How come this arcanist is invincible?

Chapter 248 Old Friends in Prison

Lucas, the third-tier mage who almost became the head of the Bewitching Division, was now sitting awkwardly on the stone ground.

He slowly raised his head, his cloudy eyes fixed on Kane standing outside the prison door, and the row of red-robed mages behind him.

A self-deprecating and sarcastic smile tugged at the corner of his mouth: "Lord Kane, or rather, the great Regent."

"You've condescended to come to this filthy dungeon, what exactly do you want to know from me, a stray dog? —"

Kane's voice was calm and unwavering: "Mage Lucas, whether it was instigating Dean Bella to betray the Academy or colluding in the assassination of Her Majesty the Queen, either one of these actions would be enough to send you to the gallows."

He paused, his gaze sharp as a knife, and stared directly at Lucas: "I can give you a chance to confess everything and live."

Upon hearing this, Lucas chuckled softly, his laughter hoarse and unpleasant.

A hint of undisguised mockery flashed in his eyes: "Do you think I'd care about this worthless life?"

Kane shook his head slightly, his tone still calm: "You may not care about your life, but you can't not care about whether you can continue your experiment."

Otherwise, you wouldn't have been disqualified from running for the position of Dean of the Department of Bewitching Control because of those inhumane and taboo human experiments.

"And I can give you far more experimental opportunities than you can imagine. Ample funding, sufficient materials, and of course, all of these experiments will be under my supervision."

Lucas's smile froze on his face instantly.

His pupils suddenly contracted, and a flicker of emotion flashed in his previously lifeless eyes, as if he were frantically weighing the pros and cons.

Kane looked at him quietly, his expression unchanged.

He knew very well that a third-tier research mage, especially a genius as obsessive and insane as Lucas, was indeed a rare talent.

He could even transform the possession potions of the Demon Cult into creating white shadow monsters that were absolutely obedient to orders and had no self-awareness.

In other words, Lucas might also be wary of the demon cult.

Otherwise, the simplest and most effective method would be for him to directly use the original possession potion to create more ferocious wax demons.

In addition, Kane is brewing several other plans.

He desperately needs more trump cards like the Iron Powder Arrow, capable of striking beyond his level and inflicting fatal damage on demons.

In the face of the impending disaster, Lucas's crimes are utterly insignificant.

Furthermore, he had plenty of ways to ensure that this clever opportunist would never dare to betray him.

Lucas stared intently at Kane, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it back.

Finally, he let out a long sigh, the mockery on his face vanished, leaving only a sense of relief and exhaustion.

He smiled and shook his head: "Since His Excellency the Regent has said so, then I have nothing to hide."

He took a deep breath and began to speak slowly.

"Back then, we did use the Stigmata Ritual to force a large number of death row inmates, desperate mercenaries, and homeless refugees gathered from various places to take the improved Possession Potion."

However, the results of the experiment were far from as perfect as we had expected.

"Our original idea was to create a demon legion that was fearless and absolutely obedient."

The variety of demons that can be summoned is simply too great: the cunning Quassa, the ferocious dog demon, the incredibly strong ape demon, and so on.

And then there are those cowardly yet numerous timid demons—

These demons are inherently brutal. They're alright when acting alone, but once they gather in groups, the vast majority will kill each other over territory and energy.

"To make them a true fighting force, there must be a high-ranking demon with full intelligence as their leader, and the rest can only be the lowest-ranking demons."

Even so, the fighting strength of this legion was extremely limited.

"We conducted a real-world test, sending a well-equipped squadron of 100 infantrymen to fight against 100 of these low-level demons."

However, with the support of ballistae and chevaux-de-frise, the squadron, after suffering over thirty casualties and overcoming the initial panic, slaughtered most of the demons in less than an hour or two, with the rest scattering and fleeing.

"The Duke was very disappointed, believing that these demons were simply no match for Sussas's regular army."

However, we later discovered that although the Wax Demon was not strong in direct combat, it possessed extremely strong infiltration and assassination abilities.

So the Duke selected the Wax Demon, the most suitable for the mission, from among the many demons, and sent it to the merchant guilds and noble residences of the six kingdoms to carry out assassination missions, which yielded unexpected results.

Kane listened quietly, and after hearing everything, his eyes flickered slightly.

What Lucas said differed greatly from the original plot in his memory.

In the familiar storyline, the demons that emerged from the abyss, like locusts, swarmed across the land, slaughtering everything and wreaking havoc on the six kingdoms.

