Chapter 171

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Chapter 171

As a very formal visit, Virgil specifically chose to go to Hibya’s house when he was there, so as not to cause any trouble to this acting guardian of the continent’s famous prodigal son. He even brought a gift – a precious fur.

Hibya and Xerath look very similar, with light-colored hair and eyes, as white as cold marble, and they are equally cold. He nodded and was about to leave, but in the end he asked, "Did that little troublemaker, Xerath, send you to deal with it?"

"Of course not," Virgil laughed and looked at Maryland. "We both hope she doesn’t know, right?"

Maryland nodded, "Right, it’s better if your sister doesn’t know."

Hibya thought for a moment and shrugged, "Alright, it’s better if she doesn’t know. You guys chat, I’ll be upstairs. If you need something, call me, Mar."

Maryland smiled and nodded at him.

"Alright… old friend, tell me about Sylas."

Maryland told Virgil exactly what she saw in the mediation room, and she had to admit that she actually wanted to see things escalate. The Sauran family may be annoying, but they have great power, and there are always some opportunistic people surrounding them. Now there’s someone who is not afraid of trouble to teach the Saurans a lesson, and many teachers and professors are delighted. Even the usually mischievous Virgil wants to get involved. This scene is definitely going to be very exciting.

Besides, Virgil is not the mischievous troublemaker he used to be, but has become a sneakier and more dangerous hunter.

"Don’t worry, I promised Sylas that I would keep this a secret from Xerath, and Hibya also agreed to intervene if the school treats Sylas unfairly."

Virgil smiled and said, "It’s hard for me to believe that he actually agreed to get involved in this."

"The logic is simple, making Xerath happy would make our mother unhappy, and Hibya is happy to make that happen. Besides… their relationship as siblings is not as bad as everyone thinks."

"Even though Xerath only writes letters to you instead of him?"

Maryland asked with a smile, "What’s the difference between writing to me and writing to him?"

"It seems like you…" Virgil frowned and scrutinized, "are living a very happy life?"

"It’s okay," Maryland smiled lightly, neither confirming nor denying.

After bidding farewell, Virgil went to his regular bar to hang out and get some food and drinks. These places where teachers and students often gather always have some useful information. The hot topics these days are nothing but "Dueling Law," "Shame Mark," and what else? Virgil couldn’t believe his ears. Did they really call Sylas a "little fairy"?

The old mage living in the middle of the desert never mentioned this in Sylas’s letter. Maybe Sylas was too embarrassed to bring it up, but she never said not to tell Xerath.

The old hunter quickly decided to share this story as a joke with Xerath. He couldn’t believe how well-behaved the wild little creature had become under her guidance. No one would ever think that she was connected to the Keatlerdemon beast.

The next day, he intercepted Sylas before class.

"Virgil, I haven’t asked you why you can freely enter and leave the campus without being questioned. Did you climb over the wall?"

"Of course not! The stone gargoyles recognize my face and open the door for me. We have a good relationship."

"I hope they’re not accepting bribes from you."

"Alright, let’s not worry about that. Come with me."

Sylas quickly grabbed his arm. "Wait, today is combat training. Shouldn’t we go after class?"

"No need." Virgil took her hand and stepped into thin air. Sylas gasped and was about to use the Levitation Spell to save him, but Virgil floated up on his own and stood on the decorative columns below. He shouted, "What are you waiting for? Come down!"

Oh my, can’t go up this decorative colonnade, right? She almost walks from Spring Hall to the Falcon Fortress tower every day through the suspension footbridge, which is a shortcut made of floating stones. One careless move and you could fall off, so everyone walking this path remains silent. Even though everyone knows the Levitation Spell, some unfortunate souls have died from falling here. But the school has not canceled the footbridge and has no plans to take any protective measures because "this encourages students to use and practice the Levitation Spell to a great extent."

Sounds reasonable.

But she never thought that someone could also go up the decorative colonnade below! But listening to Virgil, even if it might go wrong, it must be fun. She gave herself a golden feather, closed her eyes, and jumped down. Suddenly, someone grabbed her. Virgil was standing by the colonnade, holding her shoulder and saying, "Hey, kid, be careful about where you land while jumping."

Sylas looked down and found herself standing on the edge of the colonnade, with a hundred feet below…

"Falcon Fortress is even higher than Aimekotes, it just doesn’t look that way." Virgil gestured for her to follow and walked around to the other side of the colonnade. She saw the hunter stepping directly onto the tiled roof of the Falcon Fortress and walking steadily on the ridge.

