The black sun hangs high

Chapter 290 Different paths lead to the same destination

"Go to Saint Steel? At a time like this?"

Before Hugh could answer Darthwell, Verin, who was standing to the side, expressed her doubts first. She stared at Darthwell and asked, "Mr. Darthwell, you know very well that your hometown is probably one of the most dangerous places in Vaan right now."

"Yes, I know very well."

Faced with Veraine's questioning, Darthwell remained unusually calm, his face showing no shame or hesitation whatsoever.

Seeing Darthwell's expression, Vera's gaze also darkened. She said very seriously, "The two of us have already been put on the Black Sun Society's watch list, and Mr. Hugh is one of the Black Sun Society's important targets. Once he makes a public appearance, the Black Sun Society will do everything in its power to capture him."

"Yes, I know about these things too."

Seeing that Darthwell still maintained this attitude, Vera's eyebrows shot up.

Hugh was very familiar with this change. He knew it was a sign that Veraine was getting angry and preparing to argue seriously with someone. So he quickly raised his hand and pressed on Veraine's forearm, then interrupted, asking, "Since Mr. Darthwell is aware of these circumstances, then I suppose what you want us to do is not a simple task, is it?"

Darthwell nodded slightly.

He picked up a pen from the table and tapped it quickly on the map: "Since the appearance of the Black Sun, the activities of the Black Sun Society have become extremely frequent. They have their own methods to quickly turn people into their followers and gradually expand the influence of those bizarre beliefs."

Darthwell sighed: "Without a doubt, Vaan is in the midst of a dramatic change. The rise of the Black Sun is just the beginning of this change. If we allow the Black Sun Society to develop its followers at this stage, how many people will choose to continue to resist when the subsequent cruel trials begin?"

Hughes looked up at the map, then narrowed his eyes: "So, Mr. Darthwell, you hope to stop this spread of faith as soon as possible?"

“Yes, even if we can’t completely cut off the spread of those bizarre beliefs, we must at least figure out the patterns behind these behaviors and the possible consequences they may bring… If we really know nothing, the tragedy of Seren will continue to unfold endlessly.”

"I understand what you're saying."

Hugh turned his gaze to Darthville's face, which was not handsome, and even somewhat ugly: "But I still want to ask, why did this task fall to me and Miss Vereen?"

"That's a question for the mages of Merlinle."

"The Legislative Affairs Commission?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Lin's expression finally changed, and she asked in surprise, "What does this have to do with the Legislative Affairs Commission?"

“Just in the early hours of the morning, we received a cryptic communication from Merlinle and… This letter was sent by Venerable Vekka from the Public Affairs Office. He is representing the entire Dharma Committee and inviting the two of you to Merlinle and to participate in an important gathering.”

As he spoke, Daswell pulled out a brand-new letter from the side and handed it to Hugh: "It seems that the Legal Committee has made some progress and breakthroughs in the Black Sun and the disaster in the rugged hills. They have drawn some judgments and conclusions from it and believe that you are the key to solving certain problems."

"This letter serves as an invitation, and I will pass it on to you both here. However, we still have much to discuss regarding the trip to Merlinle and the meeting with Saint-St...."

……

After the meeting ended, Hugh finally got a precious rest.

And he finally had the chance to take a good look at Vaan under the black sun.

The shadow overhead continued to grow slowly and steadily, and when Hugh tried to look up at it, he could clearly feel the sluggishness of his thinking and the turmoil of the magic within his body.

He wanted to observe the sky further, but Veraine stopped him.

“I know you’re special, but you’d better be careful in this regard.”

Hughes heeded Verin's advice, and his gaze naturally fell on the face of the female mage beside him.

After not seeing her for a while, my "teacher" had become a bit thinner. She had probably finally relaxed after a long period of hard work. Her eyebrows and eyes had become somewhat lazy, and the coldness that always lingered on her face had faded considerably.

This makes her seem very real.

For a fleeting moment, Hugh recalled the warm and soft embrace he had touched after escaping the city of Seren. He wondered if it was just his imagination, but unfortunately, he didn't have the courage to confirm it further.

Then Hugh laughed and said, "Thank goodness, at least I didn't sleep for seven days this time."

"He slept for three and a half days, which is an improvement."

As Vera walked and talked, she didn't forget to look through the magical letter from Merlinle in her hand: "But it makes no difference to me. You were like that last time too, like a corpse."

"cough."

Hughes coughed softly.

The two have now left the port and arrived in a nearby town.

The coastal towns of this Duchy of Burt were not significantly different from other port towns. The air was always filled with the distinctive smells of seafood, oil, and other marine products. Verin was not used to these smells, so she cleverly used magic to block out her sense of smell.

Hughes adapted to this environment very quickly.

He was even able to find fragments related to this place from his "vast" memory, so soon, Hugh found a small shop selling dried fish and skillfully selected several kinds of dried fish slices marinated with spices and seasonings from the shopkeeper, and divided them into two portions in paper wrappers.

And so, the two strolled slowly toward the town center. Hugh noticed that although Verine didn't seem to like the smells of the harbor town, she was quite fond of snacks like dried fish. She especially loved a kind of small silver fish sprinkled with sugar crumbs; every time the mage's hand flashed, a small fish would disappear from her mouth.

This posture reminds Hughes of a cat, except that Veraine is clearly more elegant than a cat; she doesn't even let crumbs of dried fish get on her lips and fingers.

