The Cornflower Witch
Book 3: Chapter 116: Distant Shadows in Yellow Sands and Wind
Over the following days, apprentices wandered the abandoned city in small groups, sightseeing.
Though it was somewhat dilapidated, one had to admit the remaining buildings were still magnificent, rising like giants among the dusty yellow houses. Among them were broken spiraling star chariots that once flew through the sky, beautiful human statues missing half their bodies, a fragmented sun adorned with birds, a phantom-winged violet dragon spreading its bizarre wings, and a massive circular gallery hall where mottled murals still displayed the former glory of this place.
During these excursions, many apprentices gradually came into contact with past history. Some, like Sylutia, curiously purchased scrolls. Though none of them were particularly powerful or important spells, some of the ideas and runes within were unheard of in the outside world.
"So that means most of the legacy of the Star-Gazing School has actually been absorbed by the current schools," Xavier said, looking at a book in his hands and casually chatting with his companions.
"The fifteenth-ranked 'Sky-Scanning School' inherited their talent for observing stars and studying stellar orbits. The 'Origin Hourglass' absorbed some of their research on 'Primordial Beasts,' and our school also took in some secret arts related to 'Alien Stars.'"
"The harmful parts were all removed. What we can access now has actually been filtered," another companion said, walking with his head resting on his hands.
"But I've heard some rumors these past few days that some small schools entrenched around Branuir are still secretly passing down some of the Star-Gazing School's secret arts."
"So, what do you say? Want to go check it out?" someone suggested.
"We could go, but what about the Chief..." The group looked at the young girl walking not far ahead, a bit hesitant.
Unexpectedly, Sylutia stopped at that moment and turned around.
"Let's go take a look, then. But we'll move together, and you can't run off on your own," she said. As the Chief, when the instructor wasn't around, she was responsible for making sure nothing unexpected happened.
"Great!" several of them cheered happily.
Over these days, they had learned a lot about the Star-Gazing School's records and were very curious about what those forbidden secret arts or advancement methods were actually like.
The group stopped, first flipped through a map to pinpoint where those small schools were entrenched, then everyone took off and put away their Tetis College badges before setting off together.
Since it was a vacation, most of them weren't wearing school uniforms but casual clothes of different styles. Once they took off their badges, it was hard to tell where they came from. The feeling of secretly doing something bad behind the instructor's back made some of them find it especially amusing. Along the way, they even discussed whether they should come up with some new identities.
"Let's just say we're a small school from somewhere else here for exchange studies. I've already thought of a name—let's call it the 'Griffin School'!" one of them suggested excitedly.
"Griffin?" Sylutia couldn't help but cover her forehead. That was clearly aimed at her. She figured there would probably be a segment where they'd have to show off griffin spells later.
She had never seen a real griffin before. The badge on her chest was made by Instructor Nox, and it just so happened she had a lot of griffin-related stuff, like that key she'd recently obtained.
Too bad she couldn't think of a better name on the spot, and since she figured they might not even need to use that title, she just let them make up whatever they wanted.
They gradually left Branuir's central area. The outskirts and suburbs were places the Mage Alliance officially didn't control. Here, there were various small school outposts of all sizes. They exchanged goods and information here, occasionally clashed over resources, and fought for them.
In the past, the Mage Alliance had cracked down on these illegal groups in the surrounding areas. As a result, they moved to the outer deserts. Once the crackdown was over, they slowly moved back near Branuir. After this happened a few times, the Mage Alliance got tired of it and stopped bothering with them.
After all, those people hadn't committed any unforgivable crimes. Even if caught, they could only be imprisoned. It's not like you could say all members of a large school were saints and kill them all.
The farther they went, the more desolate the streets became. Or rather, this was the true abandoned city. Many of the roadside houses were empty, piled inside with windblown sand and the bones of unknown creatures.
Before leaving the central area of the main road, the number of pedestrians here became sparse. Even when there were people, most had hostile faces and were very cautious of approaching strangers.
