A surge of crimson flame ignited over Kent’s entire body, radiating waves of intense heat.

The tendrils behind him were instantly set alight by the flames and, within mere breaths, were reduced to ash.

As the cage that had trapped the two of them vanished, Kent’s first reaction wasn’t to retreat, but to advance.

The flames around him leapt forward like a ferocious tiger leaving its lair, transforming into a massive net that swept toward Saul.

The fire engulfed Saul, who was just an arm’s length away, yet the latter made no move to dodge.

Rather than feeling triumphant, Kent’s expression turned grim. He sensed something was wrong almost immediately.

He retreated three steps in quick succession, then turned his head to look around—only to find that the others who had been in the room were now gone, and even the hole in the ceiling, pierced earlier by a massive flower, had disappeared.

“Something’s wrong. This is all an illusion!”

Kent immediately forced his mental energy outward, spreading it in all directions, attempting to use his meditation techniques to break through the barrier before him.

Yet Saul—who had now become a figure of living fire—stood calmly opposite Kent, as if nothing had happened.

“You’re quick to catch on.”

“Hmph, so you never believed a word I said. You already teamed up with Shaya? You brought me up here just to trap me?” This was the first time Kent had failed to break an illusion, but he wasn’t panicked.

“But did you forget that I still have the ‘Greatwood Growth’ given to me by the Dean?”

Kent suddenly began chanting an incantation, and his voice seemed to ripple through the air, becoming visible waves that spread out.

From above, he received a resonating tremor in response.

“Kill Saul!”

At his command, the space around him began to quake. The fiery image of Saul vanished.

Kent knew that, although Greatwood Growth was a Fourth-Rank spell, once removed from a Second-Rank wizard’s direct control, its power and responsiveness would be diminished. It might not kill Saul.

But that wasn’t Kent’s real goal—he merely wanted to use the attack as a distraction to escape the illusion.

Once he was free, as a seasoned First-Rank wizard, killing someone who had only recently entered the First Rank less than a year ago—was that not child’s play?

In terms of spell knowledge and the number of spells mastered, he—an official mentor who had studied at Bayton Academy for over a decade—far outclassed Saul!

Yet despite trying various techniques—like Mental Synchronization and Energy Disruption—to break the illusion, Kent failed again and again.

“He’s only been a First Rank for less than a year, and yet his mental strength is formidable? Or… did he set up an illusion formation here in advance?”

Though he couldn’t break the illusion for now, Kent didn’t panic.

The Greatwood outside was still under his command, and illusions couldn’t affect that.

Saul was currently nowhere to be seen, likely tied up dealing with the tree’s attacks.

“The Dean told me not to lay a hand on Saul, so I probably won’t get the chance to use my backup plans. But this is even better—this time it was Saul who attacked me first. Fighting back is only natural.”

Thinking of Saul’s background and the wealth he had flaunted, Kent’s eyes gleamed red with excitement.

That Saul was the apprentice of a Wizard Tower master. Rumor had it that since becoming an apprentice, he’d lived inside the tower, rarely venturing outside. With Gorsa’s generous support, he had no idea how brutal competition among outside wizards could get—even for a scrap of resources.

Bayton Academy might control a city and nearby villages now, but it had risen from the Borderland—an unclaimed land.

Back when they left the Borderland, the academy had burned through countless resources. Even their original Third-Rank wizard had died not long after breaking out.

Saul had exchanged spell materials for wraiths twice. Those materials might not have seemed rare to him, but for ordinary academy wizards, they were treasures.

And the casual way he offered them up—it had stirred greed in countless onlookers.

But they all hesitated, wary of the Wizard Tower master and Dean Pond’s orders.

All except a few.

Kent was one of those few.

As soon as he found out wraiths were appearing in Saul’s building, he locked onto the location, using “discovering a source of pollution” as his excuse to seal the entire building with Greatwood Growth.

What he hadn’t expected was that Saul, who looked like a young boy, was actually harboring deep intentions and had long been prepared.

