"Yes, Lord Eugene."
Seated in the place of honor, Eugene had no sooner spoken than a surge of panic replaced the fury in Herard's heart. He quickly turned his head and responded.
Then, he turned back, glaring at Colin with resentment, and once again retrieved a high-quality Magic Stone from his Storage Ring. Lifting his arm, he smirked and opened his palm in Colin's face.
Whoosh!
The sparkling Magic Stone plummeted to the ground, pulled by gravity.
'Boring.'
Yet, Colin's expression did not change in the slightest; he did not care even a little, and found the situation somewhat amusing instead.
With the aid of his Superbrain and the speed granted by his status as an Ultimate Knight, he extended his right foot with composure and lightly hooked.
Click-clack.
With perfect force and angle, the round and lustrous Magic Stone spun right into the palm of his outstretched hand.
The smile on Herard's face instantly solidified; he stood frozen in place.
Suppressed laughter from the side turned his face even redder.
"Herard, aren't you going to hand over the Magic Stone?"
Olaf had also approached by then, both to extricate him from the situation and to urge him on.
He was somewhat speechless inside; even if Colin failed to catch the Magic Stone, what of it... For a Wizard, what did it matter if they had to bend over to pick up a Magic Stone?
It didn't hurt their real interests in the slightest...
Herard snapped back to reality, gritted his teeth, turned his head away from Colin, and continued down the hall with his Storage Ring.
As for Colin, having acquired the Magic Stone, he did not further taunt Herard. Knowing when to stop, he settled down with Lillian to start their meal.
With their disturbance resolved, the atmosphere in the room gradually relaxed.
Just as Eugene had said, aside from the distribution of Magic Stone subsidies, the other purpose of the gathering was to allow the Wizards present to get to know each other.
Thus, the Wizards began to stand up, mingling and engaging in conversation.
"Lillian, Colin, don't you want to chat with everyone?" Silear, who was nearby, asked.
"No, thank you." Colin shook his head, paused, then added, "Thank you for speaking up for us just now, Lord Silear."
Partially because he disliked small talk, and partially because his main task was assisting in the Alus Association's meeting, it was unlikely he had much in common with these Wizards.
"No need." Silear flashed a polite smile, waved his hand, and then turned to look at Lillian.
But Lillian continued to ignore Silear's intentions, merely focusing on her meal...
Even though Silear had just spoken up on their behalf.
Seeing this, Colin considered saying something but eventually chose not to.
He didn't like to instruct others... Lillian was Lillian, she would behave towards Silear however she pleased.
Seeing that Lillian did not respond, Silear smiled, his facial expression remaining flawlessly polite and unaffected. He shrugged, took his glass, and stood up to socialize elsewhere.
Meanwhile, perhaps it was Eugene's words that gave Herard pause – for the rest of the time until the party ended, he did not come looking for trouble again.
As the gathering came to a close, Lillian led him outside.
"Do you want to go to your room or mine?" She turned around and asked Colin, looking up.
Colin was momentarily surprised but quickly understood and replied, "Let's go to your room, Senior. It's closer."
Lillian's room was in Area A on the third floor, not far from where they were in the central dining room, which was also on the third floor.
Lillian did not seem to find anything peculiar and nodded her head, continuing forward.
Instinctively, Colin glanced back.
Whether it was Lillian's chilly demeanor that made Silear decide against following them for the time being, or Silear was still engaged with others, Silear's figure was no longer in his field of vision.
A short while later.
Lillian's steps gradually slowed.
Colin looked up to see a grey-blue door, no different from his own room's, with white metal numbers clearly inscribed as "101."
Click.
"Come in," Lillian said as she opened the door and led the way.
Just like the grey-blue door outside, the room's interior was furnished much like his room.
"Sit."
Even in the privacy of her own room, Lillian's demeanor remained serious and solemn.
At her invitation, they sat down across a square wooden table on the grey carpet beside the bed.
Then, Lillian took out a crystal exuding a lush green from her Storage Ring.
"This was prepared for you by the instructor. Inside is the witchcraft that only core members of our Faction can study, the exclusive Magic Model of Instructor Atbolde – the Ancient Tree Heart."
"Take a look first," she said, handing it over.
Colin took the Magic Stone and held it in his hand, probing it with his spiritual power.
Lillian continued to add, "Originally, to learn this witchcraft, you would have to go through many trials. But now, our faction's numbers have dwindled..."
As Colin listened to Lillian's words, he focused intently on studying the witchcraft called Ancient Tree Heart.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and said in a solemn voice, "I thank Mentor Atbolde for his generosity."
