Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

Wayne arrived at the palace quickly.

Evelyn sat in the garden gazebo.

The pot of black tea was already more than half drunk.

Hearing footsteps, her gaze fell on Wayne. After looking him up and down, Evelyn noticed the new staff in Wayne's arms.

"Cecil is quite generous. He's had this staff for most of his life, and I always thought he'd take it to his grave."

"Your Majesty is joking."

Wayne gave a simple bow.

"Your Majesty summoned me here; what are your orders?"

Evelyn got straight to the point.

"I heard you tamed the Gluttony Vessel."

Wayne bowed slightly: "I have not failed you."

Evelyn nodded and praised Wayne, "Well done. Bringing that thing back alive under those circumstances certainly exceeded my expectations."

Evelyn then asked a question.

"So, what are your plans for the future?"

However, what Wayne said next took Evelyn by surprise.

Wayne said, seemingly seriously.

"Your Majesty, I intend to resign."

Evelyn paused slightly in her tea-drinking motion, glancing at him sideways: "Do you know what you're saying?"

Wayne did not avoid her gaze.

"Your Majesty, the work of recovering forbidden items is far too dangerous. Neither the Marquis's mansion nor I personally are made of flesh and blood. No matter how much reward we earn, we need to be alive to enjoy it."

Seeing Wayne's expression, Evelyn quickly understood: "You little rascal, are you complaining that the benefits aren't enough?"

Wayne quickly lowered his head.

"Your Majesty is joking; I had no such intention."

Evelyn didn't expose his "I have no such intention" expression, but spoke in a calm tone.

"Sixth rank. The royal family will provide all the magical potion materials you need to break through to the sixth rank. In addition, after the king wakes up from his 'afternoon nap,' I will obtain legal status for your group of witch subordinates within the framework of the kingdom's laws. Do you think this price is enough?"

Knowing when to stop, Wayne immediately knelt down on one knee.

"It is my honor to serve His Majesty, and it is also an honor for the Angus family."

Evelyn's lips twitched slightly. She didn't tell him to get up, but simply beckoned to him, "Where's the stuff?"

Wayne took out the silver bowl from his pocket and presented it with both hands: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I have already put a simple seal on this forbidden item, and there will be no problem in the short term."

The attendant stepped forward, took the silver bowl, carefully wrapped it in a layer of silvery-white silk, and left the pavilion.

Evelyn waved her hand.

"Alright. It's nothing. Go back and rest for a couple of days. Someone will contact you about the route to the City of Eternal Sleep when the time comes."

"Yes. I'll take my leave."

After Wayne got up and left.

The attendant beside him couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Your Majesty, the head manager just said he wants to resign... is he serious?"

Evelyn put down her teacup.

"If he really wanted to resign, he wouldn't have said it. People who truly want to leave won't give advance notice."

The attendant seemed to be deep in thought and asked no further questions.

Evelyn looked in the direction where Wayne had disappeared, a hint of inexplicable interest in her eyes.

This kid is more interesting than she imagined.

After Wayne left the palace.

The falcon was waiting outside the palace archway.

When Wayne came out, she nodded slightly and, without any further pleasantries, walked directly to Wayne.

"Her Majesty the Queen has sent me to coordinate with you regarding the City of Eternal Sleep. The situation in that city is far more complicated than you imagine."

Wayne humbly replied, "I would like to hear the details."

Falcon didn't waste any time and went straight to the point.

"The city of Anubidi is linked to the faith; one could even say it has become Anubidi's first official place of worship on earth. We sent in three groups of spies. The first group all went missing. Only one person from the second group returned alive, but on the third night after his return, he set himself on fire right under the guards' noses."

Wayne nodded, not rushing to ask for details, but instead asking, "Did the person who came back alive leave any message before self-immolating?"

Falcon's answer was crisp and cold: "No. In the three days since he returned, he hasn't uttered a single complete sentence. His mental state has completely collapsed. Sometimes he curls up in a corner trembling, sometimes he mutters to himself, but no one can understand what he's saying; it's a completely unrecognizable language. The medical assessment concluded that his consciousness has been deeply eroded by some kind of rule."

"However, before the City of Eternal Sleep was completely sealed off, we intercepted a valuable piece of information from the last group of refugees evacuating from the city." Falcon paused for a moment, "They said there were still living people in the city."

Wayne's gaze paused slightly.

"Are there still people alive?"

"Yes. They said that when the blockade was first established, not everyone in the city fell into that 'slumbering' state. Some people managed to hide underground as soon as the anomaly occurred. They survived for a while with their stored food and groundwater, but no one knows exactly how long they could last. That message came from a boy who managed to escape on the edge of the blockade. He died a few days after escaping, the cause of death being severe magic depletion."

As he listened to Falcon's report, Wayne began to ponder.

The City of Eternal Sleep was also known as the City of Kam.

It was once a bustling, medium-sized town on the map, located at the intersection of several trade routes near the southwestern border, with a permanent population of about 20,000. Grain merchants and caravans passed through the city gates year-round; although it wasn't as lively as the capital, it was certainly not the kind of place that would be forgotten.

However, Cam fell overnight.

"I asked Xiang Jun, who was standing next to Wayne."

Do you know how the City of Eternal Sleep fell?

The falcon shook its head.

"The capital city has very limited information on this matter. The city's transformation happened overnight. The previous evening, the guards at the city gate changed shifts as usual, and the residents inside the city went about their lives as normal. The next morning, the caravans passing through that trade route found that there were no guards at the city gate, the gate was ajar, and the city was deathly silent."

Wayne pondered for a moment.

"A city-wide, rule-based anomaly that can put 20,000 people to sleep within a few hours is something that ordinary forbidden objects could not achieve."

Falcon did not refute his judgment: "Cardinal Cecil reached the same conclusion. He once mentioned to Her Majesty the Queen in private that the anomalies in the City of Eternal Slumber were likely not directly caused by the forbidden object. Rather, the forbidden object was likely just a trigger, activating some latent rule or mechanism."

Just then, the panel popped up.

[City of Eternal Sleep·Truth Analysis]

[Reason for the fall: The Flower of Eternal Slumber.]

[Note: The Flower of Eternal Slumber, also known as the "Flower of Divine Rest," is a rare plant that grows only in places where gods slumber. Its pollen has a powerful hypnotic effect on living beings, and the effect is stronger on targets with higher magical power.]

[Note: The City of Eternal Slumber was not conquered by forbidden objects, but rather because someone accidentally opened a rift leading to the slumbering place of the gods deep within the ancient ruins beneath the city, causing the pollen of the Flower of Eternal Slumber to spread throughout the city along the rift.]

[Note 2: Those remaining in the city are not truly dead, but rather in a state of "suspended animation" where their bodily functions are suppressed to a minimum. Theoretically, if the pollen source of the Flower of Eternal Sleep could be cut off, it is possible to awaken all the city's residents.]