"I guess they're afraid of freeloaders. Without the Mage Alliance's jurisdiction here, if someone dies, it's hard to find out who did it," someone commented.
"For those traveling alone, they're at least Third-Tier Mage Apprentices. Anyone at First Tier only dares to walk around here in groups of several people."
"We've been out for a while, so why haven't we seen any of these outposts yet?" someone complained quietly.
Sylutia listened to the group's chatter, lightly leaped up, scanned the area from a high vantage point, and then landed.
"This way. I saw a lot of people gathered over there," the girl said, pointing in a direction.
The group then headed that way. Sure enough, before long, the number of pedestrians increased. They soon arrived at a shabby market, where several Third-Tier mages stood at higher points around the perimeter, apparently monitoring the environment to prevent theft and robbery.
"This is the territory of the 'Prayer School.' Each person entering the trading grounds must pay 5 gold coins," the mage apprentice guarding the market entrance announced.
"5 gold coins per person?" They could certainly afford that, but they didn't want to be taken for fools.
"Of course. This is one of the few safe markets in Branuir. If you want to save money, go to one of those black markets with no guarantees. If you get cheated or robbed, don't come crying to anyone."
"...Well..."
After some discussion, the group ultimately decided to pay the fee and go in and have a look. After all, they were already here. Five gold coins really wasn't much for Tetis College students.
After collecting the money, the other party briefly counted heads and let them through. Sylutia and the other apprentices curiously entered.
There were many mages running stalls here. Most of them were members of local small schools, and a lot of the items being sold here had questionable origins.
"That 'Torment Breath' scroll... that should be a mid-level secret art from the 'Tincture School.' And they're selling it here." The Tincture School was the twenty-third-ranked school in the Alliance. Though not at the top, it was still a legitimate large-scale mage school, and its mid-level secret arts weren't taught to outsiders.
"...This place isn't exactly legal to begin with. Saying that is just too formal," a nearby student whispered in reminder.
"And over there, that curved blade engraved with lightning runes—that's clearly a standard-issue weapon for members of the 'Lightning School.' The version they sell to outsiders doesn't look like that."
"The origins are all pretty shady. I think we'd better not buy anything. If the instructor asks when we get back, it won't be easy to explain."
Though they came across some interesting things, the apprentices rarely bought anything. After all, they were Tetis College students. They cared a lot about their identity and had their own pride.
"This seems quite interesting. It must be a secret art from some small school," Sylutia said as she walked through the market, overhearing her classmates' conversation behind her.
She turned her gaze and saw a scroll placed on a stall not far away, along with its description.
**[War Hound Transformation] (Beast Fang · Bloodline): Activates the bloodline power of canine creatures, comprehensively enhancing their combat abilities to the 'First Tier' level and causing them to grow bone spurs and fangs.**
Though the effect was only First Tier, a secret art with composite Aspects must have required a creator of at least Fifth Tier to develop. And the requirements for this secret art weren't high. After learning it, one only needed to prepare enough potions to mass-produce 'War Hounds,' making it very suitable for enhancing military combat power.
For some reason, Sylutia thought of that 'Baron Prison Hound,' Carkis. He had once seemed to know a similar secret art. His army often had various war hounds as support.
The girl then moved her gaze to the scroll next to this one.
**[Rock Fist] (Snail Fish): Temporarily petrifies the fist, enhancing attack and defense.**
This secret art seemed good at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it had quite a few problems. After petrification, the fist became too heavy and inflexible, nowhere near as good as the **[Killing Fist] (Bloodline)** that Sylutia had seen before. It was probably a secret art from some small school.
After that, the group wandered around for a while. Some bought a few scattered relic artifacts, like **[Clay Tablet] (Secret Word), [Dried Earthen Jar] (Dead Embers), [Polished Yellow Sand] (Dead Embers)**. Others bought some locally produced materials, like **[Sand Scorpion Carapace] (Insect Moth), [Spike Needle Fruit Ball] (Verdant Nectar)**.
