Lord of Mysterious Wizard-Chapter 537 - 496 David Finch

Divine Eagle New Calendar, October 13th, early in the morning.

The first floor of Library Tower, centrally located in the area with the constant optimum reading light, Tang Qi was completely engrossed in the book in front of him.

To his right, was the coffee served by the Library Tower Administrator’s assistant, a little elf called Willnas, which had completely gone cold; and to the left, was a stack of ancient books he had finished reading.

The book he was slowly flipping through was called "The Hidden Hand in the Mists of History."

Compared to other more rigorous, even scholarly-style books, this one more closely resembled a fantasy novel, with most of its content lacking solid evidence, authored by a so-called "Universal Scholar" named David Finch.

According to the annotations added by the Witches on the title page, this was a very special Universal Scholar who, despite also practising other professions, such as winemaking, violin playing, painting – all ordinary human professions – did not possess extraordinary combat power.

But within the Mysterious Side’s Scholar World, he was the last one to be recognized as a "Great Polymath".

Earning this title is probably as difficult as achieving demigod status.

Active at the end of the Old Calendar when the Spiritual Tide was on the cusp of fading, one day, David Finch suddenly had an epiphany, secluded himself for several years, and finally wrote a book that astonished everyone on the Mysterious Side. In his book, behind many major events in history, there were dark hands, both great and small.

It included some shocking and unbelievable conjectures. Because it was too startling and coupled with the fading of the Spiritual Tide, people thought David Finch had gone mad. His book was only crudely printed in a few dozen copies before being destroyed by an impatient "publisher".

However, the few remaining copies were still fought over by some Transcendents, followed by the Mysterious Side suffering a heavy blow, and the remnants of the book vanished without a trace.

The copy in the Witches’ collection was relatively complete, bought directly from the descendants of David Finch by Esmeralda’s grandmother.

A book that fully embraces "conspiracy theories", yet Tang Qi found it utterly fascinating.

David Finch believed that many secret organizations hid in the shadows, driving the occurrence of major events, and behind some wars that seemed like "coincidences," or outright natural disasters, there was always a dark hand.

Aside from the notorious Mysterious Organization known as "Rotten Head," Tang Qi also saw other names with high frequency of appearance, such as "Horror Devourer," "Mysterious Deformed Show," "Eternal Council"... and two familiar names.

World Tree!

Ancient Mystical Vault!

That’s right, the two permanently neutral, terrifyingly well-established containment institutions were identified by David Finch as the shadowy hands behind many horrific incidents.

This conjecture contributed heavily to the criticism his book received initially.

After the Mysterious Side suffered its heavy blow, both organizations entered an "Ultimate Sealing" mode to prevent the old containment objects from changing, and their peripheral staff dispersed the accumulated massive wealth of the organizations to save countless civilians.

"The Civil War that once swept through the Federation was actually a decision made by a group of conspirators to legally seize the fruits of the heroes’ victory; they were likely members of the Eternal Council, who dared to make a move on even the Twelve Saints to achieve their goals... Their activities were ultimately successful, but also incited the wrath of the heroes, including Holy Confessor Martin Sims, and in the final decisive battle, the Eternal Council was severely damaged."

Tang Qi’s gaze stopped completely on the page in front of him.

After reading out loud a paragraph of unimaginable content, an expression of abnormality emerged on Tang Qi’s face.

Although speculative conspiracy theories about the great North-South Federation war were prevalent, like David Finch, to boldly assert that the leaders of the Northern Alliance Army were actually the dark hands backstage, and were members of a mysterious organization called the "Eternal Council" were very few.

"What a bold and mad predecessor."

Tang Qi couldn’t help but sigh as he recalled the many conjectures he had read.

Just as he was about to continue flipping through the work of his predecessor.

Suddenly, he heard distinct footsteps; Tang Qi turned his head and saw several unexpected "visitors" - a fatigued-looking Jason, Jennifer, Old Coulson, and Klyas, who was attentively checking for injuries on Jason, leading the way was the Transcendent Doctor Rafael, even more slender, frail, and wearing glasses than Tang Qi.

Rafael was about to speak, but his gaze unintentionally caught sight of the book in Tang Qi’s hands. A flicker of surprise passed across his face before he remembered Tang Qi’s "Universal Scholar" profession, and a look of understanding appeared on his face.

"It’s present on every Universal Scholar’s must-read recommended book list, David Finch is a crazy predecessor."

Rafael expelled a judgment similar to Tang Qi’s.

Then he sat down directly in front of Tang Qi, while the others found their own seats as well.

Tang Qi’s gaze swept over them, and one after another slowly vanishing but still discernible Information Fragment emerged, all indicating they had just experienced intense combat not long ago.

Jennifer and Old Coulson, as part of the logistics profession, probably were just affected during the rescue.

