Black Hearted Mage

The morning sun shone into the room through the window. Caesars sat on the sofa and ended his meditation for the day.

He closed his eyes and felt the elemental power around him, but soon discovered that the elemental activity here was much lower than that in the tower, and the meditation effect was unsatisfactory, not even as good as the magic power gained from meditating in the tower for half an hour.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Caesars opened his eyes and saw the door slowly open. A young maid in her early teens walked in. She was wearing an exquisite maid outfit and holding a tray.

"Master Caesars, Miss Joanna asked you to change your clothes and go to the living room downstairs!" the little maid said softly.

Kaisas looked at her with some confusion: "Huh? Why do you want to change clothes?"

The maid smiled and explained, "This is specially prepared for you by Miss Joanna. She didn't say anything else."

Caesars nodded in understanding, then took the tray and took a look at the clothes inside.

It was a small noble robe of exquisite style, which looked to be about 90% new, but the color was sky blue, which was different from the dark robe he usually wore.

In addition, the buttons on the clothes are made of brass and emit a faint glow.

Caesars picked up the robe and tried it on. He felt it was a little too big, but he didn't care. After all, he was only wearing it temporarily.

After changing his clothes, Caesars followed the maid downstairs to the living room. He saw Joanna standing by the window, admiring the scenery outside. She was wearing a red dress, the hem of her skirt fluttering in the wind, like a blooming flower.

Caesars walked into the living room and greeted Joanna.

Joanna turned around with her curvy figure and looked at him with a smile: "Caesars, you're here. This dress suits you very well!"

Caesars touched his clothes and smiled sheepishly: "Thank you, ma'am, what can I do for you?"

Joanna walked up to him, looked him over carefully, then said with a smile, "Some noblemen in heat will be here soon, and I'm going to use you as a shield!"

"Ma'am, this is inappropriate. What if your suitor challenges me to a duel?"

Joanna laughed so hard that she almost cried.

"Little guy, you're so funny. I'll let you pretend to be my son so that those horny nobles won't have that idea!"

"Ma'am, I misunderstood!"

With a slightly red face, Caesars sat on the sofa, eating sweet and crispy snacks and drinking mellow black tea without any bitterness.

"Ma'am, I'd like to ask why meditation isn't working well here?"

"There are too many people in Fire Maple City, and magical elements are scarce and chaotic, so meditation here is not very effective!"

"Then the magicians in the magic guild, don't they also have poor meditation results?"

"The Magic Guild has a dedicated meditation room with magic patterns drawn inside, which multiplies the magic elements several times. The meditation speed there is not slow, and the meditation effect is not bad. However, there are conditions for entering the meditation room to practice, and you need to consume mission points!"

Caesar nodded. He now knew the Meditation Room existed. He also learned that quest points were not only available in the North Tower, but also here. These points could be exchanged for various items, such as potions, gold coins, and magic materials.

About a quarter of an hour later, three elderly nobles approached. Caesars regarded them with a strange gaze. They must be the great magician's admirers. But to be honest, these old men were far too old; even their beards and eyebrows had turned white.

"Three Dukes, what do you want from me?"

The great magician sat upright on the sofa. When he saw the three dukes walk into the room, he just glanced at them casually and had no intention of standing up.

"Joanna, let's not beat around the bush. We came here today just to buy the land from you!" said one of the old men.

"Oh? The piece of land north of Huofeng City?" asked the great magician.

"It's the land where the stone mountain is!"

"One hundred thousand gold coins!" The great magician quoted the price without hesitation.

"Joanna, you're so bold to ask such a price! You only spent two thousand gold coins on that piece of land!"

"Don't even mention two thousand gold coins. Even if it were a single gold coin, I'd ask for a hundred thousand. There's the tomb of the great wizard from the Roman Empire era there, so it's worth that much!"

Joanna looked at the three people with a smile on her face. These three old guys were also among her many suitors in the past. It was a pity that they were all old now and needed crutches to help them walk.

The three old nobles remained silent. They stared at each other, conveying information and opinions through their eyes. After a moment's silence, they finally turned their gaze to the still youthful-looking great magician, as if to indicate that they had made a decision.

"Joanna, considering our long-standing friendship, I can promise to give you these 100,000 gold coins. Now, please take out the deed."

After saying this, the three slightly aged dukes simultaneously pulled boxes of gleaming gold coins from their storage rings. Caesars, witnessing this scene, couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion: these gold coins were simply insignificant to these three dukes. Simply for Joanna's land deed, they had unhesitatingly parted with a full hundred thousand gold coins. This lavish spending made Caesars sigh: money, to them, was merely a tool.

Joanna smiled faintly and pulled a yellowed piece of paper from her storage ring. It was the title deed. One of the old dukes took it and quickly scanned it. With his years of experience, he could accurately determine its authenticity simply by feeling the texture of the special paper and observing the unique printing process, without having to examine every detail. After confirming that it was correct, the old duke nodded with satisfaction and put the title deed into his arms.

Joanna collected boxes of gold coins and pushed the last small box full of gold coins from the coffee table to Caesars.

"Take it and spend it freely, buy something you like!"

"Ah? Thank you, ma'am!"

Caesar was a little shocked. The great magician casually gave him a small box of gold coins. He panicked and put the gold coins into the storage ring.

"We have to thank the three dukes. They gave us the gold coins!"

"Thank you, the three Dukes!"

Caesar stood up and performed a noble salute of thanks to the three old dukes.

