Chapter 69: Invitation

Hearing Anze's question, Angela bowed respectfully before answering.

"Yes, my uncle was once a second-level apprentice here. He returned to his hometown at the age of 30. It was he who told me about some of the unspoken rules within the tower."

Upon hearing that Angela’s connection was merely a second-level apprentice, Anze immediately lost interest in asking further.

"You're a little cunning, but qualified is qualified." Mentor Anze raised his hand and pointed at the nameplate on Angela's chest.

The nameplate flickered briefly before returning to normal, appearing unchanged on the surface.

Angela maintained her humble expression and once again bowed respectfully to thank Mentor Anze.

However, when she turned and walked toward the door, Saul noticed the uncontrollable twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Next..." 

Anze's gaze turned toward Saul and Keli.

Angela had been seated at the far left of the classroom, with Saul sitting to Keli’s left. By the normal order, Saul should be next.

But Anze skipped over Saul and called Keli forward instead.

"Girl, come here."

Under the desk, Keli clenched her fists tightly for a moment before suddenly releasing them.

She walked forward with steady steps, offering no introduction, and directly performed three spells.

All three were zero-rank spells of the gold element.

One was offensive, one was defensive, and one was an enchantment spell.

"So you're Keli, the one following Gudo?" Anze surprisingly knew her name.

"Yes, Mentor Anze."

"He’s taken on quite a decent apprentice. Unfortunately, I have no experience with gold-element magic."

This statement alone was already high praise.

He acknowledged Keli’s abilities and tapped her nameplate, then dismissed her.

Now, only Saul and Anze remained in the classroom.

"Do I still need to call you?"

You could just call me ‘Dad.’ 

Saul made a sarcastic joke in his head to ease the tension and suppress his nerves.

After all, unlike Keli, who was a victim of the Mutual Aid Society’s parasites, he had just killed three of the society’s new recruits.

If Anze was truly the mastermind behind the Mutual Aid Society, would he take this opportunity to deal with him?

Even if Anze was bound by the tower’s rules and couldn’t kill him outright, it would be all too easy for a teacher to make life difficult for a student.

Saul quickly walked to Anze, preparing to follow Keli’s example and get it over with quickly.

But Anze raised his hand to stop him.

"Extend your left hand. Let me see."

It was no surprise that a mentor could detect something unusual about Saul’s left hand.

Saul raised his left hand, which had previously been partially hidden, to chest level.

Anze glanced at it a few times and nodded.

"Smart, bold, and lucky. No wonder you were able to kill Sid."

So, he was here because of Sid?

Saul had set up Sid with Konsgsha and Byron, ultimately sending him to the corpse chamber as a new guest.

He knew this couldn't be hidden, so he admitted it while trying to justify his actions.

"Mentor, it was self-defense. I had no choice but to fight back."

Hearing this, Anze's previously lazy expression broke into a grin.

"Self-defense?" He absentmindedly traced circles on the desk. "Relax. I don’t care whether it was self-defense or not. Sid wasn’t my apprentice. If you should be afraid of anyone, it should be Rum. He was Sid’s mentor. Once he sobers up, he might want to have a chat with you."

"Mentor Rum?"

Rum was one of the five mentors, seemingly specialized in the water element.

"Mentor Anze, could you explain this to him for me? I really had no choice."

Saul said this as a formality, already aware that Anze detested trouble—at least on the surface.

Unexpectedly…

"Sure." Anze chuckled and beckoned to Saul with a finger. "If you transfer to be my apprentice, I’ll take care of this trouble for you."

Can students even switch mentors within the tower?

No matter what excuse he used to change mentors, it would likely offend his current mentor.

Besides, instead of transferring, he could simply ask Mentor Kaz for help.

"Thank you, Mentor Anze, but my current mentor has been very good to me. I’d be reluctant to leave him," Saul responded cautiously, making sure not to offend Anze with his words.

"Good to you? If he was good to you, wouldn’t he have told you that you’re carrying a vengeful spirit?"

Vengeful spirit?

Saul’s eyes widened in shock.

"Don’t look at me," Anze said lazily. "You should go to Mentor Rum. He’s the best at dealing with vengeful spirits... if he’s in the mood to help you."

Leaning back, Anze closed his eyes and crossed his hands over his stomach, drumming his fingers rapidly.

"If you don’t want to transfer, forget it. Sigh... finally done with these tests. Such a hassle."

"Uh..." Saul hesitated. "Mentor, I haven’t demonstrated my spells yet."

"What’s the point? You’ve already taken down a second-level apprentice. What more is there to prove?"

"But Mentor Anze, you haven’t marked my nameplate yet..." Saul didn’t know how to phrase it.

Stamped it?

Anze remained still, eyes closed. "Saul, do you know why the tower conducts frequent tests?"

Saul had no idea.

"The structure of the Wizard’s Tower ensures that it will squeeze every ounce of capability from each individual. If one day you find yourself being heavily relied upon, don’t be too happy. It just means you’ve been assigned to a position that best suits your current abilities."

Anze said nothing more, as if he had fallen asleep.

Saul understood that this was his cue to leave.

Yet, Anze still hadn’t marked his nameplate. Was this deliberate? Was he punishing Saul for refusing to transfer?

Saul bowed to the silent Anze and turned to leave.

As he anxiously pushed open the classroom door, he looked up and was immediately startled.

A dense crowd of over twenty people was waiting in the hallway.

Even Luo Kai stood at the front.

Luo Kai wasn’t surprised to see Saul emerge. Instead, he grinned mischievously.

"Come, let’s all congratulate the top scorer of this test!"

With that, he led the applause.

Keli immediately joined in.

But aside from Keli, no one else clapped.

The other apprentices stared at Saul—some in disbelief, some indifferent, and others with obvious fear.

Luo Kai and Keli’s applause continued, forming an awkward duet in the large hall.

Gradually, Angela began clapping, followed by the visibly uneasy Doze, then a fifth person, a sixth...

In the end, everyone in the hallway joined in, creating an increasingly heated yet bizarre atmosphere.

"That’s more like it~" Luo Kai nodded in satisfaction, still clapping. "We all entered the tower together, so we should support each other. Hehehe."

The applause lasted for about three minutes.

Only then did Luo Kai raise his hand to silence the crowd. "Also, as a reward for placing first, you can go to the garden and choose a companion flower to cultivate."

"So there’s a reward for first place?" Saul felt a wave of relief. This was far better than the awkward applause.

The garden? Companion flower?

Back when he was a servant, the butler had always threatened that if they didn’t do their work properly, they’d be dragged off to become flower fertilizer.

Now he was finally about to see the flowers nourished by that fertilizer?

He had a bad feeling about this.

At that moment, Luo Kai suddenly leaned in, his face filled with excitement as he looked into Saul’s eyes.

"I still don’t know your name. You haven’t joined the Mutual Aid Society, have you? Want to join now?"

"Even though you ranked first among the new apprentices, there are many senior members in the Mutual Aid Society who are much stronger than you~”

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