"You remember Pearney, don't you?" the little green winged snake asked without waiting for his reply.
Ivan nodded slightly, feeling an ominous premonition stirring in his heart.
"She had been in contact with others through the Secret Method Seal. Could it be you?"
The following words confirmed Ivan's guess; his movements had indeed been noticed. No wonder he hadn't been able to contact Pearney in the past few days.
In a rush, he explained, "Lahr, after you captured Pearney and brought her back, I accidentally found a Secret Method Seal Bead in the dormitory and was able to contact her. I just wanted to glean some information from her. I hadn't intended to do anything else, and I didn't do anything excessive."
If he didn't clarify the situation completely, the risk of being mistaken as Billerie's accomplice would mean big trouble for him.
The little green winged snake didn't make things difficult: "I know, otherwise you wouldn't be standing here unharmed."
Relieved at its words, Ivan passed over the Secret Method Seal Bead he used for contact.
The little green winged snake declined to take it: "Keep this thing safe yourself. Pearney will come out and become your neighbor. Continue to maintain contact with her. If someone contacts you through Pearney, you can give them the Token and the password."
Ivan was stunned. Was he being turned into a spy?
Did Sorcerer Toyennes need a spy? The Curse of Demon's Resentment consisted of a primary curse and secondary curses. The secondary curse was originally part of the primary curse, and one could easily locate the secondary curse through the primary curse. Why didn't Toyennes directly seek out Billerie? Could it be that the information recorded was false?
Seeing that he remained silent, the little green winged snake emphasized its point: "Ivan, you are a smart man. You know who you should rely on and what you should do, right?"
"Right."
Ivan nodded again.
In times like these, if he were to consider others, who would consider him? No one. Just as Billerie, knowing the implications, had still attacked Toyennes, Ivan needed to live for himself.
"Very well," said the little green winged snake, pleased with his response. It arrogantly added, "You needn't worry about the safety of the castle. If they dare show themselves, next time Sorcerer Toyennes won't need to lift a finger. I will personally snap their dog heads off."
Ivan could feel the confidence in its words. It seemed Sorcerer Toyennes intended to lure people out, then capture them all in one go. Toyennes' confidence wasn't surprising, given Billerie was merely an apprentice and couldn't possibly stand up to an official sorcerer more than once or twice.
His face showed no emotion, but a torrent of thoughts whirled through his mind, hoping to find a breakthrough amid them.
"Is this a Physical Strength Potion?"
The little green winged snake spotted the potion on the table, fluttered its wings lightly in that direction, and a gust of wind carried the small glass bottle floating towards it. Its slender tongue darted in and out of the bottle, the potion swiftly diminishing, and it licked its serpent lips with relish:
"Not bad on taste, only a little worse than Sorcerer Toyennes', no, at least three to five points less."
Ivan glanced around and motioned her to talk inside his quarters, "If you don't mind, come and sit in my dorm; let's sit down and talk."
"I'll give you that much face then."
Pearney gladly agreed and after sitting down inside, she began to talk about the precautions needed for escaping.
"The Cloud Fog servants' strength is on par with that of a 2nd Class apprentice; however, their existence and the island's sorcery array are closely linked. They are controlled by runes sorcery array and cannot stray far from the island.
The most important thing to watch out for are the two puppets onboard the ship. Their combat ability is comparable to that of a formidable 3rd Class apprentice, and if we want to hijack the ship, we must first deal with the puppets.
As for the Iron Ridge Giant Turtle in the water, it's a byproduct of laboratory bloodline synthesis. It may look huge but it's actually not very smart, just hard labor. It's afraid of people wearing sorcerer robes, so with some tricks, we should be able to make it obey quietly."
In order to seize the ship and escape, Pearney had been observing for a long time and had some preparations.
However, are you sure no one is spying or eavesdropping?
Watching the green-haired young lady go on non-stop, Ivan wanted to say something but hesitated, trying several times to remind her.
When there was a pause, Ivan asked, "What's the deal with the island's runes sorcery array? I remember Sorcerer Toyennes didn't appear that long ago." The clouds and fog enveloping the entire island were likely caused by the sorcery array, which logically would have taken quite some time to set up.
"You've seen the ruins behind the castle, right? That was originally a relic. The runes sorcery array that covers the island is part of that relic. Toyennes is just a newcomer; he found the island and modified the runes sorcery array, making it his own."
"Can you defeat Lahr?"
"I might have a fighting chance."
After serious consideration, Pearney gave an uncertain answer and waved her hand, "We don't need to worry about Lahr; he'll definitely help Toyennes. We'll leave him to Billerie. What we need to do is wait for Billerie to make his move, then we'll take the opportunity to escape the castle and the island."
Ivan sighed, "In the end, we will have to act according to the situation and see if Billerie can hold up against Toyennes."
He didn't like the feeling of placing hope on others, but there was no choice when others held more power.
Hearing this, Pearney's face also fell somberly, and she reluctantly nodded.
In the talking hall, both fell into silence.
Suddenly, a dull rumbling sound came from outside, followed by screams.
The two exchanged looks and quickly walked outside.
Ivan saw Justine running towards him, the sheer panic written all over her face.