The black sun hangs high

Chapter 295 Under the Dock
Hughes is currently maintaining a secrecy strategy regarding the existence of "Justina".

He did not want such a special case to come into the public eye, and he was even less willing to attract the attention of the Legal Committee, the Council, or the Black Sun Society. The former two need no further explanation; these orthodox mages who worshipped the goddess Mel were destined not to allow such an extreme case to be publicized and would insist on treating it as an important experimental sample.

As for the members of the Black Sun Society, all their actions revolve around the blessing of the ancient deity. In their eyes, "Justina" is destined to have extremely high value and significance.

For Hugh himself, the feeling of "raising" such a special life was also very subtle.

"Justina" is completely different from the ancient creations he obtained in the Dream Sanctuary. Because of Hugh's interference, the relationship between the two has far exceeded the ordinary "master-servant" relationship.

Looking at the shadowy figure in front of him that was constantly drawing magic power from the magic crystal, Hugh shook his head helplessly.

There were moments when he even felt like he was feeding an ordinary magical pet.

Hughes stretched out his finger and gently poked at the slowly trembling shadow: "Tsk, could you change your appearance a little? If you could turn into a cat, a mouse, or something else, I might actually take you out for a walk."

Upon hearing these words, Justina stopped eating. She gently twisted her body twice, and a slight emotional fluctuation was transmitted through the magical connection between them—she was not satisfied that Hugh treated her as an ordinary "pet".

Dissatisfaction aside.

After a brief complaint, Hugh saw the semi-transparent shadow in front of him begin to slowly change. Its originally soft, amorphous outline began to twist at a slow rate, and the overflowing dark abyss mist contracted inward, gradually forming a clear and distinct boundary.

As if exerting force, "Justina" began to tremble violently. Then, Hughes was surprised to see that two small triangles "jumped" out from the top of this round, translucent liquid mass.

It looks like a poor imitation of a cat's ears.

For "Justine" now, such a definite change was obviously too exhausting. It couldn't maintain it for long, and the two small triangles used to imitate cat ears eventually failed to adjust properly. As its energy was exhausted, the swollen clumps of liquid went limp again, and the triangles that had been supported with great effort returned to its body limply.

This scene made Hughes burst out laughing.

If he hadn't witnessed Justina confronting the massive Dark Abyss offspring race head-on in the city of Seren, he certainly wouldn't have believed that this frail yet intriguing magical creation before him was a terrifying being with no limit to its growth.

A slight emotional fluctuation was felt again.

Clearly, Justina was quite displeased with Hugh's laughter. She twisted her body, wrapped it around the two magic crystals, and then slowly crawled toward the kettle—this would be her temporary home until she was fully recovered.

Hughes smiled as he watched the tiny shadow disappear into the kettle. Then he took out two smaller magic crystals and stuffed them into the kettle as well. These four crystals were enough for Justina to digest for several days. She was far too fragile right now. Let alone normal growth and eating, even the slightest violent magical fluctuation could wipe her off the face of the earth.

In present-day Vaan, probably only a very few people, including Hugh, know that a one-armed female scholar played a significant role in the disaster in Seren.

Fortunately, the will of Justina doesn't seem to care much about such things right now.

Or perhaps she is trying to adapt to her new situation and identity, and is full of curiosity about this new era after the Black Sun descends?

Hugh put the kettle back in its place and then applied several layers of protective rituals to it. But that wasn't all; he summoned a cluster of Fate Roots and used a miniature magical illusion to completely protect the kettle.

With his current magical power, Hugh was fully confident that he could use these illusions to deceive a true deep-sea magic master.

After finishing these matters, Hugh intended to return to his desk to continue working on his own tasks, but just then, there was a knock on the door outside the cabin. He quickly went over and opened the door.

Standing at the door was Weilin, whom she had only parted ways with not long ago. She had changed her clothes, and her hair was still slightly damp, probably because she had just taken a shower.

A gentle breeze wafted by, carrying a refreshing aromatherapy scent to Hugh's nose.

"The professor said you were busy before?"

Hughes focused his attention and replied, "Yes, there were some letters from the refugees, and I replied to some of them briefly."

Vera nodded, then took a step to the side: "If you're free now, come with me. The sailors at the dock have just made some new discoveries, and we need to go take a look."

"What discovery?"

"It is said that some of the baits set up along the coast were disturbed, causing quite a commotion. The soldiers dared not make any rash moves, so they had no choice but to come to the sorcerer."

Upon hearing this, Hugh immediately returned indoors, quickly put on a trench coat, grabbed his cane and revolver, and then followed Vera toward the dock.

Veraine's gaze swept over Hugh's waist, then she wrinkled her nose: "Didn't you bring your spellbook?"

"I haven't had time to imprint the magic on it yet, the pages are all blank, so there's no point in bringing it along."

Hugh shook his head: "This time, I plan to imprint some practical valley-level magic inside, which will probably take quite a while."

"Yes, remember to come to me if you encounter any problems you can't solve."

Weilin responded very naturally. Perhaps because her hair wasn't completely dry, she shook her head and casually tied up her hair, which had grown back during this time.

