Chapter 85
"Dear teacher,
The exams are coming up, so I don't have much time to go out and play. I used to live in Tali, and I wasn't particularly eager to go out and play, but it's different for the twins. They are full of energy. Last week, they heard that the library was haunted and insisted on taking me to catch ghosts after the library closed. But no matter what, it felt like the stone guardians at the entrance were staring at us. The twins tried an invisibility spell to sneak into the library, but the side effects were obvious. The next day, the three of us couldn't hear anything at all. I relied on Leunen's help to avoid any mistakes.
I found that the summary of water elemental spell syntax in that book was very helpful for the exams. After doing seven sets of past exam questions intensively last week, I realized that ninety percent of the last major question was about water elemental spell syntax. B Truce is a great wizard! But this book is very hard to find. We found a second-hand book at a flea market. This old and worn-out book finally made Swis understand. Caroline doesn't have to worry anymore that they will go to different schools.
Because I'll be going home after the exams, I can't wait to send you this sticker. Actually, I bought it a long time ago, but Caroline spent a long time explaining to me that the money spent on this sticker accounted for a quarter of my total pocket money. It's a number that would make you worry that I'm wasting money. To avoid worrying you, I've kept it a secret until now (and I didn't actually waste any money, I still have a lot left). I hope you'll like this sticker."
Xerath took the envelope and shook it, and a silver sticker with a magical design fell out. These magical stickers were made with layers of gel mixed with silver powder and magical medium. This handicraft not only required craftsmen to have painting skills, but also a certain level of magic knowledge. Only things that were painted could possess magic and have certain abilities under special spells.
This sticker was a majestic deer with imposing antlers. Its expression was cold, and when Xerath looked at it, it arrogantly turned its head and blew out a puff of air.
Xerath burst into laughter and looked at the deer in the light. It narrowed its eyes.
"Is this how I am in your heart?" she continued laughing, with a warm glow in her eyes, and the gray turned into a warm color.
She couldn't help but want to write something. She used to write letters, but Sylas was about to come back, and the letter seemed unnecessary. But she was filled with some confusing emotions that needed to be expressed. She definitely needed a pen...
She climbed out of bed and wrapped the robe hanging by the door around herself, with Hyectra worriedly following behind, saying, "Madam, aren't you cold? Should I help you get something? What are you looking for?"
The archmage didn't respond and walked towards the library in a pair of flat, shallow leather shoes.
Being the only one at home, she didn't need to worry about running into Sylas. She didn't even bother to comb her hair, letting her platinum blonde locks flow down her shoulders, lifted by the breeze as she walked, brushing against her back.
The sound of her shoes echoed anxiously and faintly in the empty corridor. The library door was pushed open by a gentleman with deep blue attire, otherwise the archmage would have forcefully crashed into it with her wind element.
The storm outside spun visibly fast, with flashes of lightning illuminating the archmage's delicate and bright silhouette in the dark night.
A burst of golden light suddenly erupted from her fingertips, and all the lights in the library turned on simultaneously. The light sphere of the Illumination Spell rose from the Sunstone pedestal, as if the mage herself was eagerly recreating the entire starry night.
The archmage casually stuck the magical pattern in her hand onto the wall, and the silver moose turned its head to glance at her before running into the expanding forest in the distance. However, it was only a flat pattern, no matter how it ran or how the trees appeared to recede, its body didn't directly merge into the wall and disappear.
The archmage was completely unaware of this. She pulled out a chair, causing it to screech loudly as its legs scraped against the floor, and sat down without even noticing that the chair was slightly crooked.
The ink pen flew from its holder to her side on its own, but she seemed not to notice. She focused on searching for her notes on the bookshelf to her left.
There is no difference between this book and the book next to it, except for the notes that only she knows.
She took out the book she was looking for and spread it out on the desk. Opening the first page to make sure she found the right thing, Hyectra, standing behind her, saw that it was titled "Unicorn Observation Diary" and knew what she wanted to write about.
The pages were slightly yellowed and worn, not because they were old, but because they had been flipped through many times.
Xerath turned to the latest page, held the ink pen that had been waiting patiently beside her, dipped it in ink, took a deep breath, and wrote a line in the blank space:
Virgil was probably the first to notice something was wrong. Even his joking words seemed like a foretelling. I shudder a bit when I recall all of this.
When the future is destined to happen, even the most inconspicuous jokes can send shivers down your spine.
In countless places throughout this journal, I have written, "A qualified researcher needs to analyze and criticize everything in life as if it were insignificant." Ironically, I am the one who remains oblivious to this."