And Jason, with clothes full of rips, faint corrosive wounds visible, along with some odd, pale red vertical stripes.

No need to guess, these people must have just left the battlefield; Tang Qi didn’t close his book, and instead asked somewhat oddly, "The war is over; why not go back and recuperate, instead of coming here?"

Guessing that the war had ended wasn’t difficult, although Jason and the others bore traces of battle and looked utterly exhausted, their aura was relaxed; if the war were still ongoing, they should be more tense.

Jason was dealing with Klyas’s rage; due to the suddenness of the situation, Klyas couldn’t follow along in time, and only after Jason withdrew from the battlefield did she receive the news, so her current anger was nothing out of the ordinary.

Hearing Tang Qi, Jason immediately replied with a wry smile, "The Ancient Castle Bureau is now filled with those monsters’ corpses, so stinky and disgusting; besides, there’s nothing left for us to do afterwards, so we might as well come here for a rest, mooch some good food, and see if there’s any way we can help, especially with the dance party affairs, which I’m quite skilled at."

Without correcting Jason’s reference to "dance party," Tang Qi looked at Rafael and asked, "What was the outcome?"

Jason and the others were more or less wounded, but only Rafael remained in high spirits, calmly informing them of the results of this sudden and quickly-concluded war.

"The exotic realm entrance led to a contaminated Secret Realm, inhabited by a Species known as ’Pablo Eye Demons,’ possessing extremely strong pollution. If not for Knight Captain Oresom of the Church in presence, and blocking the entrance immediately, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Our response team and the Church’s Knight Order arrived at the scene ten minutes later, successfully closing the Exotic Realm entrance, killing all the invading Pablo Eye Demons... apart from the death of several dozen agents and knights, Knight Captain Oresom of the Church fell due to serious injuries."

What should have been a roller-coaster of a war narrative became a dull and somewhat cold terror as it came out of Rafael’s mouth.

A Knight Captain has fallen?

Tang Qi, although never having met the Church Knight Captain called "Oresom," had heard of him, a person capable of competing for Secret Phoenix City’s top ten Transcendent rankings, said to be a friend of Sith.

The Demon Tide was resolved, and a powerful knight had died, yet Tang Qi still felt something odd, that the war ended with something of an anti-climax.

"This incident is very strange; given the style of the Rotten Head, if they truly planned anything, it shouldn’t have been so easily resolved by us."

Tang Qi had not yet voiced his suspicions, but Rafael spoke up first. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He glanced at the book in Tang Qi’s hand called "The Unseen Hand Within the Historic Mist," seemingly not worried that Tang Qi would fail to keep up with his pace.

Tang Qi quickly reviewed in his mind the acts of the "Rotten Head," comparing them with the recently concluded invasion battle, and nodded in agreement, saying, "While there are many possibilities, the most likely two are that the current ’Rotten Head’ is not the same one that once ravaged the Old and New Continents during the Dark Era, but an imposter, or they have a dangerous plan, and last night’s event was just a prelude?"

Rafael frowned, seemingly searching his memories for clues, but a Mysterious Organization that has never shown its masterminds wouldn’t leave much behind for deduction.

After a moment, Rafael hesitantly said, "Regardless of the authenticity of this organization, their objectives haven’t likely been met, perhaps they didn’t expect Knight Captain Oresom to personally lead the team, nor did they expect this great person to carry Saint Dosie’s Sword, one of Secret Phoenix Church’s high-level wonders, and one the Twelve Saints, Holy Knight Dosi’s Sword."

After speaking, Rafael seemed to remember something else, mumbling to himself, "Rotten Head, Mysterious Deformed Show, Dream God Palace... these ancient, horrific organizations are resurfacing around the world, not just the Federation; the entire Blue Star is becoming more dangerous."

"Compared to the rest of the world and various nations struggling to maintain, the Federation can still keep up a semblance of peace, but it probably won’t last long, and the thin veil that blinds the eyes of the world will sooner or later be lifted."

Rafael finished speaking and then fell silent, reaching for a book that Tang Qi had already finished reading, asking for permission with a glance before touching it.

Tang Qi didn’t continue reading, lost in thought.

Rafael hadn’t explicitly said it, but Tang Qi instantly grasped his meaning.

This was a "reminder," and as a high-ranking official of a government institution, Rafael’s instincts were trustworthy.

He was reminding Tang Qi that the world was undergoing tumultuous changes, becoming incredibly dangerous. Tang Qi should not be overprotective of the students of Merada Special Education School; before the veil of the Mysterious Side is lifted, he should quickly involve those children with Extraordinary Power in the fray.

After a few moments of silence, Tang Qi sighed softly, sensing a truly realistic sense of crisis emerging in his mind, and resolved internally: "Let’s accelerate the pace, whether it’s for me or the students."