NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23: Summoning (Part 2)
The wind blew gently.
In the pitch-black "undeveloped area," almost no one could be seen.
Oh no, there was one. Angel walked over stealthily, with one hand on his shoulder bag.
The Magic Academy is built on the roots of the sacred tree, so the "undeveloped area" is also on the tree roots.
The roots, twisted and varied in height, resembled mountains. Meanwhile, there were tree caves of various sizes, similar to caves.
This kind of place is unique in the entire sacred tree.
From a distance, Angel saw the three members of the Vein Council responsible for patrolling. He walked straight towards them.
"President!"
"President."
"President... why are you here?"
Seeing Angel, the three Vein Council members quickly stopped in their tracks.
"I... just walking around." Saying this, Angel shook his head and told them, "Go patrol somewhere else. Here, don't come over unless I call you."
"Uh... President, are you going to do something?" one of the Vein Council members asked.
Another Vein Council member hurriedly pinched him, "Why ask so much?"
So, the Vein Council member who questioned hurriedly changed his tone and said to Angel: "Understood, President! We'll go check out other places now!"
The other two Vein Council members agreed.
"Understood, President."
"Got it, President."
The three Vein Council members all left.
Angel looked around, and then quietly found a tree cave and slipped inside.
The tree cave wasn't large. The entrance was very narrow, only enough for one person to pass through sideways. Inside... the space wasn't big either, just about a dozen square meters. The ground seemed relatively smooth, but it was covered with sand and dead leaves; it was hard to tell how many years it had accumulated.
Moonlight slanted in through the gap above.
Angel snapped his fingers. Soon, a small fireball appeared before him, suspended, becoming the main source of light in the tree cave.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the demon muttered softly, "Actually, your progress is already very fast. All things considered, you will be one of the greatest mages in Blood Elf history."
Angel pulled a piece of burlap from his shoulder bag and spread it on the ground covered with sand and leaves. "One of the greatest mages in Blood Elf history... limited to 'Blood Elf', and only 'one of'. Don't you think it's sad?"
The demon sighed, stood aside, and silently watched.
Angel took out the material tray, dipped the pen into dye, and began drawing on the burlap.
Droplets of sweat slid down his forehead, occasionally landing on the burlap, and he would carefully wipe them off with a handkerchief he carried with him.
It was evident that he was very nervous.
Halfway through writing, he suddenly stopped, leaned against the tree cave wall, and silently watched the spread-out burlap.
"What's the matter, hesitating?" the demon asked him.
"Hesitation is impossible." Angel wiped the sweat from his face, took a deep breath, and replied: "Learning magic, the more you know, the more you realize how small you are. The Blood Elf race has existed for tens of thousands of years, contacted gods and demons for tens of thousands of years, and we still don't know where they came from. We've even fought them... it's absurd. The Academy's Great Hall still has murals depicting the wars with gods and demons, and those people are called 'heroes'... Good heavens, were they really heroes? Every time we battled gods and demons, weren't we backed by one side? Let alone ordinary blood elf soldiers, even the so-called 'heroes' were just tools. Who would want to be a tool all their life, dying without knowing what this world is all about?"
Saying this, Angel lay back down on the burlap, lifted his pen, and continued drawing the array bit by bit. Magical symbols were embedded into it, and occasionally Angel would inject magic power to test if it operated smoothly.
"You're absolutely right," muttered the demon softly, "but don't you think it's too soon? Your Magic Power is only level eight."
"The strongest known Blood Elf mage has one hundred and twenty-one levels of Magic Power. That is an epic-level mage. He reached this level at eighteen hundred years old, leaving less than a hundred years before his natural death. Except for him, no one else has surpassed level one hundred. But according to the information I've found, for angels and demons, surpassing level one hundred is common. Who knows how powerful so-called 'Holy Spirits' and 'Demon Lords' actually are? Do you think summoning a demon at level eight versus level eighty makes a big difference?"
"Hmm... I reserve my opinion." The demon shrugged helplessly.
...
In the deserted garden, Qili sat alone on a bench among the yellowing leaves, waiting. From time to time, she looked up at the canopy of the sacred tree above, and at the red moon moving through the gaps between the leaves. Her expression already showed some displeasure.
...
"Alright." Angel slowly lifted the pen, using his left hand to wipe the sweat from his face. "The array constructed by pure dark magic power, once activated, pure dark creatures within thousands of kilometers, especially demons, will sense it. I've injected some Abyss language into it, hopefully they understand what message I want to convey."
"I think your action is simply rolling dice, purely gambling on luck," the demon helplessly shrugged.