"Madam, madam?"
Hyectra called out to her mistress in a soft yet urgent voice. The whispers of the wind elements grew louder. These mischievous elements, unable to resist the charm of the Elemental King, were the first to be influenced by Xerath.
The books placed on the trolley were jingling as they were shaken, and the heavy curtains kept fluttering, cutting the light from outside into eerie and fragmented shapes in the stormy night mixed with lightning.
"Madam, what's the matter with you?"
Xerath ignored its voice, and the tail of the feather pen trembled slightly, the hurried rustling sound indicating the archmage's mood. "Now, I finally have the chance to calmly examine the motives behind writing this diary, even the motive hidden deep behind all these motives left by Sylas, which makes it a bit scary to touch. But analysis and self-analysis should not be taboo."
But when I truly started writing... I found something gripping my pen, making me unwilling to write it out."
"Madam... madam? You cannot tolerate these mischievous little rascals!"
Hyectra's round and chubby body was even slightly deformed by the wind.
"Perhaps I should blame everything on that magical poetry collection. The tenth muse had the magic it should have. Perhaps I have fallen under the curse on the book in a blink of an eye. But rationally speaking, it's not true."
The wind was rushing through the gaps in the bookshelves, its sharp howling making this place seem a bit scary. The light bulbs used for illumination were swaying, even the "basic element" of Holy Light, which rarely interacted with the four major elements, was like this. It's evident how strong the elemental fluctuations were.
All the bookshelves were making a clattering sound, books in the library needed to tightly grasp the desktop as their bodies kept shaking. In the end, they couldn't overcome this gust of wind and were suddenly swept into the whirlwind constantly spinning around the library. Following them were a stack of draft papers that were flattened, once they entered the wind, they couldn't stop at all.
"Madam!"
Hyectra tried hard to stay close to the ground, closing its eyes and calling out to the Elemental King. Its facial features were blown below the surface of its body.
But all of this was in vain as Xerath turned a deaf ear. The wind element's flattery grew increasingly clear:
"Sylas......"
"The mysterious visitor..."
"The intruder..."
"It's her..."
"I knew it would be like this..."
"The Pegasus that I carried her on..."
"I kissed her lips and whispered her words to the king's ear..."
The cause of the matter has both internal and external factors, and this passionate poetry collection only served as a small force accelerating the internal turmoil.
I... I...
The archmage forcefully threw down the pen, splattering black ink on the slightly yellowed paper, creating large ink stains.
But soon, it was dried up as the pen that caused this catastrophe flew away with the wind.
She forcefully pushed the chair, and with the help of the wind, the chair slid far back. The first book on the bookshelf couldn't resist the pushing from the wind and flew into the air, futilely flapping its wings in the wind. The archmage's golden hair was also completely tousled, and the gentle south wind, which was meant to help her catch her hair, was unable to withstand the collision of its companions, and could only let go of these golden strands.
But she paid no attention and strode through the wind. Suddenly, she jumped up and stepped onto the windowsill, raising her arm and crashing into the tightly sealed window.
Massive ice spikes suddenly grew on the thin archmage's arm, and the window was frozen by the sudden cold. The brittle glass was pierced by the large ice spikes and shattered completely upon impact. The wind pressure from outside rushed in, and most of the broken glass fell onto the frost armor protecting Xerath, before being swept away behind her.
The archmage's steps were determined, showing no signs of stopping. The frost armor turned into a chilly white mist and was being blown away bit by bit. Hyectra caught a glimpse of her silhouette amidst the swirling ice elements, futilely shouting, but her voice was sometimes distant and sometimes close, and Xerath paid it no heed.
The storm outside the window filled the wind barrier with wild elements. Now they push into the tower through this entrance, causing complete chaos in the library. The moose patrols its oversized territory in circles, eventually having to let the trees growing on the walls stop the raging winds.
The archmage leaped up, their hair blown behind them and their robe tightly wrapped around them, almost revealing everything.
In the distance, the storm churned, emitting a silver light from its core. The wind in the passage blew so strongly that people could hardly stand, but Xerath jumped without hesitation. In the wind, she opened her wind shield and landed on the "wind track," which was normally invisible but was now becoming clearer and clearer, as if she was sliding directly on the surface of quicksand.
The white smoke under her feet rose and was blown away, while orderly winds kept filling in, causing the winds that were hit to become chaotic and constantly disperse. Her black robe and golden hair floated in the air, as one gust of wind after another lifted her up. The wind wall surrounding the tower instantly descended under the archmage's pressure.
