Black Hearted Mage

The vast Roland Continent, rich in resources and stunningly beautiful, has nurtured a diverse array of races and cultures. Three powerful factions exist within this vast continent: the Roland Empire, the Violet Alliance, and the Saint Roland Empire. Each empire possesses unique histories, cultures, and political systems.

In addition, dozens of kingdoms, large and small, are scattered throughout the land. Although smaller in scale, each has its own unique characteristics. Some are primarily agricultural, boasting fertile land and industrious farmers; others excel at commerce and trade, establishing close economic ties with other nations; and still others prioritize military might, cultivating elite armies.

In this fantastical world, different races interact and merge with each other, creating a rich and colorful society. Whether in bustling cities or peaceful villages, people strive to pursue their dreams and goals, writing their own legendary stories together.

The shabby carriage stopped in front of a tall stone pagoda. The gate of the stone pagoda was about ten meters high and eight or nine meters wide. It was made of some kind of metal and was carved with intricate and exquisite patterns.

An old man with a beard that reached down to his waist came up to the carriage, lifted the animal hides and took a look. The old man in the tower knew old Ludwig and seemed to be somewhat familiar with him.

"Ludwig, your Black Demonic Serpent arrived just in time! I've been scolded by Master Wizard Kandel over a dozen times. Hurry up and drive the carriage in through Passageway No. 3, and send the Black Demonic Serpent directly to the Alchemy Tower!"

"Master De Luo, won't you come in with us?"

Old Ludwig was a little confused because he had never been to the Alchemy Tower.

"I'm not going. Master Kandel won't let me set foot in the Alchemy Tower!"

De Luo shuddered and then shook his head, as if the Alchemy Tower was hell.

As the carriage entered the tower, Caesars gazed curiously. The hall was large, divided by a wall in the middle. To the right were a dozen shops, and to the left were a series of passages. The shops were a bit far away, so Caesars couldn't clearly see what was sold. The passage on the right was wide, easily enough for the carriage to enter and exit.

Milkman was now filled with curiosity, and as the carriage moved forward, he looked around: the huge stones that built the tower, the beautiful tiles on the ground, and the lights that didn't emit flames or black smoke.

After passing through the passage and entering the tower's courtyard, the carriage stopped in front of a dark gray tower. This tower was slightly smaller than the one outside. It was the Great Alchemy Tower of the North.

A middle-aged man in a black robe walked over with a gloomy face. He looked at the dilapidated carriage without saying a word.

"Master Mage, we are here to deliver the Black Demon Snake!" Old Ludwig got off the carriage and saluted with great respect.

"Is it the Black Demonic Snake? Wait here for a moment, I'll go get the teacher!"

Just as the middle-aged wizard was about to turn around, an old man in black wizard robes and with unkempt hair and beard appeared at the tower gate. He quickly walked to the carriage, peeled off the worn animal hide, and a smile appeared on his face, which had been as hard as steel.

The twenty or so black snakes in the big iron cage stood up and issued a hissing warning sound, as if they were ready to attack at any time.

"Very good, very good. Each black snake has met my requirements. Ten gold coins each, a total of twenty-six black snakes. The extra gold coins are given to you as a reward. If there are more black snakes of this size, you can send them to me. Garlon, take all the black snakes in and exchange them for our magic steel cages!"

Master Kandel took out a heavy purse and threw it on the driver's seat.

"Teacher, let them help change the cage!"

Garlon thought about the six apprentices who had been poisoned to death in the Alchemy Tower recently, and he began to fear the black snake. The black snake's fangs had the ability to break magic, and his magic shield was no match for them.

"You loser!"

Master Kandel was a little angry. He was already a low-level alchemist student, but he was afraid of the black snake.

"Master Mage, I can just change the black snake's cage. But as you can see, my grandfather is missing half his arm, and I can't move the big iron cage!"

"Oh, you're a snake breeder too? I'm in need of someone to feed the snakes and collect their venom. The salary is ten gold coins a month. But if you get bitten to death by a black snake, you'll just have bad luck. Garlon, move all the cages in immediately!"