This dragged the entire material plane into boundless darkness and turmoil.

Whether it's the indestructible heavy infantry formations of the Nord Kingdom, the elite mage corps of Susas Academy, or the cavalry on the grasslands, they would basically be wiped out if they encountered a large-scale demon army in the wild.

No, something must be wrong here.

He quickly realized that this might be because of what the Duke now possessed.

These are just some of the most common demons, and the number of high-ranking demons is far from enough.

After all, with the massive population of the material plane, a large-scale blood sacrifice involving enough people would be enough to completely open the abyss passage.

It summoned many powerful demons.

Through endless battles and devouring, demons will eventually determine a few true demon lords who will lead the entire demon army.

But the ambitious but short-sighted duke clearly didn't have the patience to wait for such a long and unpredictable process.

He suppressed the surging speculations in his mind and asked in a deep voice, "Then do you know how the disappearance of two hundred thousand people in the duchy happened?"

Upon hearing this, Lucas looked extremely confused. He frowned and asked, "Two hundred thousand people? They're missing, and not used directly for blood sacrifice?"

Seeing the genuine confusion and ignorance in his eyes, Kane slowly shook his head, a trace of disappointment passing through his heart.

It seems that the Duke and the Demon Cult are not a united front, but rather they are wary of each other and exploit each other.

"never mind."

Kane didn't press further and said calmly.

"You should rest here for the night."

Tomorrow morning, someone will take you to the new laboratory.

I hope you can get ready as soon as possible, Mage Lucas. I need to see your worth.

A startling light flashed in Lucas's eyes.

He abruptly stood up, bowed deeply to Kane, and said with barely suppressed excitement and obsequiousness, "Yes, Your Majesty the Regent! My wisdom, everything I have, will be at your service—no, at your disposal!"

An extremely clever speculator.

Kane made his final judgment on Lucas in his mind.

He nodded slightly, then turned and left the cell, leaving Lucas alone, still bowing, not getting up for a long time.

Kane continued walking down the dark but not damp corridor.

This is the most secret and core prison of the Mage Academy, completely different from the places outside where ordinary prisoners are held.

The thick obsidian walls were covered with densely packed runes. Along the way, he saw many figures being held in solitary confinement.

Without exception, these people were prisoners considered dangerous by the academy, and even the lowest level of cultivation among them had reached the second rank.

But among these people, he also saw an expected "acquaintance".

Kane stopped in front of a cell that was significantly larger.

Inside the cell, a gentle-looking woman sat on a bed covered with soft cloth.

It was Bella.

She was dressed in a neat gray mage's robe and was elegantly holding a bone china teacup, sipping her black tea.

A thick, open magic book lay beside him, and he looked serene, not at all like a prisoner.

Her treatment was far superior to that of Lucas next door.

Kane wasn't surprised.

Bella was, after all, the head of the Illusion Department.

Even if she has committed a serious crime, she will be given the respect she deserves.

Hearing footsteps, Bella looked up and saw Kane outside the cell door, a gentle smile appearing on her face.

She put down her teacup, stood up, and moved with elegance and composure.

The two stood silently facing each other across the cold iron bars.

"Dean Kane, I never expected you to come to a place like this in person today."

Bella's voice remained gentle and beautiful.

Seeing Bella's casual attitude, a mage on duty immediately stepped forward, placed his hand on his staff at his waist, and said in a deep voice, "This is His Majesty the Regent of Sussas. Please show some respect!"

Kane reached out and gently patted the young mage on the shoulder.

The latter immediately bowed respectfully and stepped aside.

A fleeting hint of surprise crossed Bella's eyes, but she quickly concealed it perfectly.

She chuckled softly, a hint of wistfulness in her voice: "I see. It seems that the most prized student of the skeleton has ultimately taken that position."

Kane looked at the impeccable, gentle smile on her face and shook his head inwardly.

Although Bella is skilled in illusion and adept at bewitching people, she genuinely yearns for the ideals of the demon cult.

Even Lucas himself, who used her, might not be able to match her in this respect.

After all, Lucas's goal was simply to satisfy his morbid research desires and to help the Duke seize control of Sussas.

Bella's goal, however, is to break the inherent constraints that spellcasters are born with.

She was unwilling to accept that her talent would be forever stuck at the bottleneck of the third tier, unable to make any further progress.

The two people's fundamental needs were completely different from the very beginning.

"Mage Bella."

Kane's voice was soft, yet carried a hint of heaviness.

