Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

“Kayla,” Echel hugged her granddaughter with one arm, “then Lyle and I won’t go back.”

"Levither's revival still requires a lot of effort, Kayla. You have many problems right now, but I believe you can do it. Keep up the good work."

“When you have truly mastered the art of war, my child, I will give you a special gift.”

“I will try my best, Grandpa, for the dawn of Leviathan.”

"Silly girl, you are the dawn of Leviathan."

After a brief farewell, Lyle and Echel retraced their steps.

Lyle made a suggestion.

“Echel, why don’t we swing across the trees? Don’t look at me like that. During the hunt, I met a ranger and experienced the joy of leaping through the jungle through his consciousness. I’ve learned a lot from his experience. Believe me, I’ve definitely been transformed!”

Lyle climbed a giant tree, fearless and resolute.

He grabbed a vine, yelled, and swung through the air. Then, while switching vines, he lost his grip and fell, but luckily Echel arrived in time to catch him.

“That was just a slip-up; I’ll definitely do better next time.” With that, Lyle grabbed another vine.

"Damn it, you think you can learn the habits of the people of Leviese that have been ingrained for decades in a moment of impulse? You're really too lazy and addicted to it. Fine, let the people who come here fall in love with climbing trees. That won't disgrace the name of Leviese. Do as you please."

Echel rushed toward Lyle, who was falling again.

Chapter 89 Beautiful Sculpture

On a moonless night, Lyle locked the door. Shui Shui made sure no one was around, then drew a circle through the crack in the window. Tonight, Uncle Ralph wasn't on night duty, so there wouldn't be any awkwardness of being questioned about her disappearance.

Lyle activated the teleportation to Andre Academy.

A cup of extravagance, a place of comfortable luxury, where happiness seems to stand still.

Mr. Dragon leaned against the stone table, his tall mascot costume making the exquisitely carved chair beneath him appear tiny. He idly fiddled with an agate crown, his dragon claws scraping against the gold frame as if venting his resentment.

In the past, Lyle's gaze would have been fixed on Mr. Dragon, whether it was his melancholy as a teacher and friend or the dazzling treasure in his hand.

However, something that had never appeared before caught Lyle's attention.

The pristine white jade resembles the most delicate human skin, adorned with marble-like silk. The rock's veins contradict its lifelike quality, packaging the unreal as a beautiful dream. The most striking feature of this statue is undoubtedly its dreamlike face. Even a goddess fallen to earth would likely find herself in this state; gold, jade, pearls, and precious jewels appear mundane in its presence, perhaps even inspiring a sense of blasphemy, a sinful feeling of one's own eyes defiling a divine object.

“Ariana?” That face, so strikingly similar to Ariana’s, almost tore Lyle’s heart apart, exposing all his affection to the light.

No. Although my memory of Ariana's face is only a fleeting glimpse when I faced the replica ghost, a voice inside me, a humble yet arrogant voice that knows the truth, says that it wasn't Ariana. Ariana's charm couldn't achieve that.

“This is a sculpture of Helena.” Mr. Dragon’s gaze shifted to the sculpture. “Ariana brought it here. There was an auction of Helena’s sculpture in the City of Wanderers a few days ago. The grand event you missed because of the Twilight Memories gathering was quite popular.”

"Hmm, so Ariana bought this?" That naturally beautiful face met Lyle's gaze, yet it was as if she were looking at something that didn't exist. It's truly a tragedy to judge the value of this work of art by money.

"The top lot at that auction is nowhere near as valuable as this one. It was brought directly from home by Ariana. It was a gift from Helena to her lovely sister. We were just lucky enough to see it."

The statue sits sideways on a stone platform, its graceful figure resembling Aphrodite upon her first awakening, a goddess of beauty that makes one fall in love.

"How lucky."

"It is indeed a work of art that fits the cup of extravagance quite well, but this sculpture has a captivating and corrupting magic. Plague Doctor, your eyes should rest for a while." Mr. Dragon stood in front of Lyle, his voice like a booming bell, bringing Lyle back to his senses.

"The pursuit of beauty is human nature, but excessive indulgence is not conducive to your growth, doctor."