Because of what Hugh and his companion discovered during the day, the personnel management inside the dock has been rearranged. The number of sentries and patrols has visibly increased. In a few more sensitive locations, the Dawn Division has even deployed some heavy firepower—new weapons modeled after Walter's Karlvan heavy machine gun. They differ slightly in structure and are somewhat crudely made, but they are sufficient for short-term use. "Good evening, Writer!"

"Good evening, Ms. Ernst!"

The Dawn Soldiers were very friendly to Hugh and his companion, but their attitudes towards the two of them differed somewhat.

They were often not too serious in front of Hugh, and might even wink at him or greet him jokingly. This did not mean that the soldiers disrespected Hugh, but rather that in their hearts, a certain aspect of Hugh's identity was so impressive that they felt closer to the young writer.

Violet, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

Although she was essentially a young and beautiful girl, everyone knew that Miss Verine was the complete opposite of Sally, who always followed Professor Meyer to learn. Despite their close relationship, no one dared to approach Verine in the same way they talked to Sally.

Hugh nodded to the Dawn Soldiers in response, then looked at Vera curiously and asked, "They seem quite afraid of you. What did you do before?"

Vera frowned, thought about it seriously for a moment, and then said somewhat uncertainly, "I don't recall ever having any conflict with members or soldiers of the Dawn Society... The only time I publicly cast a spell after arriving at the port was only to help repair the statue of the goddess Mel."

"Okay, maybe it's just because they're afraid of mages and magic?"

"maybe."

Veraine never cared much about such things; her attention was always focused on the matters she was about to deal with. After ending the conversation, she immediately took out a processed bird skull from her pocket.

Unlike the raven skull that Veraine had used before, the bird skull she retrieved this time was more elongated, and its beak appeared sharper—it was a seagull skull.

As she tossed the skull into the air, icy blue magical light and shadow immediately began to weave.

A moment later, a "sharp-billed white gull" commonly seen along the coast of the Duchy of Burt appeared in the air. It was obviously larger than the average sharp-billed white gull and more agile. When it flapped its wings, Hugh could see specks of magical light emanating from its feathers.

The bird had barely appeared when it began to soar and patrol the sea near the port.

The two hurried toward the other end of the dock, the very spot where the Dawn Squad sailors had discovered the anomaly.

This area was originally allocated to the local fisheries association, specifically for mooring large fishing vessels engaged in deep-sea crab fishing. However, due to the previous naval battle between the Duchy of Burt and the Kingdom of Hein, these fishing vessels have all been moved to other ports, so this area is now being handled by the Dawn Society.

As a sea breeze blew in, Hugh immediately smelled a pungent odor.

It wasn't the smell of alchemical elixirs and ship paint, but rather an unpleasant odor, similar to the smell of rotting animal carcasses.

As the two approached their destination, they saw the crowd gathered beside the small pier.

The number of people gathered was not small. The vast majority were sailors who had finished their shifts and were resting. Among them were also many craftsmen from the Dawn Company who worked near the dock and local fishermen.

"It stinks, it stinks... Damn it, what on earth did I catch?"

"It's been struggling for so long, how come it's still so strong? Soldiers, should I go get you a harpoon, or should you just send it to eat its own bullet?"

"There are fewer and fewer fish lately, maybe it's related to this thing, maybe it's some kind of rare magical monster... Judging from the commotion, it must be quite big, who knows what it is!"

Before even getting close to the crowd, Hugh had already heard many scattered discussions, and his arrival with Verine naturally attracted the attention of some people, so soon shouts came from the edge of the crowd.

"The monks are here! Make way! The monks are here!"

Thanks to the people's instinctive respect for the spellcaster, the crowd that had gathered together quickly dispersed. At Hugh's signal, the soldiers who had been watching the situation on the dock also returned to their posts, separating the onlookers and making them retreat to a certain distance.

On that small wooden dock, several strong Dawn Squad sailors were struggling against a huge fishing net.

That was no ordinary fishing net, but a large net specially designed to catch certain aquatic giants. This net was woven from special materials and soaked in special alchemical potions for a long time. Not to mention large fish, even magical beasts lurking in the swamp could not easily destroy it.

At that moment, Hugh saw that the end of the large net was sinking in the water. It was clearly trapping something, and that thing was struggling and trying to escape into the deeper water.

The white gull summoned by Virin also arrived above the dock. It began to glide in circles on the water while constantly emitting warning screechs.

The creatures underwater seemed quite sensitive to the cries of the white gull. As the gull approached the surface, its struggles intensified, prompting the sailors on the dock to curse loudly. The sailor responsible for securing the fishing nets issued a warning, noticing that the pins used to hold the nets in place were about to break.

But at that moment, the force pulling the fishing net suddenly weakened considerably. Before the sailors could even smile, a shadow suddenly broke through the water near the dock, and people gasped in surprise under the lights.

They saw a strangely shaped "fish" leap out of the water. In terms of length alone, it was comparable to the "big fish" that fishermen boasted about. However, this big fish clearly had something different about its body.

Hugh had already arrived at the dock, and the moment the water broke through, thick Dark Abyss Mist overflowed from his eye sockets.

He then clearly saw that the scales on this enormous creature were almost gone, replaced by numerous lumps and tissues growing from its body. Some of these lumps were clearly showing signs of developing into limbs and organs.

(End of this chapter)