Hugh found it quite amusing, so he took another opportunity to slip the paper packet he was holding into the bag, and soon both portions of dried fish disappeared completely.

Dried fish is just a snack after all, so the two eventually went into a tavern that looked fairly clean and tidy. The bartender who was in charge of serving customers was a girl with some freckles on her face. The fact that Hugh and the other two were mages made her a little nervous. After taking their order, the girl timidly hid in the distance—the aura of the young female mage made her feel quite afraid.

Hughes unfolded a newspaper he had bought on the way and said with a smile, "You seem to have scared that girl."

"But I didn't do anything."

Vera looked carefully at the water glass in front of her, and after confirming that there were no impurities in it, she slowly picked it up: "And what she's afraid of isn't me, but the clothes I'm wearing."

In fact, this was not the first time the two had been alone together.

Even before the war broke out, when the two were still in Borden, they had dined out together on many occasions and stayed in the study until late at night to study and discuss certain issues.

Their conversations always revolved around magic, the Black Sun Society, and the lost gods.

But this time, things seemed different. After a few casual words, Vera fell silent. She stared at her water glass for a while before finally speaking, "Your progress in magic... seems to be very rapid."

Vera raised her head, her gaze behind her glasses landing directly on Hugh's face: "Your magical power level should have already broken through the original limits, right?"

"um, yes."

Hughes didn't try to hide it. He slowly raised his palm, channeling his magic power. A small but extremely concentrated ray of magical light appeared at his fingertips: "I was already close to this state when I was fighting those monsters in Seren, and they changed further when I finally tried to escape Seren..."

Vera tilted her head and stared intently at the leaf-like emerald green light between Hugh's fingers for two seconds. Then she suddenly reached out and gently pinched Hugh's index finger.

She examined the ray of light carefully, as if she were observing something new and interesting.

This continued until the waiter in the tavern brought their food to the table.

At the timid young bartender's soft question, Vera quickly released her hand and leaned back, making room on the table.

The steaming hot ordinary dishes and chilled drinks were placed down steadily. The girl then looked curiously at the two strange mages before nimbly escaping again.

Vera picked up the iced drink in front of her and took two quick sips. Perhaps because of the unusual taste, she couldn't help but frown.

After setting down her cup, she looked at her "student" in front of her, a rare smile appearing on her face: "Good news. Although you didn't go through the proper procedures, judging from the results, you have indeed completely transcended the scope of a Stream-level mage."

"This means that from today onwards, you can officially become a Lake-level or Valley-level mage."

Hughes was not particularly surprised by Vera's congratulations. He had already noticed the changes in his mental world when he left the dream and woke up.

Perhaps it was because he obtained a sufficient amount of Dark Abyss Essence through unrestricted hunting during his last few days in Seren, or perhaps it was because the final inferno that burned the city kept his magic at its limit for an extended period of time...

In short, at the end of that ordeal, his magical state finally achieved a complete breakthrough.

The original dark green crystal, after transforming into the "magical heart" of the Walking Forest, shattered completely under that extreme condition. Therefore, there are no longer any inlays in the center of Hugh's metal disc, but above it, a dense cloud of emerald green magic power always floats.

Countless magical lines extended from within the dense cloud of mist towards various areas of the disc, and under its influence, all the metal lines and detailed patterns on the disc were displayed in the most perfect and exquisite way.

Unfortunately, Hughes has not yet had the chance to further examine the specific benefits this breakthrough has brought him.

Hugh smiled back, picked up his glass, and raised it to Verine: "Without you, Miss Verine, such a competent teacher, I probably wouldn't have made the progress I have today, and I might have become a sacrifice and tool for those guys much earlier... As your student, I also want to thank you."

Vera paused for a moment, her face seemed to flush slightly, but she still raised her glass and gently touched it to her cheek.

She then said, "Next, you should further clarify your direction for magical development. Generally speaking, after a mage's magical accumulation successfully crosses the Stream level, they need to make a decision as soon as possible, because the habits of casting spells and learning will have a very profound and long-term impact on the mage's own magical state."

"In other words, I have to choose between accumulating magic power and spellcasting skills?"

Hughes frowned slightly: "Can't we do both directions in parallel?"

Verin had clearly anticipated that Hugh would ask this question, so she replied, "The reason why spellcasters' magic levels are named after concepts such as streams, lakes, and oceans is that no matter what stage the spellcasters are at, their ultimate goal is the same."

As she spoke, Vera tapped the water glass in front of her lightly, and a little water floated out under the influence of magic and fell onto the table. Under her guidance, the water began to flow slowly on the table, forming a stream and a puddle.

"The deep sea is the ultimate goal of all spellcasters, and the term 'ocean' can be simply understood as the magical power accumulated within us and all the magical knowledge we possess."

"A Valley-level mage can advance step by step in the magical realm by constantly refining their spellcasting skills and learning more ways to use magic... just like a river rushing forward and reaching the sea."

“But scholars at the lake level are different. They are more adept at accumulating knowledge and magic. As more and more water flows into the lake, it will eventually grow into a new ocean.”

As Verine spoke, the two puddles of water on the table merged together: "Once they successfully reach the Deep Sea level, spellcasters will use their past choices and biases as a basis to complete themselves... The two paths lead to the same goal."

(End of this chapter)