Wizard Earl

Although the incident was sudden and Connor was caught off guard, he had been in the wizarding world for many years and had experienced many trials and tribulations, both overt and covert.

So, faced with this unexpected situation, Connor did not panic at all. He carefully used his mental energy to activate his spatial ring and establish a connection with his silver pendant and Castile so that he could use them to deal with any possible sudden attack at any time. At the same time, he pretended that nothing had happened and quietly cleaned up the traces he had left in the forest.

Time passed by, and Connor was almost finished clearing away the traces he had left in the woods. However, the wizard hiding in the surrounding forest, who harbored a strong desire to kill him, still did not make a move. This made Connor's heart sink. He couldn't understand why this person hiding in the shadows was here and what his plans were!

First of all, Connor was certain that the person hiding all around was extremely powerful, far surpassing the gray-robed elder Adolf whom he had fought before. Otherwise, at such close range, his mental power would have detected the other party's presence completely.

Secondly, Connor came to the Aksa Forest to practice magic today, and he did not tell anyone, including Varga, about it. As the second largest forest in the northern part of the Kaman Empire, the Aksa Forest covers an extremely large area. Connor's choice to practice magic in the northeast corner of the Aksa Forest was also a spur-of-the-moment decision. Therefore, the person hiding in the shadows could not have been lying in ambush here in advance.

Since it wasn't a pre-arranged ambush, Connor figured it couldn't have been someone who followed him here. Connor was an alchemist, so it was practically impossible to plant tracking equipment on him. If the other party had that ability, there would be no need to follow Connor; they could simply kill him directly. There was no need for such a complicated process. If it were tracking by scent, it might be possible elsewhere, but Connor was currently in the Aksa Forest, which was home to all sorts of wild beasts, including magical creatures, numbering in the thousands. In such a complex environment, accurately finding a person's scent was like finding a needle in a haystack—extremely difficult.

After much thought, Connor realized that the most likely way he would encounter this person hiding nearby was by chance. This answer seemed absurd at first glance—how could someone in the Aksa Forest harbor such murderous intent towards him? But upon closer reflection, Connor realized that this might very well be the truth!

If the truth is indeed that it was a chance encounter, then it's quite interesting. Connor didn't use any valuable items during his entire spell training, so the possibility of this person hiding in the shadows being tempted by money is extremely low. Even if the other party was indeed tempted by money and wanted to kill Connor, their killing intent would definitely not be that strong.

Although that murderous intent was fleeting, Connor clearly sensed that the other party must know him and have some deep-seated grudge against him; otherwise, the killing intent wouldn't have been so intense, so chilling, as if it wanted to tear him to pieces...

Realizing this, Connor also became curious about the identity of the person hiding in the shadows. He didn't seem to have offended anyone with such strength, and he should have never seen this person before, otherwise he would definitely remember someone with such strength.

Despite his many thoughts, even after Connor had thoroughly cleaned up all the traces he had left behind and remained vigilant, he still couldn't find any clues about the person lurking in the shadows around him. This awkward situation prompted Connor to make a firm decision: whoever the other person was, and what their purpose was, he had to force them to reveal themselves. He couldn't possibly return to the Ferguson family's safe house to reunite with Varga while he was being followed, thus putting Varga in danger as well…

Thinking this through, Connor decided to stop pretending. He took out a smoke bomb from his spatial ring and threw it on the ground. In the blink of an eye, a hazy cloud of smoke filled the forest. Under the cover of the smoke, Connor then took out three alchemical bombs from his spatial ring and threw them towards the three locations he believed were most likely hiding places for the mysterious person in the forest.

Perhaps Connor was lucky, or perhaps this mysterious man shared Connor's vision; the spot where he hid—a crooked tree—was exactly one of the three locations where Connor had thrown the alchemical bomb. Seeing the alchemical bomb flying towards him, the man also dodged without hesitation.

At this moment, Connor also got a clear look at the mysterious man's clothes and appearance. The man was wearing a traditional robe of the Odin Empire, was nearly two meters tall, and had a cold and stern face that looked as if it had been carved by a knife and axe. The only thing that surprised people was that the man only had one hand; the space under his Odin robe for his left hand was empty.

Upon seeing the man's appearance, Connor was certain he didn't recognize him, and he had never encountered this man before today. Although he was puzzled as to why this man harbored such strong murderous intent towards him, Connor, knowing he was no match for him, did not hesitate at all. He decided to strike first and unleashed a mental storm towards the man with a thought.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Just then, the alchemical bombs that Connor had thrown exploded one after another, and shockwaves from the explosions filled the forest. However, even in such chaos, the one-armed man did not panic in the face of Connor's mental attack. He seemed to have been prepared for Connor's mental attack. With a slight thought, the string of glass beads on his right wrist emitted colorful light, blocking Connor's mental storm for the one-armed man.

Seeing that his mental storm had no effect whatsoever, and that he had successfully forced his opponent out of the way, Connor sighed inwardly, realizing that he would have little chance of defeating his opponent. He then quickly pulled away, his black magic robe fluttering as he flew backward a hundred meters.

The one-armed man, who harbored a strong desire to kill Connor, hesitated for a moment when he saw Connor running away. But in the end, he made no move. He simply stood there and coldly watched Connor walk away, letting Connor escape.