Sylutia took a liking to a book: **《Obsidian Codex》 (Third Tier)**. This book thoroughly detailed the material properties of obsidian and how to use alchemical methods to transform other rocks into 'Obsidian.'
"The price is 800 gold coins. I excavated this from an ancient relic. The 'Gold Steam' Aspect didn't even exist in that era. It's a legacy from the time when 'Alchemy' arts were popular."
"That's too expensive. It's even questionable whether the secret arts recorded in it can still be used today," Sylutia said, thinking to herself that the normal price for this book was probably around 200 gold coins.
She haggled for a while and finally managed to secure it for 500 gold coins.
After finishing their tour of the market, the group left and continued wandering according to the map.
Half an hour later, they found an abandoned library. They entered and looked around. Though there were no books left, the few remaining murals and bookshelves still provided them with quite a bit of insight.
Then, the group decided to rest here for a while. Sylutia and a few others went up to the library's rooftop. The view was wide open there. They sat in the shadow of the wall, overlooking this abandoned land. Some leaned against the wall for a quick nap, some chatted idly, and some flipped through the things they had just bought.
Time passed leisurely like this, until a commotion of chasing and fighting came from the alleyway below, drawing their attention.
The sun scorched the ground. Rogers ran frantically through the alley, with curses ringing behind him, reminding him of the time he was chased by the village barber when he was a child.
Back then, he had flirted with the barber's daughter, Alisha, the girl he liked the most in his childhood. Her father, thinking his daughter shouldn't be defiled by him, decided to beat him up. He chased him for an entire afternoon, until the man's knees went weak and he collapsed into Grandma Grillet's chicken coop.
Rogers stood in the scorching sunlight and mocked the barber, who swore he would never marry his daughter to someone like him.
And sure enough, Alisha never married him, because he decided to leave the village and become a respected mage.
But just like being chased by the barber, there were also people who thought he shouldn't have the idea of becoming an official mage. After discovering he was saving money to go to a big city to pursue a legitimate advancement path, his longtime companions betrayed him. They took away what he had secretly saved and exchanged it for advancement resources for the 'Rock Heart School.'
"Just take this advancement. Otherwise, we'll miss you if you go to the big city alone," his companions threw that 'Stone Core' at him.
As one of the small schools, the 'Rock Heart School' allowed one to implant a rock heart in their body, gaining various ability enhancements. Upon reaching Fourth Tier, they could even transform into a rock giant, possessing immense physical strength and combat power.
But that was a world away from becoming a glamorous mage. He pretended to accept it, and one day, when his companions were drunk, he beat them all up and took their money.
But he hadn't expected them to catch up.
Rogers looked at the high wall at the end of the alley, mustered his strength, and leaped up. His fingers dug into the crumbling mud bricks as he slowly climbed, trying to escape to the other side.
"You're not getting away, Rogers."
Several familiar voices came from behind him. Then, one of them jumped up, grabbed Rogers's leg, and pulled him down hard. The other two followed and helped drag him down.
Dry, dusty soil fell from the top of the wall, blinding Rogers. After a futile struggle, he was pulled down and fell to the ground. He curled up, trying to free his leg from one person's grip, ready to try climbing the wall again. But a heavy blow from behind made his vision go dark, and he collapsed face-first.
"Hey, we didn't kill him, did we?" The group watched Rogers lying on the ground, dark red blood seeping from the back of his head.
"That bastard took our money. Dead is dead."
"That's one way to put it, but we've been together for a few years," another person said, crouching down to check if Rogers was still breathing.
The hot stones on the ground made Rogers feel like half his face was cooked. The choking dust got up his nose, making him cough painfully.
Seeing him react, the three of them relaxed a bit, but soon anger flared up again. They pulled Rogers up, slammed him against the wall, and punched his face and jaw again and again.
"You ungrateful bastard! We went out of our way to get you that 'Stone Core,' otherwise those Alliance bastards would have swindled your money away long ago."
