From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 494 The Doomsday Circus

The giant Akabby's roulette wheel is divided into sixteen equal parts, marked with red, white, and yellow. The yellow section with three stars represents the grand prize.

"The prize is absolutely worth it!" the Qi Giant boasted, "because Akabby travels between planes—burning, killing, looting, and conquering everything!"

"If Tamora smiles as you spin the wheel, you will win the ultimate prize—the grand prize."

Ivy was almost certain that the giant spirit in front of him was lying; if his roulette wheel were truly worth the price, this stall wouldn't be so deserted.

His cheating methods must have been quite crude, making it easy for visiting customers to figure out his intentions.

Although they certainly couldn't defeat this giant spirit in front of them, they could still avoid it. Even if it was a magical creature, they couldn't force a sale!

“Traveling between planes,” Shadowheart whispered to Ivy. “Sounds just like you, darling.”

“When I travel between planes, I collect more knowledge than junk.” Ivy glanced at the magical items on the giant's shelf; most were unusual magical weapons, with only one or two rare ones.

In online gaming terms, most of the gear is either green or blue.

“I have a feeling you’re going to bleed a lot today, big guy!” Karak said excitedly, rummaging through his pockets for coins. “I’ve been so lucky lately! Not only have I gotten rid of that little health problem, but I’ve even met my dream idol! Tamora must really like me!”

"Really?" Akabby, the giant of air, gave a noncommittal snort, his eyes never leaving Ivy. "Spin."

"You can use as much force as you want?" Karak rubbed his hands together, like a spoiled child who had just received a toy.

"This is the Wheel of Miracles..."

"Hey!" Before the giant spirit could finish speaking, Karak shouted and spun the wheel, the arrow used to indicate the selected area even sparking as it scraped against the lever on the wheel.

"...Did I go too far?" The roulette wheel spun more than a dozen times without showing any sign of slowing down. Karak scratched his head, his gaze following the yellow area representing the jackpot.

A wheel that cannot accelerate will eventually come to a stop.

The pointer swept across red, then white, and slowed down by the collision of the barriers, almost stopping in the jackpot area.

Akabby's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Having encountered someone who might be his kind, he initially intended to behave himself and not resort to any underhanded tactics, since the chances of the roulette wheel landing in the grand prize area were already quite low.

Unexpectedly, after ten years of bloody battles in hell, Karak's fortunes turned around, with good things happening one after another. She even won the grand prize with just one chance.

Although the roulette wheel hadn't completely stopped spinning yet, the Qi Giant Spirit dared not gamble, so he decisively turned the magic ring on his hand and secretly manipulated the roulette wheel.

If Akabby, the Giant Spirit, doesn't pull any tricks, then Ivy certainly won't just wreck someone's place. Anyway, he has plenty of gold coins, so spending money to have some fun is reasonable.

But having money is not a reason to let others take advantage of you.

Ivy was still in the [Air Elemental Summoning] state when she immediately mobilized the power of the atmosphere, interrupting the giant spirit's actions and causing the wheel to spin one more time before obediently stopping at the grand prize position.

"Thief! You cheated!" The giant spirit who used underhanded tactics first was also the one who couldn't play the game. He didn't look at Ivy, but instead attacked Karak, "Enjoy your jackpot, you crybaby!"

The giant's innate magical power shot out from his fingertips and struck Karak in the blink of an eye.

With a flash of magical light, Karak vanished from the spot.

The smug giant crossed his arms and pointed his chin at Ivy: "Your little slave doesn't seem very obedient. I've already disciplined him for you. No need to thank me."

Giants are wondrous creatures born in the elemental planes, formed from the combination of the essence of intelligent life's soul and the primordial matter of the elemental planes.

Because all types of giants are born with a certain spellcasting ability, they also look down on ordinary mortals and even enslave them.

These slaves were considered property by the giants, and the more property they possessed, the higher their status among their kind.

Akabby, the giant spirit, is just such a poor giant spirit who accumulates his wealth by swindling and cheating people in the mortal world while following the Doomsday Circus.

