Chapter 689: Chapter 336: Entering the Tower Again—What’s Wrong With You?!
"I still hope you don’t focus on meaningless people and things. I’m getting old, but you are still young and have endless possibilities..."
Lady Mel caressed Heather’s cheek, raised her head, and looked in a certain direction.
"You don’t mean Misha, do you.."
Heather noticed where Lady Mel’s gaze landed and said somewhat speechlessly and disdainfully, "He’s just a brainless egotist.."
Lady Mel shook her head and said nothing more.
.....
"Heliodor!"
A deep, resonant male voice pulled Ronan’s wandering gaze back. He turned to see two figures with their robes billowing, walking straight toward him and Heliodor.
The older of the two had graying temples and a short beard. His hair was meticulously groomed, shiny and gave off an aura of both authority and elegance, exuding the powerful force field of a Level 5 Wizard.
Following him was a young man with narrow eyes and thin lips, looking immensely arrogant.
"It’s Valentine and his disciple.."
Ronan heard Heliodor murmur softly, and his expression didn’t seem too pleasant.
The name Valentine sounded familiar to Ronan, but before he could recall, the two were already close.
"Heliodor!"
The wizard with a dignified and elegant face called Heliodor’s name softly, then scrutinized the two with an assessing glance.
In front of him, Heliodor’s presence was utterly overshadowed, and he could only let out a cold snort to regain some composure.
"This is the disciple you recently took on..."
The elegant wizard gave Ronan a slight smile. Ronan was about to formally greet him, but then heard him continue, "Doesn’t look that impressive."
"...."
"My disciple is none of your business to comment on!"
Heliodor looked displeased, shielding Ronan.
"Are you still upset about what happened last time? Ha..."
The elegant wizard smiled lightly and said calmly, "Who asked you to set the apprentice banquet during that period? The Black Moon has always been very interested in the ’Wisdom Spore’ project and plans to invest some resources. You know, as the initiator of this project and the president of the ’Fungal Mycelium Society,’ I had to be there...
You’re still the same as before, Heliodor, so short-sighted and narrow-minded..."
"Shut up! I didn’t say it was because of that.."
"Haha, you see, you’re getting agitated again."
"@%...&*"
Seeing Heliodor getting riled up with just a few words, Ronan finally remembered why the name Valentine sounded familiar to him.
"Fungal Mycelium Society," "Wisdom Spore"...wasn’t it the ’Deep Sea Pie’ plan he heard so much about recently? So the founder is right here.
Heliodor and Valentine were clearly old rivals; it didn’t take long for them to start bickering.
But compared to Valentine’s effortless swagger, easily breaking Heliodor’s defenses with a few words, Heliodor’s counterattacks seemed feeble, mostly impotent rage.
"I remember now."
Suddenly, Valentine, in the midst of his banter with Heliodor, shifted the topic to Ronan, "Is this the little guy you ’picked up’ during the entry-level test that no one dared to take... the highest ten-star evaluation in the history of the Tower of Knowledge... Tsk tsk..."
Valentine glanced at Ronan, then turned to Heliodor and said, "I roughly guessed your intention for bringing him to participate in the selection.. How about this, Heliodor, let’s make a bet.."
Heliodor looked at him coldly, "Bet on what?"
"Just bet on him and my disciple Fulensa, who can... Wait!"
Valentine shook his head, "This way, I’m at too much of a disadvantage; it’d be like falling into your trap.
We need to discuss the exact terms of the bet more carefully..."
Two Level 5 spiritual power fluctuations harshly connected, and Ronan watched as Heliodor and Valentine both flew to one side, seemingly to discuss some unknown matters.
As soon as he turned his head, he saw the young wizard following Valentine stepping up, adopting the same superior attitude.
The young man looked at Ronan, sneering with disdain as he spoke deliberately, "Your mentor, in any aspect, is not as good as my teacher."
Ronan was silent for a moment, then replied, "I think you’re quite right."
"Uh..."
The young man was taken aback, apparently not expecting this response from Ronan.
"That’s not right."
He shook his head, regaining his thoughts, "I meant to say, your mentor Heliodor is incompetent in every way, the worst Level 5 wizard in the entire Deep Sea, not even close to my teacher.."
"I know."
Ronan nodded, speaking calmly, "Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken a liking to me and accepted me as a disciple, wouldn’t you say?"
"You... you..."
The young wizard named Fulensa was utterly "astonished," looking at Ronan with eyes that seemed to say, "How can you be like this?!"
"Aren’t you also thinking of making some bet with me?"
Ronan looked at the young man in front of him, frowning.
The young man opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.
At this moment, Heliodor and Valentine finished their discussion and returned.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Heliodor glanced over, and Ronan was about to speak when the young wizard opposite them was "shocked" and immediately turned around, flying away as if fleeing.