"I'm sorry, teacher, my willpower is really bad."

Mr. Dragon's doll patted his shoulder with its claws. "No need to blame yourself, Plague Doctor. If I had met such an outstanding woman when I was young, I would have been even more pathetic than you. This is your good fortune, and also a trial."

A rustling sound came from Lyle's sleeve, and Medusa peeked out from the cuff. Her pink eyes were slightly narrowed, and her voice carried the teasing tone of a wicked older sister, "Mesmerized by a sculpture, little brother?"

"So what if it is?"

“Not very good.” Medusa stared at the Helena sculpture, falling silent for a long time, but unlike Lyle, she wasn’t bewitched.

"That bewitching charm doesn't work on you? Medusa."

She turned her head, her face showing confusion for a moment, then sudden realization, her eyes filled with reluctance. "That's because I was already captivated by Lady Helena's charm. I was sculpted by that most beautiful lady, my body and soul belong to her. But I never expected that I would actually... actually become a little fool's nanny. My life as a dragon is so dark."

Lyle was exasperated as he watched Medusa roll around in his palm, but he sensed that she was hiding something beneath this affectation.

The water spirit, with its telepathic connection, then pulled out a tentacle and poked the female rogue.

"Don't touch it, don't poke it, Shui Shui, your sister is going to get angry."

The roughhousing ended.

Mr. Dragon looked at the water that had returned to Lyle's left shoulder.

"Plague Doctor, your talent seems to have improved a little bit? Maybe a little bit, or is it just my imagination?"

“No, Mr. Dragon,” Lyle straightened up like a soldier being inspected, “I have successfully advanced to the first level, teacher.”

Like a student expecting praise.

“One Lock, huh? That’s so weak,” Mr. Dragon raised his voice. “Ah, that’s quite remarkable, Plague Doctor. After all, you’re still young. It’s alright. As long as you learn good skills, One Lock can be useful. So, what is your new ability?”

Lyle's excitement subsided slightly, but the Plaguebringer rekindled his confidence. "It's the Plaguebringer, Mr. Dragon." Lyle then detailed his new ability and pulled out a plague potion he had prepared in advance.

Looking at Lyle, who was beaming with excitement, Mr. Dragon stroked his chin. "A support skill, huh? Or rather, a disruptive skill that takes thirty minutes to show significant effects..."

"It's very strong, and its attack power is also quite good. I think Plaguebringer is a very well-rounded skill."

Mr. Dragon clapped his hands. “Plague Doctor, you may have some misunderstanding about ‘all-round’. Well then, I’ll show you what an attack skill is. After all, ‘all-round’ includes attack. Attack skills represent high efficiency and high lethality. In battle, speed and power are very important. My first skill is an attack skill called Bone Burst.”

Mr. Dragon pulled a thigh bone from his leather bag. Pale magic made it float in the air, and it shot out like a sword. Then came a huge boom. The bone missile successfully caused a devastating blow to the Andrei Central Garden.

Looking at the dragon head doll face reflected in the flames of the explosion, "Teacher, there seemed to be someone there just now."

"I know, those freaks in the Plant Research Discussion Club, the lunatics who want to turn back time to before animals came to land. Don't worry, they won't know what happened, after all, their bone fragments are already mixed with my bone fragments."

"I mean... I hope the person will be alright."

"They are much more resilient than you think; they can't be burned out by wildfire, and they will grow back with the spring breeze."

Lyle regained his senses and realized that his new ability was indeed not as simple and straightforward as he had imagined.

"Look at my memory, I almost forgot what my old friend asked me to do." Mr. Dragon snapped his fingers, and a human skeleton walked out of his room, disintegrated in the air, and pieced together to form a skeleton gate shrouded in gray-white mist.

"The Gate of Bones is our standard teleportation spell. The scholar is having some problems and it's not suitable for receiving guests. He told me that if you come back, I should send you directly there. He also has one of my skeletons there, so it's quite convenient."

Lyle stepped into the portal with trepidation.

Behind the door was a dimly lit, secret room, neatly arranged, but the dim candlelight was still eerie.

The scholar, wearing his signature blue-green enchanted mask, drew an arcane magic circle in the center of the room.