The giant's magic is different from ordinary magic; it is an innate special ability. Ivy's masterpiece, the "Finger of Spellbreaker," and counter-spells and other means of counteracting the effects of magic were all ineffective. Therefore, even sacrificing spell slots could not prevent Karak's disappearance.

"Where did you put Karak?" Shadowheart asked in a mixture of shock and anger, and in the blink of an eye, she drew her weapon from behind her back.

“That’s a teleportation spell, not a high level. Karak is still in Faerûn.” Ivy told Shadowheart to calm down and quickly prepared her own spell.

Although it's impossible to counter the giant's unique magical abilities, dealing with the giant's physical form is still a simple matter.

As a legendary spellcaster, the Realm Explorer, Ivy excels at dealing with otherworldly creatures.

In addition to enabling interdimensional travel, the interdimensional gate can also summon certain otherworldly creatures.

There are many similar spells in the spellbooks of mages and warlocks.

Ivy happens to know one: the otherworldly bondage spell of the spellcasting type.

There are three different versions of Otherworldly Bondage, each corresponding to otherworldly creatures of varying strengths.

Releasing the Otherworldly Oath requires the prior preparation of a sealing magic circle to imprison otherworldly creatures, thus it falls under the category of ritual magic.

As a Scribe, Ivy was able to cast ritual spells within the normal casting time. With the amplification of Instant Cast, a mere slam of her staff created a massive magic circle around the smug giant. As a creature with the potential to alter the real world, the giant had always been a favorite of various mages.

Any mage with a modicum of ambition would consider imprisoning a giant spirit to serve them, either to power their mage tower or to help them cast wish spells. In short, whenever a legend of a wishing lamp appears in any region, it is invariably related to a giant spirit and the mage who imprisoned it.

A counterfeit silver Holy Grail on the giant spirit's shelf was casually summoned by Ivy and fixed in front of the otherworldly binding magic circle.

"No! No, no!" With the Qi Giant's changed voice, his red, translucent body twisted into a whirlwind and completely entered the tin-plated silver Holy Grail.

Ivy reached out and caught the spinning, fake Holy Grail from the giant spirit, then casually wiped it three times with her sleeve.

A crimson whirlwind erupted from the rim of the cup, swirling up a large swath of fallen leaves. The reappearing giant spirit, Akabby, now wore a silver bracelet on its wrist, with a chain extending into the void attached to it.

"What have you done to me? What have you done to the great Akabi!" Akabi magnified his figure several times over, scaring the citizens who came to visit the circus into scattering and fleeing.

Ivy stood motionless, and even the whirlwind stirred up by the giant spirit immediately became a tamed breeze when it reached Ivy's side.

“If you don’t bring my friend back, I’ll keep you trapped in the fake Holy Grail for the rest of your life, until you die or the Grail is destroyed,” Ivy said calmly, ignoring the giant’s threat.

"Don't even think about it! You wretched mage! That red-skinned Tifflin has now become dinosaur dung! My lifespan is endless, and one day I will escape your clutches!" The giant spirit Akabby was still bluffing.

Since they couldn't reach an agreement, Ivy was going to teach him a lesson. He hadn't yet used dark magic to torment elemental creatures.

"Hehehe! What on earth is going on here?" A dark-skinned high elf with a rough voice walked over with a large group of undead creatures.

She is the owner of the Doomsday Circus and a powerful necromancer who travels between different planes with undead creatures.

"Akabi! You've frightened my customer! Return to your original form immediately, or I'll rip off your beard!" The high elf woman stretched out a thick finger adorned with a huge gemstone ring and shouted sternly.

Akabby, the giant spirit, beamed with joy, as if he had been waiting for reinforcements: "Luke..."

Before he could even finish a sentence, the dark-skinned elf woman interrupted him: "Now! Immediately! Revert to your original form!"

Like a balloon about to burst, Akabby's figure rapidly shrank while simultaneously solidifying.

“You can call me Lucius, the circus conductor, the necromancer, the Nightbringer—oh, and a refined wine lover too!” Holding his horned staff, Lucius glanced at the counterfeit silver chalice in Ivy’s hand and introduced himself, “So, what did my giant spirit vendor do to offend you, Archmage Lorokan?”