Ronan couldn’t help but smile and casually said, "He seems to want to be friends with me, but he’s a bit shy."
"Avoid associating with them..."
Heliodor "warned," "Valentine’s disciple is definitely of the same character as Valentine; don’t be deceived by them..."
"Hmm."
Ronan nodded, glanced at Heliodor, who was as calm as water, and couldn’t help but ask, "What kind of bet did you make?"
"That’s not something you need to worry about."
Heliodor shook his head and said solemnly, "Just do your best in the upcoming selection."
At this time, "Buzz——"
A strange fluctuation descended from the sky, and everyone looked up. Above the lake ring, a void rippled like water waves, and a figure wearing a Grey Robe, along with several figures in deep blue with moonlit patterns, appeared quietly.
The vast space of the lake ring immediately fell silent, and everyone looked up.
A sparkle flashed in Ronan’s eyes. Among the newly appeared wizards, the leading one in a Grey Robe was someone he had seen once during the entry-level selection; he was one of the three Great Elders of the Spirit Lake, the leader of the Deep Sea Faction.
As for the others, they should be members of the Elder Council on the Deep Sea side.
All were Level 6 Wizards.
After reaching Level 4 and feeling the presence of these Level 6 beings again, Ronan felt each one of them was like an immense elemental energy field, beyond the reach of spiritual power; getting too close would naturally lead to annihilation.
After the high-ranking figures of the Deep Sea Faction appeared, the leading unidentifiable Grey Robe cast a gaze, slowly sweeping across the crowd.
Then he gently raised his hand.
Accompanied by an obscure spell fluctuation emanating, from the position of his fingertips, the vast space of the lake ring seemed to peel away like a faded oil painting.
Behind the peeling void, an incredibly resplendent ring-shaped Crystal Palace appeared.
The palace was composed of countless exquisitely designed rooms, and at the location where the waterfall originally fell in the center of the lake, there now stood a Deep Blue Inverted Tower seemingly made of countless flowing water.
Many of the third, fourth, and fifth-level wizards present found rooms and took their seats in small groups.
The Grey Robe and several Level 6 Elder Council members did the same, sitting at the top of the Crystal Palace in an upward-pointing spire.
Ronan and Heliodor entered a crystal room, whose side facing the Inverted Tower was half-open, allowing a clear view of the other wizards in the other crystal rooms.
The sides were separated by Crystal Walls, making it impossible to explore the situation of the people next door.
As soon as Ronan entered the room, he felt the Spirit Lake Ring on his finger heating up slightly, and a force was pulling him to go out.
"Go ahead."
Heliodor glanced at him, moved his lips slightly, as if he wanted to say more, but he didn’t, only waving his hand.
Ronan walked out of the Crystal Palace and saw Misha taking the lead in entering the Deep Sea Tower, and the other wizards participating in this selection also followed.
A gaze fell on Ronan’s face, and when he looked over, he discovered that the young wizard named Fulensa, whom he had "scared away" earlier, seemed to have recovered by this time and was giving him a "fierce" look.
He smiled at the other party and then walked straight into the tower.
"Swish——"
Passing through the barrier, an atmosphere of tranquility and solemnity immediately greeted.
It was still that spiral ascending, seemingly infinite library.
Ronan stretched out his hand, his fingertips gliding slowly along the bookshelves and then launched himself upward, flying straight up.
"Rustle——"
The library’s silent atmosphere was disrupted, as countless Grey Books on the shelves rustled, like pigeons spreading their wings, all flying towards Ronan.
Wave after wave.
During this, some of the Grey Books fell back onto the shelves, while others remained, swirling and dancing around Ronan.
When Ronan touched the "Dome," blocked by an invisible ceiling of air, he stopped.
"That’s all of them..."
Ronan looked around, the hem of his lifted Magic Robe gently falling.
He counted the number of Ancient Spirit Texts around him that he hadn’t memorized yet, no more, no less, exactly a thousand.
"Then... let’s begin."
Ronan sat cross-legged in mid-air, calmly closing his eyes.
A petal of the black dandelion quietly fell.
A golden ladybug, holding a bright red spiritual text, followed the soul’s trail, gradually entering his dream....
....
In the ring-shaped Crystal Palace, the wizards in each room were in small groups, chatting freely.
The month-long Son of the Deep Sea Knowledge Test selection involved a long and boring wait, far from the time for them to be eager and excited.
Besides, this was only the first stage of the Knowledge Test, and based on previous years’ experience, the gap between participants at this stage would not be too large, and it didn’t weigh heavily in the final evaluation.
At last, the ownership of the "Son of the Deep Sea" title still depended on the outcome of the second combat stage.
"I’m leaving first."
In one of the rooms, Lady Mel stood up from her seat.