"Cough... cough..." Rogers, with a bruised and swollen face, lowered his head and spat out a mouthful of bloody spit, looking at his old acquaintances.
"I want to be a mage, not some rock man," he said, his lips bruised purple.
"What, you look down on us? The Rock Heart School was once a legitimate mage tradition, no worse than those Alliance guys."
Faced with this accusation, Rogers felt he didn't even have the strength to speak. How had he only realized today that these people were so impossible to reason with?
"I'm saying I have my own choices. I'm not looking down on anyone."
"Hah, you little liar. You think you're something special, don't you?" With that, another slap came down, making Rogers's ears ring and his head droop.
"Think you're so smart and capable, that you can go to the big city and be a mage lord, living a life everyone envies?"
"Keep dreaming. If you really had talent, would you have ended up in Branuir? Now that you're here, you're just like us. Stop thinking about impossible things."
"You're almost thirty. You've never participated in the three major academic districts' training programs, and you don't have a recommendation from a Fourth-Tier mage or above. Do you think you can still follow the normal path to becoming a mage? Dream on!"
"I hate people like you who reach for the stars, thinking you're so smart and have such grand ideals, while everyone else is nothing."
A barrage of curses and scolding came from in front of him. Rogers didn't hear a word of it. He only felt that his tinnitus might never get better.
He probably wouldn't be able to sneak into lectures anymore. What a shame. He had heard that some college instructors occasionally held public classes that any mage apprentice could attend.
Blood mixed with sweat dripped from his forehead onto the ground. His vision was blurry, and he saw small black dots appearing on the ground.
Not good. If he went blind too, he'd really be useless.
Ignoring the noise in his ears, he tried to slowly lift his head.
The sun in the distance was still blazing hot. In the afternoon, with no clouds to shield it, the heat was dizzying. His gaze slowly moved downward, avoiding the dazzling halo. The outline of the distant abandoned library appeared in his field of vision.
His pupils slowly adjusted their focus, and the blurred image gradually became clear. A figure standing on the rooftop fell onto his retina.
The afternoon sunlight was bright. Her hair, flowing in the wind, was almost transparent. The skirt fluttering to one side outlined her slender waist. In her swaying sleeve, her snow-white wrist held the spine of a book. Her fingertips lightly pressed the pages, which trembled in the wind.
Even though he couldn't make out the girl's face, her tranquil, scholarly aura struck some corner of his mind, instantly stirring a surge of strength within him.
Yes, that was it. That atmosphere, that feeling. It was wonderful—so peaceful and serene, more soothing than a nap in the summer shade. The reason he wanted to become a mage was to escape the dusty countryside and pursue this kind of carefree, tranquil feeling.
Not to be beaten black and blue and turned into some big rock man.
Rogers shook off the noisy companions in front of him and ran off to the side. As he fled, he grabbed the cudgel that had knocked him unconscious by the corner of the wall. As he swung it, layers of yellow light converged and empowered the cudgel. Then, he struck out fiercely, hitting the person chasing him in the head and making them bleed.
"You dare fight back?!" The remaining two companions cursed in anger and chased after him again. They spread their palms, and with a special secret technique, two stones coalesced in the air and shot forward.
The yellow stone meteors streaked through the alley. One hit the wall and shattered. The other hit Rogers in the back, jolting his body and sending him sprawling on the ground again.
The two of them caught up and sat on his back, raining down more fists. Despite the pain in his head and back, Rogers's fingers clawed desperately at the ground, trying to crawl away from these people.
On the distant rooftop, the fingers holding the book moved. The pages that had been parted snapped shut with a crisp sound. Hearing the commotion, the other apprentices turned to look at the girl as she brushed her hair aside.
"Do you want us to step in, Chief?" The group had already witnessed what had happened and were eager for action.
"Just send one person," she said, worried that if too many went, they'd be too harsh and end up killing someone.
"No problem~"
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