Chapter 278: The Statue

At that moment, she noticed something pressing uncomfortably against her lower back. It felt like a hard object. Misha turned over and sat up, discovering a strange book beneath her waist.

It had a somewhat cool touch and unknown geometric patterns, confusing just like the mathematics Witte liked, Misha thought.

While her imagination ran wild, the grimore suddenly liquefied. Misha’s expression became blank as she was immersed in illusions and the Covenant Ritual.

The gray cat nimbly pushed open her window and jumped into Misha’s room to establish a close Senior-Junior Covenant with her.

The moon moved slowly westward, reaching the center of the sky. Witte, having changed back into his original clothes, gently nudged the unconscious Misha.

Misha opened her eyes groggily, recalling her dreamlike and bizarre experience, and pouted as she mumbled.

“Why is a cat called Mr. ‘Thaler’? How short of money is it? And I became a Warlock Apprentice? What is that?”

A silver pattern flashed on Misha’s wrist and disappeared into her skin.

She thought in a bad mood, rubbing her eyes, when she suddenly noticed the handsome and dashing Witte in front of her.

“So I’m still dreaming.” She suddenly pushed Witte down, straddled him, and murmured somewhat coquettishly, “I missed you so much.”

Three days later, Misha’s face was still flushed. Every time she recalled pushing Witte down, she felt her face burn.

Until today, she finally figured it out. Throwing caution to the wind and no longer holding back, she went out with Witte as a couple during the day and studied the mysterious magic in the grimore at night.

The intimacy between Misha and Witte aroused the jealousy of her suitors. Three young Noble lads gathered together, grumbling with dissatisfaction.

“If Misha were intimate with any of us, I wouldn’t have any objections. But she actually chose a lowly mortal. This is an insult to us!”

A slender and somewhat gloomy Noble lad said.

“Hel, stop talking. We have to find a way to separate them!”

Another Noble youth said with a face full of anger.

“I actually have a way. My uncle is a Pseudo-Hero and a Punisher. As long as…”

The tallest of the three lowered his voice as he spoke, and the other two nodded incessantly.

…

“According to Senior ‘Thaler,’ ordinary people can also be contracted to become Wizard Apprentices. It’s clearly a violation of city-state laws, and being discovered by Punishers means losing one’s life. Why was I bewildered by magic, unable to extricate myself?”

Misha hadn’t expected supernatural power to be so attractive. She originally thought she was used to being ordinary, but today she discovered she still yearned it.

Although her family was Noble, they had been incompetent for four generations. Starting from her great-grandfather, no one in the entire family possessed supernatural talent. If her parents knew, would they be happy or terrified?

Misha thought for a while, gave up on this headache-inducing problem, and turned her thoughts to her lover. If Witte knew, he would definitely be surprised and envious. Then she could tell Witte and recruit him as a junior.

Misha nodded repeatedly as she thought.

Her senior, Mr. “Thaler,” came regularly to teach her magical knowledge. A week later, Misha discovered she had a strong talent for defensive spells, but slightly lacked in offensive ones.

“According to Mr. ‘Thaler,’ my bloodline has shaped my talent to a certain extent. I should focus on excavating my own bloodline talent to achieve twice the result with half the effort.”

Misha had no points, so she couldn’t exchange for knowledge like various Spell Models and Rune Arrays. However, according to the Magic Council’s Decree No. 3, all Wizard Apprentices in enemy-occupied areas could conditionally learn knowledge up to the third year of the elementary magic school. The specific discretion belonged to the President and Vice-President of the regional branch.

According to the Magic Council Milne Branch Decree agreed upon by Warren and Caruso, all newcomers who just obtained a grimore could learn first-year magic knowledge for zero Points. As for second and third-year courses, they needed to complete the first-year exam and earn a certain amount of Points before learning.

The senior-junior relationship was very intimate. Seniors usually personally guided juniors in learning various magical knowledge. The gray cat, Mr. ‘Thaler,’ came every Saturday to teach Misha corresponding magical knowledge.

The branch would also periodically release a series of missions through the grimore. Completing missions would also earn varying amounts of Points.

“All Runes in the Shared Lesser Rune Library are free. According to Mr. ‘Thaler’s suggestion, I should now focus on learning logic and elementary mathematics.”

Misha muttered to herself, holding the Grimore to start studying. About ten minutes passed.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Who on earth is the Torch-Bearer? How could he invent such anti-human knowledge like logic and elementary mathematics? My head is going to explode.”

“My Witte is so smart; he will definitely learn mathematics and logic very quickly. Let him learn first, and then teach me once he’s learned it. I’m such a genius!”

While Misha’s emotions fluctuated greatly from being tortured by mathematics, in the cellar of a dilapidated house in the southwest corner of the Ninth District, Witte was preparing something.

The last page of his grimore was open, with writing flashing on it.

“Hello Mr. Thaler:

I am Red Hemp. I sincerely invite you to participate in the Red Hemp Magic Salon. Please go to the small statue square in the Fourth District at 6:00 PM today and knock lightly on the full-body statue of Rudolph three times. Someone will contact you then.”

This was Witte’s first time participating in such a magic salon. This kind of salon was an informal gathering. Under the Magic Council branch system, every Wizard Apprentice had single-line contact, but Wizards were not professional secret agents after all. They needed communication, especially academic exchange.

Therefore, the branch allowed Wizards to organize such informal salons for exchange. Everyone would conceal all their real identities in the salon.

The proposer of the salon would initiate a preliminary proposal through the grimore. If more than ten people responded, the salon would become a formal proposal, and everyone in the area would receive the proposal.

Everyone could give themselves a code name using the grimkre. If not, the grimore would assign a random digital number.

This kind of exchange was very beneficial for Wizard Apprentices. They could exchange their magical items, magical knowledge, and experience skills. Most importantly, they could obtain various intelligence. In enemy-occupied areas, intelligence determined life and death.

Around 2:00 PM, a burly man with a full beard wrapped in Citizen attire appeared in the small statue square of the Fourth District. He stood not far from the full-body statue of Rudolph, examining it.

Around 2:30 PM, a gorgeously dressed old lady took advantage of a moment when no one was looking to wipe a booger on the nose of the Rudolph statue.

Around 3:00 PM, a drunkard kicked the full-body statue of Rudolph seven or eight times fiercely.

Around 3:40 PM, a group of teenagers passed by, and everyone touched the statue.

Around 5:00 PM, a dog peed on the statue.

Witte observed the surroundings carefully but found no peepers. Was his perception level too poor, or did the secret lie in the statue?

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