"Did your teachers also use this route when you were studying here?"

"Of course!" The wind was strong here, and the elements ran past with a joyful spin on every sharp corner. "Xerath and I often came here to watch fools practice real combat. Let me explain it to you from this perfect angle."

From Spring Hall, flying through the air to the Falcon Fortress, then crossing through the complexly arranged classrooms on the upper level of the Falcon Fortress, descending the spiral staircase on the other side of the building, and passing through the Four Rivers Fountain. It should be the fastest way to get to the playground. But Virgil took her directly on the flat roof, walking to the bottom of the lookout tower on the other side and sat down.

It’s completely empty underneath.

Knowing that the wind was swirling around her, Sylas carefully sat down while the students below started lining up, and she shamelessly skipped class.

Virgil laughed and said, "What’s wrong? Are you scared? There’s something I have to tell you, jumping down from the terrace even onto the sand below, you can still get seriously hurt. The speed of the fall is too fast, sand isn’t much different from rocks."

"I’m not scared of falling, I’m just afraid that Dean Eilan will scold us when she sees us."

Virgil smirked and said, "Don’t worry, I’ll take all the blame. I won’t let any blemishes on your record… Well, I asked my old friend yesterday… Well, the guy down there with the cane."

"Professor Kat？"

"Oh, Kat is already a professor. Hmm, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that I talked to him about practical combat. Just as I expected, there’s nothing new in the combat class." Virgil pulled an arrow from his quiver at his waist and gestured towards the playground below, saying, "He’s now talking about ‘the most important thing in mage attacks is to keep your distance from your target.’ Look, he’s leading someone forward!"

As expected, the crooked-hat, cane-wielding Professor Kat led a student to the front of the queue and stepped back to a further spot himself. The student received his signal and seemed to start chanting a spell, but unfortunately, before the chant could finish, Kat slowly approached and stunned the student with his cane.

Virgil burst into laughter, "He plays this trick on students every year in the combat class and he still hasn’t gotten bored."

Sylas pondered, and Virgil said softly, "You know all of this, don’t you? Fighting is your instinct. The first time you saw me, you already knew to keep your distance from me."

Sylas frowned and tried to remember. She slowly said, "Because you and the… caretaker, you… you are in danger. But the hunter is far away, and I have to… keep bothering you."

Virgil clapped his hands and said, "Yes! Exactly! I knew you have the instinct to fight! Alright, good kid, when dealing with close combat professions, make them stay away, and when dealing with hunters, don’t let them have energy to aim."

"Then, how should mages fight each other?"

Virgil said, very puzzled, "This should be something you can answer! How did you fight against the terrifying archmage standing at the peak of the elements?"

Sylas remembered her battle with the archmage from a distance. "…Snatch time? Snatch…"

Virgil nodded with great satisfaction, "Snatch time, seize initiative, make the opponent shut up. These are the most important things between mages."

Sylas nodded silently, recalling a time when she had a quarrel with Xerath and directly threw a Silence Spell at her. And when the archmage refused her embrace, he used a small tornado as well.

Virgil continued, "So the children below are still dealing with proficiency and chant time. You must have already overcome those problems, right?"

"I don’t think I have…" She squinted her eyes to see clearly what the people far away were doing. Going back and forth, muttering words, but it seemed like it didn’t have much effect.

"Don’t mind them, they’re practicing the Silence Spell, nothing interesting to watch. Come on, I’ll teach you something fun." Virgil took her hand and walked towards the rooftop behind them.

"What’s fun?"

"Practicing aim!"

"？"

People won’t always stand still for you to hit, so you need to practice aiming. Even with the ‘Wind’ element, it can’t fully track your enemies because it easily gets disrupted by air currents. Wind spells require less aim, but earth spells are the opposite. Wind tends to be attracted to moving bodies or objects, giving it a ‘tracking’ effect.

"Hmm… with what?"

"Use the ‘Ice Dart’!"

"The ‘Ice Dart’?"

"Frigid Finger." Virgil confidently made a strange gesture with one hand, closing two fingers together, squinting his eyes as if aiming. He chanted, "’Icy Splash’!"

A mixture of ice and water appeared trembling in front of his fingertips, then flew out from there and hit the thick wall of the lookout tower, leaving behind a round explosion and some ice debris.

"This is it. Did you observe its path just now?"