The moment Saul entered, he caught Kent in an illusion, leaving him no chance to activate his backup plans.

“By now, that tree should have tangled up Saul and his little entourage. But without someone directing it, the tree is just a lifeless object… Too bad I was so quick to use my Smoke Servants after getting ambushed. Otherwise, they could’ve launched a sneak attack by now.”

Kent’s face was expressionless—just like the stern and rigid team captain he’d always pretended to be.

But it was all just for show.

He stopped trying to break the illusion with brute force and instead retrieved a sorcerous tool from his compression bag.

“No choice but to use this. I originally planned to save it for when I became Second Rank to use against that guy… but using it on Saul won’t be a waste either. Once I’m out of this illusion, that little bastard’s as good as dead! Time to show him the difference between a veteran First Rank and a fledgling!”

The tool he brought out was covered in tiny gears and chains, with a crank handle at the bottom.

He held the device with one hand and gripped the handle with the other. After taking a deep breath, he abruptly withdrew his mental force—then used his powerful arms to rapidly crank the handle.

The gears on the device spun so fast they turned into a blur.

Just as Kent expected, the surrounding illusion began to melt away like thawing snow.

A smirk curled at the corner of his lips.

“As I thought, dwarven devices are the bane of mental energy interference.”

But when the illusion cleared and the surroundings reshaped, Kent frowned.

He was no longer in Saul’s room.

Instead, he stood atop a massive stone platform suspended in the air.

All around him were stars twinkling with unnatural frequency, and above him floated a giant, dark red hardcover book.

“What is this place? Wait—this is still Saul’s illusion. A second layer?!”

Kent cranked the device faster, but this time, nothing changed.

Now he was beginning to feel uneasy. He slowly stopped cranking and cautiously extended his mental feelers.

His mental power traveled freely through this space, yet yielded no feedback at all.

The book overhead and the stone platform beneath his feet looked tangible, but under mental probing, they might as well have not existed.

“This… this is not something a First-Rank wizard should be capable of!”

Kent finally felt fear.

“How could Gorsa dare entrust something this dangerous to a First-Rank wizard? Doesn’t he fear the intense radiation will mutate Saul?!”

Kent’s heart pounded wildly. He hadn’t felt this nervous in a long time. At the same time, an intense and twisted jealousy began to fester and spread in his chest.

Why hadn’t he ended up with such a good teacher?

“I can’t keep this up. Maybe Saul has some anti-radiation method, but I’m completely exposed here.”

Kent gritted his teeth. His expression finally began to contort. After casting several rounds of self-hypnosis, he pulled out a small vial.

Inside was a milky-white, almost milk-like fluid.

Kent pulled out the wooden stopper, and poured it directly over his own head!

A final, translucent white thread sprouted from the top of his skull, like a newly-grown grapevine, curving and twisting as it extended toward the sky.

At the same time, Kent began cursing loudly, spittle flying from his lips, completely unaware of how wild he looked.

“Saul, you son of a %&*#￥! Bayton Academy welcomed you with open arms! The moment we found a pollution source, we rushed to protect you! And you want to murder your mentor during the chaos?! You really think Bayton is easy to push around?!”

As he finished shouting, Kent quickly layered three defensive spells over himself, bracing for a counterattack. Deep down, though he still felt some regret, he regained a measure of confidence.

His words weren’t meant for Saul, but for the entity behind the tree.

Yet no sooner had the words left his mouth than Saul’s figure stepped out before him, as if walking through a sheet of water.

“So the thread above your head is from Bayton Academy.” Saul showed no intent to stop Kent’s appeal. He merely crossed his arms and stared at the thread overhead.

“So everything—the pollution in Caugust City, the wraiths—was all under your control. You’ve been cultivating these ‘colonies’ on purpose… including that inverted tree.”

This time, Kent’s expression completely changed.

He had no idea how Saul had connected all the dots!

Worse—he was right!

(End of Chapter)

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