The Ancient Tree Heart Witchcraft was an extremely rare support witchcraft that could extend one's lifespan and affinity for magic power by absorbing the essence of trees!
Although the increase was slight, it could not hide its preciousness.
Lillian smiled and asked, "Have you learned any First Rank Witchcraft?"
Colin nodded, "I've learned two, one was a reward from the Law Enforcement Team, and the other was the witchcraft I received from the School after advancing."
Lillian slowly nodded and continued to ask, "Have you inscribed a Magic Model?"
Colin was slightly taken aback and a puzzled expression appeared on his face.
Lillian glanced at him and began to explain slowly, "After advancing to an Official Wizard and opening your Spirit Sea, using witchcraft becomes much faster in one particular way—you can inscribe the Magic Model in your Spirit Sea for real instantaneous casting."
"Real instantaneous casting?" Colin was even more puzzled.
Witchcraft could achieve "instantaneous casting" once it was mastered.
He had learned this as an apprentice at the Lap School... but "real instantaneous casting"?
"The so-called real instantaneous casting," Lillian went on to explain, "is in contrast to the instantaneous casting of witchcraft that is mastered during the apprenticeship."
"The complete process of casting a witchcraft normally involves using the spirit to build a model, and then channeling magic power to contact the Magic Model, thus producing the miracle known as witchcraft."
"The main factor determining the time it takes to cast a witchcraft is the time it takes the spiritual power to build the model, and typically, if you can construct a Magic Model within two seconds, you are said to be able to 'instantaneously cast'."
Colin slowly nodded.
He naturally understood this point; however... it can be called instantaneous casting within two seconds?
He thought back to how long it took him to cast witchcraft regularly—
'The casting time of Fireball Technique with three-times Limit Breaking is about 1.6s... Arrow Shooting Skill, approximately 0.5s... and the newly acquired Summon Fire Element is still short of reaching 60/100 in progress, with the current casting speed being about 5s...'
Lillian continued saying, "During the apprenticeship, the majority of witchcraft can be mastered to the point where the time to construct a model with the spirit can be reduced to within two seconds, which appears to be 'instantaneous'."
"But as you rise in Wizard Ranks, the witchcraft will gradually become more complex."
"When you reach First Rank Wizard, especially after the mid-stage of First Rank Wizard, many witchcraft, if one starts to build the spiritual model from scratch during battle,
then due to the complexity of the witchcraft, even with mastery, it is difficult to further reduce the time to within two seconds."
Having said that, she paused and asked, "What specifically is the witchcraft given to you by the Law Enforcement Team?"
"Summon Fire Element."
Lillian nodded, "Take Summon Fire Element for example, once mastered, the casting time fluctuates between 3.8 to 5 seconds, far from the threshold of 2 seconds for instantaneous casting."
"But if you inscribe its model into the Spirit Sea, the casting time can be reduced to 1 second, or even less than 0.5 seconds."
"It's worth noting that, although the size of the Spirit Sea will grow as one's strength increases, it is ultimately limited.
This means that the number of Magic Models you can inscribe is limited."
Colin was slightly taken aback... fortunately, he didn't know how to inscribe Magic Models right now.
"There are many other things to take note of after advancing to an Official Wizard. I have organized them all for you and written them down here, take a look when you have time."
Lillian reached to brush aside the hair by her ear, took out a thin grey booklet from her Storage Ring, and stretching out her fair, slender arm, handed the booklet to Colin.
"Take it; if there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me."
Colin took the grey booklet, and it was at this moment that he suddenly noticed a round glass window in Lillian's room, much like the one in the corridor rest area where he stayed.
The airship seemed to be adjusting its direction at the moment, and a pale golden light suddenly streamed in from the window, slowly moving and sweeping across half the room, finally stopping on Lillian.
She subconsciously lifted her left hand, slightly shielding her eyes from the sunlight.
In the light, Colin could even see the faint blue veins under Lillian's porcelain skin.
Lillian was enveloped in a dreamy golden glow.
If not for the lack of pointed ears...
Otherwise, with such enchanting beauty, Colin would almost think he had seen the High-Level Elf who had vanished a long time ago.
'Indeed, she is of High-Level Elf mixed blood...' Colin silently admired in his heart and then respectfully thanked Lillian.
"Thank you, Senior Lillian."
Since joining the School, aside from Atbolde, the person who had given him the greatest help was Lillian, who now almost served as half a mentor...
'Right, a mentor...'
But almost at the same time, a new doubt arose in his heart—
'Why did Mentor Atbolde not teach me all this himself after advancing... instead, waiting until now to have Lillian tell me?'