At this time, the three dukes were a little confused. They looked at Caesar's appearance, and then looked at Joanna. The three of them kept shifting their gazes between the two.

Joanna, dressed in a red robe, wore a faint smile on her face as she quietly looked at the three old men before her, a cunning glint in her eyes. These three old dukes of the Roland Empire possessed power and status that extended across half of the Roland Continent, yet at this moment they seemed somewhat lost and doubtful.

"Joanna, who is this guy?" Duke Barton asked, frowning. The old duke was once a high-spirited young man, and one of Joanna's many suitors.

Joanna raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a smug smile: "Can't you see it? Maybe it's because you are old and your eyes have become blurry. But it doesn't matter. I can tell you that he is from the Cavill family. As an elder who is not rich, it is natural for him to give some pocket money to the younger generation!"

The three old dukes exchanged glances. Although they were filled with doubt, they didn't dare to speculate rashly in the face of Joanna's attitude. They knew Joanna's fiery temper very well, especially in Fire Maple City decades ago, where almost everyone knew how powerful she was.

At the age of ten, Joanna joined the Magic Guild and began learning magic. At that time, she showed a unique talent and interest in magic. Over time, Joanna gradually became an outstanding low-level magician.

Thanks to the full support of the Cavill family, Joanna had already become an intermediate-level fire mage in her early twenties. At this time, the number of suitors that annoyed her had reached an astonishing number.

Joanna could still hide away from the suitors outside the Magic Guild, but those within it often disrupted her magical practice. For this reason, the hot-tempered Joanna taught many of them a lesson. Among these were magicians, nobles, and even three young dukes.

Finally, Joanna, unable to bear it any longer, chose to leave the Magic Guild, leave the Roland Empire, and devote herself to the North Tower to continue studying magic.

When the three old dukes were about to get up and leave with their crutches, Joanna stopped them.

"You three are considered half his elders when you saw the younger generation of the Cavill family. How dare you just turn around and walk away empty-handed?"

The three old nobles looked at each other, frowned, and with a bitter look on their faces, they left a small box of gold coins and hurried away. It was smaller than the box just now, about half the size.

"Kaisas, quickly collect the gold coins!"

"Ma'am, they carry so many gold coins with them when they go out!"

Kaisas put all the small boxes into the storage ring. He felt that the nobles of Fire Maple City had too many gold coins.

"It's only a few tens of thousands of gold coins. Each old fellow has at least hundreds of thousands of gold coins on him. These are just the pocket money they carry with them!"

Kaisas was not a bit surprised. The nobles in Huofeng City were too rich, and hundreds of thousands of gold coins were just pocket money.

"Ma'am, you bought the land with the burial mound, why are you selling it today?"

"I bought that piece of land with the intention of reselling it. It's simply too dangerous. Kandel and I went there to investigate once. There were a large number of poisonous spiders at the entrance, and even more spiders inside. I used fire spells to burn about two hundred meters, and a branch path appeared inside. Then, even larger dark spiders appeared, and Kandel and I had no choice but to flee!"

Joanna said with lingering fear that the tomb of the great wizard could not be opened by just a few people.

The Dark Spider was a mysterious and powerful creature. Caesar had read about it in ancient books. It was somewhere between a high-level monster and a super monster, possessing a massive body and terrifying strength.

These dark monsters not only possess exceptionally powerful physical attacks, but also possess a unique skill—ramming—that makes them even more threatening in battle. They also have a ranged attack—web spray. If you can't dodge the sticky and resilient webs, getting entangled will instantly render you incapable of resistance.

Normally, Warcraft of the same level far outclassed humans in attack power, with the difference between the two being roughly equivalent to one level. To successfully hunt down a Dark Spider, one must have an absolute level advantage and also require the assistance of a magician.

The true terror lies not in the Dark Spiders themselves, but in the servant spiders they rule. Though small in size, the servant spiders' venom possesses a powerful paralyzing effect, one of the most potent paralyzing toxins known on the Roland Continent. Whether warrior, magician, or any other class, a bite from a servant spider renders the victim incapacitated within half a minute, leaving them unable to resist. If the victim isn't rescued in time, they will be entangled in the spiders' tough silk and dragged away to be stored as food.

Another notable characteristic of Gloom Spiders is their strong sense of territory. Any creature that dares to intrude upon their territory will face ruthless hunting. Therefore, when facing Gloom Spiders, one must remain vigilant and be fully prepared.

"Ma'am, you are so smart!"

"A magician needs a lot of resources to cultivate, and the biggest expense is magic crystals. One hundred thousand gold coins may seem like a lot, but if converted into magic crystals, it would only be enough for me to use for two years!"

Caesars knew something about magic training, but he hadn't anticipated the enormous expense it would entail. He began asking Joanna questions about spells. By this time, he had become a low-level magic apprentice, capable of learning low-level spells.

Joanna was quite interested in this and enthusiastically began to explain some of the most basic common spells. At this moment, the old butler suddenly came in to report that many guests had come to visit the Cavill family.

Caesars watched with a slightly disapproving look as a dozen nobles entered the living room. The butler quickly stood at the doorway, while the maids busily prepared tea and snacks.

These nobles were not young, and half of them had gray hair. They were all suitors of the great magician. Although they might be slightly younger than Joanna, their appearance did not seem to match.

These visiting nobles had one thing in common: their hair and beards were carefully combed, their noble robes were straight and neat, ironed, and even fumigated with some special spices.