This realization made him tuck all his tentacles away, not even daring to let the hem of his robe rustle.
He was a Third-Tier Wizard Apprentice; in front of a First-Tier Wizard, he was no different from an ant.
A single thought from the other party could reduce him to ashes, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
Thus, he stood with impeccable posture, bowing his head, lowering his hands, and pressing his tentacles flat against the floor. His posture was even lowlier than when he had faced Blood Bone Tower's reception messenger all those years ago.
Ethan stepped out of the teleportation array. His footsteps echoed through the cavernous hall.
Gal's body stiffened slightly. The tiny suction cups at the tips of his tentacles tightened in unison.
Seeing Gal's hyper-vigilant stance, Ethan's lips curled upward.
“Yo, Gal. It's been ten years. How have you been?”
Gal's body froze instantly.
It was not the rigidity of fear, but rather the momentary brain freeze that occurred when hearing an incredibly familiar voice that absolutely did not belong in the current setting.
At that exact instant, his tentacles went completely rigid. The suction cups at the tips popped off the stone floor, suspending motionless in midair.
This voice.
It was far too familiar.
Ten years ago, he had been guarding this tower when he sent off the only person with Grade Five Aptitude in the history of the Thorn Empire.
The youth who had emerged from the Chaotic Labyrinth in just seventy-seven breaths, the monster with an innate mental power of ninety-eight.
The boy who had earned him a reward of one thousand magic stones, finally giving him hope to break through to an Official Wizard—Ethan Leo.
But...
It was impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
That youth had only been gone for ten years.
To climb from a Third-Tier Apprentice to an Official Wizard in ten years... let alone seeing it, he had never even heard of such a thing.
No matter how monstrous a Grade Five Aptitude was, ten years should have been barely enough to touch the threshold of a Third-Tier Apprentice.
Seeing his brain failing to process the situation, Ethan raised his right hand and gently tapped the air with his index finger.
Mana surged from his mental crystal, channeling through his fingertip and diffusing into a gentle force.
The force landed on Gal's shoulders, gently lifting him upward.
Gal felt a gentle yet utterly irresistible power support his body, pulling him up from his deep bow.
He instinctively tried to resist, but the moment his tentacles twitched, they were suppressed by that very same force.
His hood slid back with the movement, revealing his dark brown, wrinkled face.
His cloudy eyes darted around and finally locked onto Ethan's face.
Then, both of his eyes suddenly widened.
Gal had clearly recognized Ethan's face.
“Hahaha! Master Gal, it's only been ten years. Have you already forgotten me, Ethan Leo?”
With a soft thud, all of Gal's tentacles went limp and dropped to the floor.
He saw it clearly now.
He saw exactly who was standing before him!
Ethan Leo!
The only son of Marquis Leo of the Thorn Empire!
The youth he had personally tested ten years ago!
Grade Five Aptitude!
An innate mental power of ninety-eight!
The kid who had been taken away by Blood Bone Tower Academy!
The boy who had earned him a reward of one thousand magic stones, allowing him to gather enough materials for three attempts at refining the Light of Enlightenment recipe, giving him one last shot at breaking through to an Official Wizard!
And then?
Then, he had still failed.
The third attempt had been a failure as well. The materials purchased with those one thousand magic stones had exploded into a pile of useless dross inside his alchemy furnace.
The last opportunity in his life to break through to an Official Wizard was gone just like that.
Yet now, that very same youth stood before him as an Official Wizard, forcing him upright with a casual tap of his finger.
“You...” Gal's voice was so raspy it was barely audible. “You've advanced?”
“Yes.” Ethan withdrew his finger, his gaze sweeping over Gal. “You seem to be in good spirits, Master Gal.”
Gal's lips trembled several times.
His tentacles mindlessly scraped against the floor, leaving faint streaks on the black stone slabs.
In good spirits?
He had not lived well at all these past ten years.
All three attempts to refine the Light of Enlightenment had failed. The magic stones he had accumulated over decades were completely spent, and his hope of ever becoming an Official Wizard was thoroughly shattered.
He had merely guarded this tower, drinking tea, zoning out, and waiting to die day after day.
But none of that mattered anymore.
A youth he had personally tested, a boy who was still a mortal ten years ago, had now become an Official Wizard, standing right in front of him in the flesh.
“Lord Ethan,” Gal said, his voice carrying an indescribable wave of emotion. “You have returned.”
Looking at Gal's state, the words Ethan had intended to say suddenly got stuck in his throat.
He remembered standing in this very tower ten years ago, when Gal had been holding a teacup with his tentacles, looking utterly lazy.
Back then, though Gal could not be described as high-spirited, he at least possessed a spark of life.
But now...
“You... Sigh.”
Ethan sighed, brushing his finger against his storage ring. Ten crystal vials appeared in his palm, filled with a pale green liquid that emitted a faint luminescence in the dim light of the tower.
These were all Spirit-Refreshing Potions he had refined in his spare time, their quality polished to the absolute limit of his current capabilities.
Supported by his Wizard's Hand, the crystal vials floated over to Gal.
“Take these Spirit-Refreshing Potions,” Ethan said. “I no longer have any use for them.”
Gal's tentacles trembled violently.
He looked up at the ten crystal vials, the pale green luminescence reflecting in his cloudy eyes.
Spirit-Refreshing Potions—and of the highest quality, at that.
A single potion of this quality was worth at least ten magic stones; ten of them meant one hundred magic stones.
He instinctively did the math in his head, calculating it three times before finally realizing that the Official Wizard standing before him did not care about such a small sum at all.
“My Lord, this is far too valuable,” Gal rasped.
Ethan waved his hand and turned to walk out of the tower.
He did not look back at Gal, nor did he offer any words of encouragement.
There were some paths that others simply could not help with.
...
Stepping out of the Wizard Tower, the streets of the Imperial City stretched out before him in the gathering dusk.
Ethan walked along the stone path, completely concealing his aura so that he looked like an ordinary young man.
A few ragged beggars crouched by the roadside. Seeing him pass, they merely raised their heads listlessly before looking back down.
Most of the shops lining both sides of the street were closed.
Even the ones that remained open had barely any customers, their clerks dozing off on the counters.
He remembered that ten years ago, there were at least a dozen bakeries on this street, the rich aroma of freshly baked bread wafting from one end to the other.
Now, only two remained, the paint on their signboards completely peeled away.
Turning a corner, he saw a gaunt, emaciated woman sitting against the base of a wall, cradling a child.
A broken bowl sat before her, completely empty.
The child in her arms looked to be about three or four years old, face buried in the woman's chest. It was impossible to tell if the child was asleep or simply too starved to cry.
Ethan stopped in his tracks, fished out a dozen copper coins and two slices of honey-glazed white bread from his ring, and bent down to place them in the broken bowl.
The woman abruptly looked up, her dry, cracked lips trembling for a long moment before she managed to squeeze out, “Thank you, milord. Thank you, milord.”
Ethan continued on his way.
Money and bread were utterly useless to him, but they were enough to keep this mother and child alive for a few days.
He was no saint; he had simply seen them and casually tossed some coins.
Just a casual gesture.
As for giving gold coins?
If Ethan had given them gold, the mother and child would likely have ended up as corpses in the street in less than half a minute.
Rate on N.U.
