Wizard Earl

Connor wasn't surprised by Philo's question. From the moment he recognized Philo, Connor knew Philo would ask him this question. Under Philo's gaze, Connor didn't answer immediately, but pondered for a moment before asking him in return, "Philo, can you tell me if you had already sided with the Church of Storms when you devised this plan?"

"Connor, you're overthinking it. I've only been an informant for the Black Organization for less than two months, and I only met you recently. Besides, I really have to thank Connor, your mentor Reyes, for giving me this new identity!" A hint of hatred flashed in Philo's eyes as he said in a low voice:

"If he hadn't sent Bispin to kill me, how could I have been so badly injured and discovered by the Church of Storms while I was healing..."

"The reason the Storm Church is involved in the plan is because of certain interests; they want Reyes dead! As for the extent of the Storm Church's involvement, I can only tell you after you, Connor, confirm your participation. If you cooperate, I guarantee I'll tell you everything I know!" Philo stated firmly.

After listening to Firo's story, Connor lowered his head and pondered for nearly a minute before looking up at Firo with a half-smile and asking, "So, I was forced to come to this godforsaken place to kill Ruiz because you wanted me to join your plan?"

Connor's sudden question caught Philo off guard, but he quickly recovered and shrugged, saying with a hint of helplessness, "I really didn't expect you to have found out, Connor."

"Tell me, what exactly is going on here? What is the cotton in those wooden boxes?" Connor asked calmly.

"The story begins from the beginning. Ruiz, like you Connor, is a member of the Secret Society. However, he is not a core member like you. He was just an outer member who was recruited by the Secret Society because he had some channels for disposing of stolen goods. The Storm Church discovered him three years ago, but they wanted to play the long game and catch a bigger fish, so they didn't take action against him. Instead, they secretly monitored him and the Redstone Pawnshop!"

"A year ago, the Storm Church wizards who had been monitoring Ruiz reported to the Black Organization that Ruiz had been acting strangely lately. He hadn't been using his channels to sell stolen goods for several months. After receiving this intelligence, the Black Organization began discussing whether Ruiz had realized he was being monitored and whether they should close in and arrest him. Before the discussion reached a conclusion, Ruiz began receiving strange things that looked like cotton for various reasons, and then used his channels to transport those things to various parts of the Kaman Empire!"

"This immediately caught the attention of the Black Organization. They quickly obtained a small portion of those cotton-like things without alerting Ruiz. They also discovered the strangeness of those things. The alchemists of the Storm Church examined and analyzed them."

"However, the analysis report is not very optimistic. The alchemists of the Storm Church could not analyze what those things were or what their function was. They could only conclude that these things were very similar in style to the enchanted items that Reyes had created, and that they did not pose any obvious harm to wizards!"

"After learning that these things were related to your mentor, Connor, that professor from the secret society, the Storm Church became even more determined to play the long game. On the one hand, they closely monitored Ruiz and his channels, and on the other hand, they tried to seize the time to obtain more information about those things. Soon we discovered that all of your mentor's external channels did not have that cotton-like thing. This thing only existed with Ruiz and his channels."

"The reason Ruiz stopped all his original work of selling stolen goods was because he was worried that his original work would affect his channels for transporting these strange things."

"As for why Ruiz, an outer member of the secret society, would be willing to make such a great sacrifice for the society, it's entirely because Reyes personally contacted him through some means of communication and promised him that if he succeeded in this job and completed the task assigned to him by the society, the society would allocate cultivation resources to him to help him break through from a senior wizard apprentice to a first-level wizard!"

"Therefore, it can be inferred that those strange things must be very important to Reyes. So he did not choose his own channels to transport these things, but instead chose to use the channels of Ruiz, an outer member of the secret society, in order to cover his tracks and transport the things out safely. But he never expected that Ruiz had already been targeted by the Church of Storms!" At this point, a gloating smile appeared on Philo's face.

Philo stopped there, but Connor understood everything. Ruiz was responsible for transporting something important for Reyes. Killing him would surely alert Reyes and ignite his rage! At that point, even if Connor wanted to observe and not participate in Philo's plan, he would have no choice but to cooperate with Philo and participate in his scheme in order to survive and avoid fighting Reyes alone.

Thinking of this, Connor narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of murderous intent rising in his heart towards Firo. Much of the information Firo had given him was probably told to him by his benefactor, Christant. However, this treacherous plan was very much in line with Firo's style, and what Connor hated most was someone plotting against him behind his back!

At this moment, Philo also noticed the change in Connor's expression. She didn't say anything, but just looked at Connor calmly. The atmosphere between the two, which was originally quite relaxed, suddenly became tense. However, this tense atmosphere did not last long, because just then, the young man Van de Beek returned with three cups of Red Mountain coffee and placed them on the table.

Seeing the steaming, fragrant cup of Red Mountain coffee on the table, Philo was the first to pick up a cup and begin drinking. Following him, Van der Beck also picked up his coffee. Connor remained silent, but a mocking smile appeared on his sharply defined face as he raised an eyebrow. Then, Connor stood up, intending to leave the private room…