"Master Mage, can you exchange the gold coins for advanced healing potions? My grandfather and my father both have sequelae from snake bites. If they die, there will be no one to catch snakes!"

Garlon, standing nearby, was horrified. Someone actually dared to negotiate with the Grand Alchemist. He picked up a large iron cage and headed towards the alchemy tower. He didn't want to suffer any unprovoked disaster here.

"I'll give you a few bottles of advanced healing potions. They'll be ineffective in a few years anyway!"

Master Kandel looked at Kaisas and pulled out twenty or thirty bottles of bright red potion from his storage ring, placing them beside his purse. Black demon snakes were becoming increasingly scarce, and he didn't want to lose the alchemical material.

Old Ludwig bowed deeply and thanked him profusely, while Caesars imitated him closely. He felt that the wizard in front of him was not as scary as the bard said.

When Garlon came out in a black robe, he was followed by three old men in black robes. Together, the four of them moved the large iron cage containing the black magic snake into the somewhat dark alchemy tower.

Old Ludwig put away the gold coins and potions, holding a large iron hook with a rope in his right hand, and followed the three people with his grandson. These rusty iron cages needed to be taken back and used again. The master wizard would not help with these things, so he had to do it himself.

The main hall on the ground floor of the alchemy tower was small, divided by a stone wall, appearing to be less than a third of its original size. Behind the hall was a spacious corridor with three or four metal doors on either side, but only the innermost door was open, allowing the cages to be moved inside.

Behind the metal door was a large room, larger than the small house in Blackrock City where Caesars lived. There were more than thirty iron cages of varying sizes, none of which were rusted.

In a large iron cage more than two meters high, an unusually thick black magic snake was raising its body and making a hissing warning sound.

"Grandfather, this black demon snake is so big!"

This black snake is as thick as an adult's thigh, and its height when standing upright is nearly two meters.

"This is the golden-eyed black demon snake from the depths of Blackrock Mountain. I'm afraid it's even older than me!"

"Hey, it has a bad temper. It's already poisoned more than a dozen people. Don't get close to it, or we'll have to carry out the bodies again!"

Just as old Ludwig was sighing, the gloomy-looking Garlon smiled sinisterly, and his smile was a little twisted.

"Master mages, we will be careful!"

"I am the magician, and the three of them are magic apprentices. Remember this!"

Old Ludwig was a little reserved. This Galen was a very difficult person to deal with. He would point out something in public immediately just because a sentence was a little inappropriate.

"Okay, Master Mage, and the three apprentice masters, we will definitely be careful!"

Ludwig dragged his rusty iron cage to the side of the alchemy tower's large magic steel cage, trying to stay as far away from the thick, golden-eyed black demon snake as possible. Caesars's small figure walked to the side of the iron cage, then he directly opened the cage and reached his little hand inside.

The four black-robed men who had just been about to watch the excitement immediately ran away. In their view, Milkman's reckless behavior was undoubtedly seeking death.

"You four losers, go back and clean the alchemy room. I'm going to use it soon!"

Kandel was extremely dissatisfied with the three students. They were too cowardly and simply not cut out to be alchemists. Almost all the apprentices and servants of the Great Alchemy Tower had perished because of the restless golden-eyed black demon snake. Kandel even hoped that the four would also be slain by the black demon snake's venom.

"Teacher, that kid didn't follow the alchemy rules. He didn't wear protective gloves and grabbed the black snake with his bare hands!"

The oldest black-robed apprentice spoke, and Kandel was well aware of his thoughts. He set the alchemy rules here, and anyone who violated them would be punished.

"Go clean the alchemy room first. I'll take care of things here myself. The servants and errand boys won't be here for another four or five days, so you're the only ones left to clean the alchemy room for now!"

With the black magic snake, some potions could be refined. Kandel's students left in a hurry, fearing that they would be scolded if they left too late.

In the black snake breeding room, the elderly Ludwig stood in the corner. He watched the young Caesars, grabbing the black snakes by the tail and tugging hard, driving them one by one into separate iron cages. Although he knew that the black snakes were unlikely to bite Caesars, he still felt a chill in his heart.