Ivy narrowed his eyes: "I'm not some Lorokan, I'm Ivy Doom. Your Qi Giant Vendor is addicted to cheating and even teleported one of my companions away. If you can't find him within ten minutes, I'll take him as the prize."

"Oh! Please forgive my poor eyesight!" Lucius apologized dramatically in a voice comparable to a soprano, "I heard that Archmage Lorokan of Baldur's Gate is very skilled at imprisoning elemental beings, so I took the liberty of assuming you were the one!"

Lucius turned around imposingly and loudly commanded his undead creatures: "Lucille, Jacob, and Boris! Go and bring our guests back! Akabby! Where did you put the portal to the Churt Jungle?"

The giant spirit grunted twice: "In the toilet..."

"Good heavens! If anything happens to our guest, you'll never pay off my debt!" Lucius said, pointing his staff at the freestanding public toilet in the corner. "You heard me? Go now! Or I'll resurrect other undead to take your place!"

The three undead creatures, staggering along, began to swell on their way to the public toilet. Their rotting muscles burst through their colorful costumes, and their sharp teeth and claws broke free from the constraints of their gloves and boots, transforming them into three grotesque ghouls.

Opening the door of the standing toilet, a shimmering portal suddenly appeared, and the three ghouls disappeared one after another inside.

"Don't worry, darling." Lucius waved to Ivy. "My little darlings will bring your companions back soon. They may not be very good at ballet, but they're never timid in battle."

Lucius glanced again at the counterfeit Holy Grail of the giant spirit in Ivy's hand and couldn't help but ask, "Honestly, even though I've traveled through so many planes, I've never seen a mage who could imprison a giant spirit in a cup in the blink of an eye. You must be from some prestigious magic academy, right? I might have even heard of it!"

“Stridhaven.” Ivy had no reason to antagonize a powerful necromancer with whom she had no conflict of interest. “I teach in Stridhaven.”

“Oh! I haven’t heard of Streihaven recruiting students in Faerûn for decades! I wish I could put on another circus show in Akavievo!” Lucius exclaimed dramatically, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. “How is Dean Valentine doing? That charming old zombie.”

"He doesn't get along well with anyone, not even the Dean of the Roots, after all, he's a vampire." Ivy casually replied. As a mage who travels between planes, Lucius was indeed well-informed and even knew the Dean of the Roots.

As for the claim that Bloodline Dean Valentine is a "charming old zombie," she must have deliberately misspoke to verify the veracity of Ivy's statement.

The principle of "tailoring one's approach to the person" applies to spellcasters as well. Otherwise, if you punish the younger generation and the older ones come along, wouldn't that be awkward?

When Lucius saw that Ivy was indeed from Stryhaven, his initial hostility lessened considerably, and he cheerfully directed a man in a red hat to fetch a bottle of aged wine.

“That Akabby guy is an incorrigible idiot. If it weren’t for his ever-increasing debts, I would have kicked him out of the circus long ago!” Lucius handed a full glass of fragrant wine to Ivy, his big mouth grumbling incessantly about the chick-like giant.

“I see. Then when my companion returns, I’ll turn this cup into a permanent magical artifact. He can be set free once he’s paid off his debt to you.” Ivy raised the cup to Lucius and took a sip of wine.

Although giants all have the potential to master the art of wishing, this giant in front of me is obviously too weak. It would be unfair to take it away from someone else who is already an employee.

Therefore, doing someone a favor is no big deal.

“I did have this idea for a while! But I’m not very good at making magical items, so I’ve let this scoundrel get away with it until now.” Lucius clinked glasses with Ivy. “You’ve helped me so much, how can I not show my appreciation! How about a statue? My employees are incredibly skilled! The statues they make are so lifelike!”

Following Lucius's thick finger, Ivy looked toward a tent in the corner of the circus, where an art sculpture shop was run by two elemental creatures: a mud bat and a mud statue.

The sculptures placed around the tent were indeed exquisite, as if they were about to come to life.

Ivy glanced at Shadowheart beside her and said, "Two. Make a statue for each of us and send it to Morningstar City in Resven, where Strider is planning to open a Faerlun recruitment center. I'll pay the original price for the second one."

(End of this chapter)