"How can you face the students who trust and respect you by making this choice?"

Especially Arundel, who is also imprisoned here because of you.

Bella's smile remained unchanged upon hearing this.

She said calmly, "Every path is a choice. Perhaps Arundel thinks the same way I do, wanting to break free from worldly constraints and become a more powerful spellcaster—"

After all, in pursuit of eternal truth, all we have paid is the lives of some insignificant civilians.

Kane gave her a deep look and said nothing more.

He turned around and whispered a few instructions to the monk on duty beside him.

A hint of surprise flashed across the latter's face, but he still nodded solemnly to indicate that he understood.

Kane looked at Bella again, a barely perceptible hint of pity flashing in his eyes.

He no longer intended to allow this extremely dangerous and unstable factor to exist.

However, Bella's influence within the academy was too great, and executing her directly would cause unnecessary turmoil.

So all he could do was secretly add a shamanic medicine from the far north grasslands to her daily diet.

Long-term use of this potion will gradually deplete the spellcaster's etheric senses without them realizing it, eventually causing them to completely lose their talent for spellcasting.

He was quite curious whether Bella would still be able to maintain such an elegant and composed smile when she finally found herself among those "insignificant" commoners she had described.

As for Arundel, he didn't intend to keep him imprisoned any longer.

He planned to arrange for Arundel to secretly travel to the Duchy to further investigate clues about the disappearance of the Demon Cult.

Where did those 200,000 people go? What terrible conspiracy are they plotting?

A second-tier illusion mage, if careful and cautious, is able to protect themselves in most situations.

The heavy iron dungeon door closed slowly behind him, and the blinding sunlight made Kane squint slightly.

In the open space at the dungeon exit, Dean Hammond was quietly waiting for him.

His hair appeared even whiter in the sunlight, and the wrinkles on his face seemed deeper.

Seeing Kane come out, Hammond gave a tired smile: "Have you finished taking care of everything? Let's take a walk together."

"it is good."

Kane and Hammond walked side by side along the tree-lined path of the college.

A team of elite mages stood guard on both sides at a distance, clearing a quiet path to prevent unrelated people from disturbing the peace.

Hammond sighed softly and said, "The Dean asked me to tell you that you did a good job."

Kane shook his head: "If it weren't for the simultaneous activation of the four mage towers in the academy, which jointly cast a high-level banishment spell to forcibly send that six-armed serpent demon back to another dimension, I'm afraid I would have had to fight it to the death."

Kane knew perfectly well that it wasn't impossible for him to die and be resurrected once or twice while fighting the six-armed serpent demon.

After all, high-level demons of that caliber are simply too troublesome to deal with.

Hammond shook his head as well: "Such high-level demons have only been mentioned sporadically in some ancient texts at Susas Academy."

"If it weren't for you, any other dean would probably have been even more difficult to deal with."

He looked at Kane, his gaze deep: "It seems Flint's judgment was indeed correct. He risked everything to secure a future for Susas."

Mentioning the late former dean, Kane's mood instantly turned heavy.

He was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Let's go see him together."

"it is good."

After saying that, the two fell silent.

Under the silent protection of the on-duty mage guards, they walked all the way to a quiet woodland deep within the academy.

This place is filled with countless graves, the final resting place of mages who have dedicated themselves to the academy and Susas throughout the ages.

Although it was a cemetery, it was completely different from the gloomy and terrifying atmosphere of the Necromancer's Division, exuding a peaceful and bright aura.

A faint white dust filled the air.

This is holy dust specifically used to prevent corpses from being desecrated and misused by necromancers.

Kane had also seen it once before, at a funeral in the city of war.

The two walked past rows of neat tombstones to the deepest part of the woods, to an ordinary grave.

The tombstone has no fancy decorations, only a simple name engraved on it—"Flint".

Looking at the familiar name on the tombstone, the two fell into a long silence.

In the end, the two of them sighed deeply at the same time.

Kane was filled with mixed emotions.

In order to gain a legitimate reason to take action against the royal family, this old man, who had almost lost all his spellcasting abilities, resolutely chose to get involved himself.

It was because of his sacrifice on the night of bloodshed that the academy successfully gained command of the kingdom's four main legions, and at the same time, it used the enemy to crush the noble council.

Today, Susas still has private armies of powerful nobles in various regions, as well as a small number of local troops controlled by local councils.

But Kane had already firmly grasped control of the most powerful army.