After pushing open the door, the disheveled Kandel saw this scene, which he found incredible. The black snake was not only intelligent, but also extremely ferocious. They often preyed on smaller ones.

The thick golden-eyed black devil snake did not make a hissing sound this time. Instead, it coiled its dark and thick body and lay quietly in the big iron cage, observing everything that was happening in front of it.

"Very good, very good. It seems that you are a qualified snake breeder. You can live here and be responsible for feeding and caring for the black magic snakes. You will also be responsible for extracting their venom once every two weeks. You can feed them first!"

Kandel took out a large bag that smelled strongly of blood. Caesars took the oil-paper bag and opened it. Inside were strips of meat as thick as his arm, all stained with blood.

"Master Mage, they don't like to eat this. They prefer fresh food. Magic rats and magic rabbits are best; they can swallow them whole!"

"You feed the black demon snakes with living creatures?"

"Of course, we raise a lot of magic rats and magic rabbits. The place here is big enough to raise a lot!"

Kandel then thought of something. The apprentices and servants who had been poisoned to death were usually killed while feeding. They'd used tools to feed the meat into the cage, and the golden-eyed black snake would then release its venom, killing the person feeding it. Killing a few people was a minor matter; the key was that the black snake had sprayed away its venom, leaving him without a crucial ingredient for the potion he needed to refine.

"There's an empty room next door that's only half the size of this one. How many magic rabbits and magic rats do you need? As long as you can take care of these black magic snakes, this old man's cough will be a piece of cake, because I have a powerful healing potion!"

"We need fifty of each, with a male-to-female ratio of five to one. As long as there's enough food, the magic rats and magic rabbits will give birth to cubs in a month or so!"

Old Ludwig, who was standing in the corner, said a few words. He tried to say as many as possible so that there would be no need to worry even if a few died.

"Let's get a hundred of each. They're not worth many gold coins, and the dead ones can be fed to snakes anyway. Little kid, you'll live here today, and the key on the wall at the door is yours!"

After giving Kandel a word of caution, he hurried off, presumably to buy some magic rabbits and mice. Caesars chased him to the door, watched Kandel's departing figure, then climbed onto a small iron cage, reached out and took down a shiny black key, carefully putting it in his pocket.

"Grandfather, is this golden-eyed snake about to lay eggs?"

There are several slightly raised areas on the snake's smooth lower abdomen.

Ludwig nodded and said, "It should be. It's about to start building a nest and laying eggs. I'll leave you two animal skins later. One is for the big snake, and the other is yours. You can live in the empty big iron cage."

After saying that, Ludwig hooked the two iron cages with iron hooks, grabbed the ropes and pulled them up to the back, and the grandfather and grandson walked towards the door together.

"Grandfather, take those two little snakes back and sell them for money when they grow up," Caesars suggested.

Ludwig laughed and scolded, "You little bastard, have you been eyeing the eggs of the golden-eyed black devil snake for a long time?"

Caesars chuckled and replied, "Of course! If I could raise a big one like this, no one would dare to bully me anymore!"

"Then you need a small cage, a small cage that the little snake can't escape from, otherwise someone will die in the alchemy tower again!"

"There must be a cage. If the little snake escapes without a cage, you can't blame me!"

The grandfather and grandson returned to the alchemy tower. Ludwig was also grateful for Kandel's generosity, having given him over twenty bottles of healing potions at once. Otherwise, twenty-six black demon snakes would only be exchanged for six or seven bottles of high-level healing potions at most.

"You bastard, this place is definitely a place where people are eaten alive. Several people died in the Alchemy Tower alone. You have to stay alive first!"

Ludwig ran back and forth several times before finally loading the rusty iron cage onto the carriage. Looking at his young grandson, he couldn't help but give another warning.

"Grandfather, don't worry!" The little head looked around and whispered, "I want to become a master wizard, otherwise you wouldn't send me here!"

"You rascal, don't say that again. Be careful of the Master's students, especially that Garlon. He looks a bit cruel!"

Ludwig also looked around and whispered a few words. Then he threw down two worn animal skins, waved his whip, and gently spurred the old horse away.

The little figure watched the carriage drive away, tears streaming from his eyes. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and dragged the hide hard into the tower.