Chapter 189: Progress

Rufus now has better living conditions.

He would have to move to a higher residential floor with a larger space and better facilities…

He also made arrangements to recruit a servant. Needless to say, it is for Ruthren to stay beside his master.

It took Rufus his whole day to finish moving and arranging papers for the previous bandit. Although that was quite some time, he managed to get all the permissions he needed and acquire a gray robe for his servant.

The man can now enter the Arcanist Tower and be hidden from the eyes of Renzo and Karen's spies that may still be lurking around the area.

"Master… When will we start our training? I can now use a small room where I can conduct my experiments or studies… I think that it has enough space to practice the sword."

"Well, we can start tomorrow… You are invited by your friends to celebrate, right? Join them for now… You need to have a break."

"Ahh… You're right, Master… I'll do that… How about the deal that we've made? Can you tell me now what kind of request you wanted me to help you with?"

"Mhmm… I could tell you now but I think I might change the request in a few days… Hold it for now. In the meantime, you have to learn the way of the sword first thing tomorrow."

Reiji answered. After all, he was thinking that participating with Odette and Yui's request might complete his mission... If that was the case, he would have to change the request he's planning to give to Rufus...

'I might be able to complete both missions without Rufus's help, huh...' Reiji mused.

The other mission that he completed after participating in the Evaluation was the blood of a very strong Spiritual Energy Practitioner…

He managed to complete this mission after he took some blood out of Sven's body before… He didn't miss that chance since the Guide is no longer accepting blood from a 4th Class or even 3rd Class Arcanists since he already took quite a lot from them from the past two years.

That is also the reason why he managed to buy a lot of skills, like the Sword Slave Marker and Sword Intent.

***

Ruthren arrived at the Arcanist Tower after being informed by his master. He brought all the treasures with him together with the six horses who were carrying all of them…

Unfortunately, Rufus didn't make arrangements for the horses so they have to leave after delivering the items…

In the end, Reiji decided to sell the four horses for now and have the other two brought to a stable outside the tower… Rufus just has to pay someone to take care of them.

Apparently, it was quite complicated to have a mode of transportation being kept inside the tower…

'Did you inform Felix and others?'

'Yes, Master. He told me that we should be careful inside the Tower. He said that the Mind Collection has several places they needed to avoid within this city… and the Arcanist Tower is at top of the list…'

'Is that so? Right, you said you know their base, right?'

'That's correct, Master Reiji.'

'Very well, we'll visit them in a couple of days… or maybe later…'

Reiji was a bit curious since it is the Mind Collection… An organization led by several Blessed Arcana.

There must be something more within this tower.

After all, he knows that the leaders of the Collection were connected and with open communication with top leaders of the Arcanist Association.

It has also been a while since he separated from his fellow Sentient Arcana. They should catch up for a bit before focusing on Rufus's training. 

Time quickly passed as Reiji's student celebrated with the four other new red-robed members of this tower…

It is very important not to forget his friends around him and maintain his close contact with them. 

Reiji didn't want any of his students to end up like him who only knows how to wield his sword. 

Clink!

Rufus entered his room and found his master lying on a chair. 

'Master… Is everything alright?'

'Yes. How was the celebration? I don't think that you guys drank alcohol, right?'

'We didn't! Lexi only brought a wine… Right, they keep asking me about the skill that my weapon received from the pond.'

'Oh… What did you say?'

'I just said a random skill since I forgot to ask you. I told them it's Sword Float skill… It will make my weapon capable of flying—I said.'

'Haha… Not bad. That's a good choice… Ahh… Is there really a skill like that?' Reiji inquired. He knows a little about the Arcane Magic or skills from a different Arcana. 

Now that Rufus is here who seems to be an expert in these things, he might as well learn all about the skills of other weapons… 

'There should be a skill called Psychic, Energy Propulsion, and Gyroscope that would allow their weapons to float… But only a few Unique-Rank has them… As for the Epic, they would normally receive such skill after being Awakened…'

'Oh? That's good to know. This is the first time I've heard of this…'

Reiji was then reminded of the Epic-Rank Laguna Sword from the Silver Swordsman before…

He remembered that it doesn't have such skill when he appraised it. 

'Right, since the wielder has perished, the Awakened Skills were also removed…' Reiji recalled what he heard before.

The two then talked about the training they needed to do and made a schedule for it…

For the next two days, they will only do a single training… The Hanging Woods… 

After that, they will have to go out and visit the Mind Collection's base… 

Anyway, Yui and Odette should be able to wait for him.

Rufus immediately fell asleep after he lied on his bed…

Although the spacious room doesn't have a window, fresh air still comes in from the ventilator… It may even be Arcane Magic working for the room's freshness…

In the meantime, Reiji rested on the couch as he started thinking about what happened before…

Although he didn't show it, he was quite shaken upon their first meeting with the Administrator…

That's right, the Administrator or the Chalice is a Sentient Arcana!

He was sure of it!

However, for some reason, the five young ones thought that the Chalice was just a medium being used by the real administrator to speak with them…

None of them thought that that thing was the true administrator of the Tower!

Reiji was quite baffled and thought that perhaps, the Sentient Arcana used some kind of enchantment to make them think like that.

It can be the truth considering Sentient Arcana have various abilities that would make them unique. If the Chalice was also a blessed Arcana, then it's even more convincing…

Then, Ruthren informed him that Felix discovered that the Mind Collection was actually wary of this Tower… 

'Is it perhaps related? The reason why the Tower was at the top of their unwanted list was because of its existence?'

Reiji could only guess…

After all, if that Chalice was a member of the Mind Collection, then they should consider this place as an extension of their base…

However, since it was the opposite, Chalice might be in an organization against the Collection or the worst thing is that it is one of the Cursed Arcana…

Reiji can only pray that that is not the case.

After all, it means that taking the Cursed Mask might be more difficult than they initially thought.

***

Just outside Cardelle City, a group of six armored individuals was observing the beauty of the Arcanist Tower…

Three of them had only seen this tower for the first time so they were quite shocked seeing such a tall structure…

It must've been difficult to construct such a building without any Arcane Magic being used.

"Do not be too surprised, although that building looks magnificent, the Arcanists living there are all weak…" The leader of the group said. 

The three young members of the team don't know whether he was joking or not. But it was probably safe to say that they have to be wary as long as they are fighting against an Arcanist… 

"Weak? Then why are we sent here?" One of the three asked curiously.

"Well, the top officials wanted us to test their elites… I heard that one of them has a new type of Arcana, it's called a gun or something… They wanted us to gather information as much as we can…"

"That's right… You three are the elites that we've selected to test them and have a friendly duel. Keep in mind that our Knights Order's reputation is on the line…"

The three young members suddenly felt burdened after hearing this. 

Before coming here, they were only told that they will have a training partner in this city to further improve their abilities. However, it suddenly changed to duel for the sake of their Order's reputation! Is it really a friendly duel?

"Haa~ Please, don't expect too much, I just summoned my Arcana three weeks ago"

A young boy, around 12 or 13 years old, said as he smiled wryly at their leader.

They are already here so they just have to accept their fate…