Meanwhile, the stubborn old nobles in the noble council were almost all slaughtered on the night of bloodshed.

This also cleared the biggest obstacle for them to place their people, implement new policies, and consolidate their subsequent rule.

Now, government decrees can be delivered directly to every corner of the kingdom without any hindrance.

This is also an important reason why Kane is now able to act decisively and vigorously promote various preparation measures.

"What are your plans for the future?"

Hammond broke the silence and asked softly.

"Save all unnecessary fiscal expenditures and focus all efforts on developing people's livelihoods and military strength. Continue to expand the scale of the arsenal and conduct large-scale research and development to manufacture weapons specifically designed to target demons, such as iron powder arrows."

Strengthen central authority and gradually reclaim military power from local nobles.

Establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism with the other five countries on the mainland to jointly investigate the conspiracy of the demonic cult.

At the same time, completely eradicate all remaining remnants of the Church of the Dead within the territory of Susas.

A few simple words were enough to shake the entire continent.

Hammond remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, "Is there anything the academy can do for you?"

"First, expand the enrollment scale and recruit as many talented mage apprentices as possible from various places."

We need more spellcasters to deal with the impending war.

Kane's tone left no room for argument.

"Secondly, we will integrate all the research resources of the college to establish a dedicated military research laboratory."

We will focus all our efforts on developing the series of ideas I proposed earlier, such as using fossils to improve the soil and using gunpowder to modify the magic-powered cannon, etc.

Hammond nodded seriously, taking Kane's requests to heart.

Kane was somewhat surprised by his straightforwardness and couldn't help but ask, "The academy—doesn't it have any objections?"

"What's your opinion?" Hammond smiled.

"After all, the more mages there are, the more people will share the pie, which will harm the interests of many people."

Kane looked Hammond straight in the eye and spoke, word by word.

"The widespread availability of Iron Powder Arrows will make assassinating high-level mages even easier."

Upon hearing this, Hammond suddenly laughed.

His laughter carried a hint of bitterness, but also a hint of relief: "You're right, we do have opinions."

If it weren't for the full support of the Dean and that ancient prophecy that had been passed down for a hundred years...

I will immediately join forces with the other deans of the various departments to imprison you and ensure that none of what you've said becomes a reality.

"prophecy?"

Kane's mind suddenly skipped a beat.

Hammond nodded, his gaze drifting to another tombstone not far away.

The tombstone was even simpler, and the inscription on it was already blurred and illegible.

"Flint is not the only head of the division who made a deal with that great astral being and made a prophecy."

Hammond's voice turned low.

"A hundred years ago, a headmaster of a prophecy academy made the same choice and received revelation. And that headmaster is buried there."

Kane followed his gaze and saw the solitary tombstone, which looked particularly weathered in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Hammond's voice echoed slowly through the silent woods: "When the minions of demons set foot on the material plane, the radiance of the aether gradually faded, and the gods abandoned their followers."

A heretical spellcaster from another race will descend upon this ancient land.

He will lead us to take up arms and rise up in resistance.

The earth will tremble in the flames, and blood will stain every inch of the river red.

And everything will eventually settle down; only those who submit to his sword will be able to avoid the coming of the apocalypse.

Upon hearing this ancient prophecy, Kane was struck dumb.

Could it be that my time travel was a pre-arranged scheme from the very beginning?

What about the immortality trait you gained?

He quickly took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed these chaotic thoughts.

At his current level, it is utterly meaningless for him to try to fathom such a great being who can manipulate time and destiny.

Instead of worrying unnecessarily, it's better to focus on doing the things in the present moment well.

He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and remained silent.

Hammond seemed to have anticipated this reaction.

He gently patted Kane on the shoulder and continued, "A prophecy is just a prophecy. Success or failure, we've seen it far too many times throughout history."

"But the former dean of the Academy of Prophecy died on the spot after making a deal with the Astral Existence about the possibility of the future."

Therefore, this prophecy is considered a top secret of the academy, known only to the Grand Dean and a few core department deans.

He looked at Kane with utmost seriousness: "Kane, go do what you want to do."

No matter what the future holds, the Susas Mage Academy will always stand behind you.

The academy will never be a constraint for you.

Kane looked up and met Hammond's determined gaze.

"I see."

He said in a deep voice, his tone resolute.

"I see."

Whether it's a prophecy or whether my time travel was preordained, it doesn't matter.

Behind him now stood the entire Sussas, the entire Mage Academy.

It received the full support of the college.