"You've arrived, doctor of the epidemic."

"Yes, sir, I also brought the Sword Dance Mandala."

“Excellent, please wait patiently for a moment, I need a little more time.” The scholar did not leave the magic circle, nor did he even shift his gaze.

"Mr. Scholar."

"Ah."

"Can you tell me about your locking ability?"

"Of course, my ability is super magic. Or you could call it the Supreme Being. Its effect is that my magic power, at level one, is equivalent to someone else's level two, level two is equivalent to level three, and so on."

Ha, so you're the king of defeating monsters above your level?

Chapter Ninety: The Beginning of Creation

Lyle has to face the reality that his new ability may be mediocre.

The scholar's magic circle has been completed, and its silvery-blue luster indicates that it is functioning properly.

"The creation array feels like something from the last century to me. I'm so lucky that I haven't forgotten it." He said this with a nonchalant expression, making it seem like his "luckiness" was just an exaggeration.

"That's no exaggeration. As a plague healer, I basically keep a backup of every magic circle I create in my library. After I can no longer refer to it, I draw it entirely from my memory. This is a rare first for me."

"Then why doesn't the scholar just take a look?"

"Because my room has already been occupied," the scholar said with a wry smile, walking to a shadowy corner where there was a wardrobe with a silver handle and carvings.

"Has it been taken over by the Witches' Guild?" It's not hard to guess the scholar's troubles.

"As you might expect, I got a leisurely vacation thanks to that trip to Moonnafar that day." But then he paused in his relaxed tone, "I'm afraid Miss Wenli is going to be furious. It's hard to imagine her riding a broomstick through the Andre district, smashing glass windows to check inside. My friend told me that she looked like she had swallowed two salamanders whole. For my peace of mind, it's best to stay out of the way for a while."

The scholar opened the cabinet, and behind it, instead of a dazzling array of elegant gowns, were chains placed at the bottom. As the scholar moved, they made a rustling sound like flowing water. Blue magic emanated from the scholar's palm, and the chains, like snakes seeing food, raised their heads and intertwined in his palm.

“Take your time, old friend.” The scholar pulled one out and grabbed its “head” to his left arm, like a parasitic oak finding a tree to cling to. The chain wrapped around his arm.

That was a magical piece of equipment.

"Magic locks, a type of equipment that suppresses magic. Because of my excessive magical power, they have become my helpful assistants, used to do some delicate work, yes, such as how to deal with your sword dance mandala."

The arms, the legs, and the chains flowing along the sides of the torso, like extra ribs protecting the chest cavity, the four chains of the torso intertwined at the scholar's chest, revealing the silver pendant like a precious gem, the Eight Locks.

The scholar floated in the air, surrounded by pale blue magic like clouds chained together. A magical force that made Lyle's body churn was like the air with a strange smell around him.

As the chains swung, the suffocating feeling, as if I were drowning, lessened considerably.

"I'm sorry, but it's inevitable that this device will be exposed a little bit during its initial activation."

The scholar kept himself at a horizontal position, but Lyle felt as if he were looking at a person standing in the clouds. The feeling was not like Ariana's allure, nor Mr. Dragon's coldness, nor Mr. Raymond's oppression. It was like a cloud floating high at the top, and you had to raise your head to the very top to see even a glimpse of him.

Lyle gradually understood Medusa's meaning and gained a vague concept of the god of magic.

"Mr. Plague Doctor, please let me see the Sword Dance Mandala."

Lyle pulled out a black flower from his leather bag; its color was just as it had been a few days ago, as fresh as if it were still growing on its stem.

The scholar threw the datura flower into the center of the magic circle. It floated in the air as if it had lost gravity, and gradually disintegrated in front of Lyle, turning into a handful of black dust.

"Your talent, that ball."

The water turned into tentacles and climbed onto the scholar's arm.

“Oh, it has changed quite a bit. Is it already locked up, Mr. Plague Doctor?”

"Yes, after the hunting ceremony in Levis, as the scholar said, the advancement in abilities has helped our integration."

"What is your new ability? Plague Doctor. This new ability you've awakened will determine the path you'll take in the future."