitive.
The most eye-catching thing about this magician was his vertical third eye in the middle of his forehead.
The vertical eye was always open, and its pupil was pitch-black. It seemed to lack feeling or sensation, causing one to not help but shiver.
“Wade, this new Magus doesn’t seem to be very polite……”
The three-eyed Magus said coldly. An icy spiritual force immediately pounced onto Leylin.
“Hmmm?!”
Leylin was caught by surprise, and immediately gathered his spiritual force to defend.
*Pop!* Fine bubbles of air in the atmosphere began to pop.
The moment their spiritual forces met, Leylin could feel that his opponent’s spiritual force contained a strong aura of fresh blood. This kind of odor was so dense that Leylin nearly suffocated as he could not dispel it.
And besides, his opponent’s level of elemental essence conversion far surpassed that of semi-converted elemental Magi. Leylin’s spiritual force collapsed under his opponent’s attack.
As if a sledgehammer had smashed into Leylin’s chest, he stumbled two steps back, and his face turned white.
The three-eyed magician looked bewilderedly at Leylin, “Your spiritual force is not bad, but it’s a pity that it was still insufficient…”
Subsequently, he did not take another look at Leylin, and proceeded past them.
It seemed that the Magus was trying to show off and demonstrate his prowess.
“Are you okay?” Wade looked a little worried for Leylin.
“No problem, my spiritual force is just a little shaken up. A few days of rest is all I need to get better!” Leylin looked in the direction of three-eyed Magus as he left, “Who is he?”
“He is Lord Caesar, a Magus personally nurtured by the Four Seasons Garden, and with valiant fighting strength. He is in charge of the hunting team, and is the role as our deputy commander!”
Wade looked at Leylin with a bitter smile on his lips.
“Lord Caesar believes that foreign magicians will only damage the Four Seasons Garden’s unity, and believes that recruiting new magicians should be banned…”
As if afraid that Leylin would worry, he added on, “Of course, my teacher, Lord Reynold, does not agree with his point of view. Furthermore, my teacher was one of the pioneers of this organisation. At the present, the Four Seasons Garden’s higher authorities are still in favour of recruiting new magicians…”
“Head of the hunting team……”
Leylin glared in the direction of Lord Caesar, and a ray of light flashed from his eyes.
“A.I. Chip, estimate the opponent’s strength!”
[Based on the spiritual force emitted by the opponent, target’s strength estimated: Rank 1 Magus with peak strength, elemental essence conversion above 80%…]
“With this kind of strength, it bears a resemblance to the elder from the Lilytell Family. By the looks of it, if I was paired to battle against him, I’d have little chance of winning…”
Tons of complicated ideas were swirling around in Leylin’s mind.
“Okay, let me bring you to the Potioneering team…”
Wade quickly changed the topic, and Leylin followed behind Wade without comment.
Along the way, Wade tried his best to speak about other topics, hoping Leylin would forget about the unhappiness from earlier on. Even though they both knew it was impossible, Leylin still acted as if he was listening attentively.
“After becoming a part of our team, you can live here permanently in a house for free. However, life here is very monotonous; we just conduct experiments after experiments. Hence, many magicians like to own housing in the Nightless City, so that they can have a vacation over there from time to time…”
Wade responsibly told Leylin what to expect. After crossing several forks in the road, they came to a stone bridge that spanned mid-air across an overhanging cliff, which led to a botanic garden.
The floor here was made of metal, and the surroundings were a tidy and clean shade of white, causing the misconception of returning to his laboratory from his past life.
On both sides of the road, there was also transparent glass.
Behind the glass were petri dishes, in which various sorts of exotic plants had been planted.
Walking Earth Grass, Giant Food Flowers, Face Vines… With just a casual sweep of his eyes, Leylin found countless precious plants. Some were even important ingredients for cultivating spiritual force, but of course, they were only effective for acolytes.
Any newly recruited rank 1 Magus would be astonished at all these things, but Leylin had seen the great Magus Serholm’s Dylan Gardens that he had personally cultivated, and all these plants were nothing compared to what he had seen before.
However, a shocked expression still flashed across his face.
“We’ve arrived. This is the Potioneering headquarters!”
Wade brought Leylin through the garden, and arrived in front of two huge stone statues that resembled monsters.
“Password!” The statue started to speak.
“Tell Decarte that I’ve brought someone here for him! And also, don’t make jokes to amuse yourself! If it happens again, I’ll tell the teachers to change all guarding systems in this facility! You should know that I have that power!”
Wade bellowed at the statue.
As if he knew that Wade wasn’t joking, the enormous stone statue monster chuckled before getting out of the way.
“These two statues seem to have been manufactured defectively. The creator mistakenly stuffed a couple of mischievous spirits into the statues. Just ignore them!”
Wade brought Leylin through, then told Leylin.
“Mischievous spirits?” Leylin stared blankly, while immediately recalling a written account from an illustrated handbook.
“Those that resemble goblins, and tease people for their own pleasure… Those spirits? This is really… it deserves our sympathy!”
“To be honest, I also have some sympathy for myself!”
While Leylin was speaking, a tunnel behind the stone statue was opened, revealing what seemed like a structure of a ginormous auditorium.
There was a huge gold chandelier suspended from the ceiling of the auditorium. There were plenty of giant candles on it, illuminating the auditorium.
In the auditorium, there were numerous unusually long white birch tables with all sorts of delicacies spread on top. There were only a few magicians, and they were sitting far away from each other. Only a few of them who seemed to have a better relationship huddled together to chat.
The voice from earlier on belonged to a middle-aged magician on the platform.
“Here, let me introduce to you, this is Lord Decarte, the head of the Potioneering team. He is a Magus at the peak of Rank 1, and on the verge of breaking through to Rank 2!”
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