Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 336 Futility and Opportunity

The golden tree was somewhat different from the magnificent palace I had seen before. Although the palace complex of that wizard apprentice was not yet fully developed, every brick and tile had a real feel to it. But this beautiful tree had an ethereal quality. Upon closer inspection, the golden trunk resembled a translucent crystal, with occasional iridescent colors flowing within it.

"Did you guess it?"

Luger smiled slightly.

No one would say these things to a stranger the moment they meet, and then show off some of their personal information.

This looks more like a way of proving one's innocence.

"Things in this world are just so interesting and full of coincidences," the man said softly, stroking a small mouse that had jumped onto his hand. "Leaving isn't an excuse. Even if you hadn't come, I was planning to leave anyway. Those two brothers always thought I wouldn't know what they were doing... I wasn't familiar with them. It's just that the previous owner of the island didn't believe I would stay peacefully in the forest, so when they asked me to join forces, I agreed. Together, we seized the island. He was an old wizard apprentice who was nearing the end of his life and still hadn't succeeded in his advancement. After driving him away, I only helped a little in the initial stages before entering the forest..."

"Actually, decades ago, I saw the shadow of that expelled old wizard apprentice in them, but to my surprise, they gradually approached success... I admire them; they have enough determination for themselves and for their brothers... Perhaps this is the difference between them and that old wizard apprentice. Now it seems that at the moment when they could finally enjoy the fruits of their success, they have set their sights on me again... They want to try a more perfect advancement... They misjudged my greed, and your arrival has also reminded me..."

The man smiled as he teased the two mice huddled in his hands.

“I don’t know everything they’ve done, but I imagine they’ve crossed some lines, and some things involving demons, so…” The man looked at Ruger, “You’re either a member of the Otherworldly Oversight Council or a demon hunter wizard… That’s how interesting and coincidental things are in this world. If I had left earlier, or you had come later, they wouldn’t have had such unrealistic ideas. With their current accumulation, their chances of advancing to the next level would still be quite high. It’s a pity that they may not have the chance now.”

The man shook his head, seemingly with some regret.

It seemed as if he felt regret that the two murderers who were waiting for him to take the bait had not succeeded in becoming wizards.

“If I had left earlier, they could have survived. Unfortunately, I am a lazy person and I didn’t pay attention to what was happening in the city right away. Recently, I felt people’s panic and tried to pick up some of the things they used to do. That feeling was not good and it strengthened my desire to leave.”

The man suppressed his regret and said with a smile.

Ruger looked at him and felt that he wasn't lamenting the fate of those two people, but rather regretting that his target, whom he had observed for decades, hadn't had the chance to witness the moment he ascended to become a wizard.

Perhaps if he had left sooner, the two wizard apprentice brothers behind the Twin Temples would have given up their ambitions and used their accumulated experience to try and advance. Once they succeeded, and refrained from violating the rules, the witch hunter wizards probably wouldn't have made things difficult for them.

“What do they want?” Ruger asked.

The man paused for a moment, thought for a second, and then shook his head.

"I can't be sure either, but I guess it might be the heart, the heart of a devout person, something very rare, at least for us wizarding apprentices. And it requires the believer to give it up voluntarily, usually until the end of their life. Every step is full of variables, and the requirements are very demanding. Superficial believers who only talk about it are not enough. It requires a true believer who remains steadfast while maintaining rationality, even rarer than a mad fanatic. Ordinary wizarding apprentices like us can't accumulate many like that even in decades in our own territory. It's very difficult, so I haven't looked into it in depth, and I've never even considered such a thing..."

As the man spoke, he shook off two mice, but then three more furry little creatures climbed onto them.

Ruger greatly admired the other person's mentality; the foul-smelling skin vanished in an instant.

The premise of everything is to confirm that the other party has no ill intentions towards him; only then will their words be more credible.

Moreover, the other party said that they thought it was difficult and had not considered those things. In Luger's view, this was a kind of confidence. If the brothers, also known as the Twin Gods, were confident that they could easily advance to wizards, they probably would not do these universally acknowledged and difficult things to cause trouble for themselves.

The man paused for a moment, then looked at Ruger. "As expected of a powerful figure who was able to enter the God of the Otherworld during his apprenticeship as a wizard, it seems like an extremely secretive spell just passed through me... These little guys told me..." The man stroked the mouse and said with a smile.

Luger's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he smiled as well.

Perhaps it was a mouse that he had frightened, and it held a grudge and wanted to bite him.

He didn't correct the other person. To be honest, he wasn't really any of them; he was just at the threshold of the assessment.

"So, they still want your heart?" Ruger said.

The man in front of me is not a believer in the Twin Gods, not even a superficial believer; at most, he's just a spectator.

Therefore, this person's heart may be special, or the heart they are talking about may not be the heart in the conventional sense that Luger understands, but may also be mixed with some special aspects of their path of faith in wizards.

Perhaps it was because the Gemini God realized the other's special heart that he became greedy and wanted to tempt her to try it out.

Perhaps that dagger was just the first step in the temptation.

Perhaps the Gemini God could realize the special nature of this heart, which was deliberately exposed by the other party. Perhaps this person who raises mice also has ulterior motives, tempting the other party.

Ruger raised an eyebrow. In short, everything changed once he arrived here.

Regardless of who is right or wrong, whoever gets caught up in the test questions has no choice but to accept their bad luck.

The question setter this time is a witch hunter wizard, not some alien god oversight council.

That guy wanted the heart of a devout believer, which seemed like something that would be difficult for a wizard apprentice. So he came up with some other ways to get a dagger like that. It's estimated that the Twin Gods would try to make each step easier. The dagger was meant to help people willingly offer their hearts. As for piety, that would naturally have to be prepared step by step. With careful planning, the probability of certain potential people becoming devout believers could be greatly increased, for example, by inflicting suffering on them.

Ruger pursed his lips; those things were beyond his control. He was only responsible for matters related to demons.

Moreover, the Supreme Council must have anticipated this when it allocated the Endless Sea to the Faith Wizards.

Ruger looked at the person in front of him.

After he asked the question, the guy who kept the rats still hadn't answered him.

The man gave a bitter smile and said softly, "This is also one of the reasons why I want to leave. I have changed. I have never pursued anything, but it just happened naturally. I have been experiencing nature, interacting with fewer people, living deep in the forest, and even becoming a low-level druid for this reason... When I realized my changes, I knew they would be tempting to them, so I planned to leave. But I didn't expect... they would notice so quickly."

Ruger has yet to mention the dagger.

If he had focused on the ornate dagger from the very beginning of the conversation, this rat-raising fellow would probably have already judged him to be a witch hunter.

(End of this chapter)