Chapter 71: The Archmage Tower and Knight Assessment

Once the complete design for the family crest was ready, Countess Cornelia couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.
“It’s absolutely beautiful! So mysterious!”
Judging by her reaction, if she had the final say, she might already be planning to replace their family’s emblem.
“The prototype is done. Your family’s crest will be fully crafted in three days. You can come pick it up then!”
The old man silently took the thank-you money Donald prepared and then impatiently sent Donald and the others away.
After leaving the Bosis residence, Ferdinand said awkwardly, “As expected, this master has a peculiar temper, just as rumored. It’s still early—let’s try some unique dishes from the southern part of the continent!”
Donald smiled and said, “Since we’re going to enjoy delicious food, do you mind if I add another seat?”
“Do you have friends in the capital too, Donald? It would be great if we could all get to know each other!”
Although they had parted just in the morning, Donald wanted to spend more time with his lover, so he suggested inviting the countess over for a meal together.
The Ferdinand siblings had no objections, so Donald sent a message to the countess to meet in front of the hotel earlier.
“This is my…”
Before Donald could finish introducing himself, Ferdinand stepped in to greet her.
“Hello, Catherine!”
As a court lady, Catherine naturally recognized Ferdinand, a highly influential young noble in the kingdom. Ferdinand and the countess had also met a few times before. In fact, they had known each other longer than they had known Donald, but due to their different statuses, they hadn’t had much interaction, so their meeting was rather friendly.
Perhaps because of their similar geographical locations, the southern-style food served at this restaurant reminded Donald a bit of the Cantonese cuisine from his past life. Compared to northern foods, it was quite novel, though it was merely good rather than truly exquisite.
For the Ferdinand siblings, who were pure northerners, it still felt new even after trying it a few times.
The countess, however, had already developed high standards after spending time at Darknight Manor. These days, seeing the food in the palace left her uninterested.
In this world, there was no rule of silence during meals. Nobles liked to share interesting stories at the table to liven up the atmosphere and enhance their dining experience.

Thinking about his upcoming trip to the Mage Tower of the Mage Association, Donald raised this question.
“The Kingdom Mage Association? Your Majesty actually gave you such an opportunity?”
Ferdinand was surprised by the favor the king showed Donald.
“Even if it were a regular royal member who made such a request, it would be hard to get the king’s approval. You’re really lucky, Donald! But the mages in the Mage Association aren’t easy to get along with, especially those in power—either stubborn and arrogant or greedy and opportunistic, always haggling over every detail.”
Ferdinand, due to his special status, wasn’t afraid of speaking ill of those mages behind their backs, as long as it wasn’t done face-to-face.
Catherine, on the other hand, was more cautious and asked worriedly, “Those mages won’t cause you trouble, will they?”
Donald smiled carefreely and said, “Don’t worry! I’m just going to study there for a few days. What can they do to me? This is a rare opportunity, and I’m not going to give it up.”
The group changed the subject and chatted for a while longer before dinner ended.
Since Catherine needed to return before the palace gates closed, and Ferdinand and his sister were temporarily staying at the palace with their mother instead of going to the Ansel family’s estate in Kosovo, Donald accompanied them to send the countess back to the palace.
After parting at the palace gates, Donald returned to the inn to rest quietly overnight. The next morning, he arrived at the entrance of the Mage Association.
The headquarters of the Celt Mage Association was located on a high ground a few miles outside the palace. The terrain here resembled a raised delta, the highest point in the entire Kosovo region, nearly a hundred feet higher than where the palace stood. The seven-story tower at the center of the delta was the tallest building in the capital, and its height seemed even greater because it was built on this elevated land.
Like the Mage Association in the Northern Counties, there was also a mage barrier here, but the barrier of the Kingdom Mage Association was far more than just a warning barrier. Thanks to the enhancement from the mage tower, the barrier surrounding the association could withstand attacks from mages below the silver rank.
The one who greeted Donald was a bronze mage in his thirties, with a cold attitude, as if Donald owed him a thousand gold sols.
It was only by seeing the mage tower in person for the first time that Donald truly realized its immense power.

In his understanding, a mage tower was a defensive structure for mages that combined functions such as spell enhancement, stable magic circles, alchemy laboratories, and energy storage. For a mage, having a mage tower was like an astronaut boarding a space ship—so long as someone operated it, the tower would never fall, unless its energy was exhausted.

The Mage Association’s high-level mage tower differed from the several ordinary, lower-level mage towers around it. It was built through the combined efforts of many mages and the kingdom, including grand mages of the Gold rank, giving it far more comprehensive functions. If guided by a Gold grand mage, even legendary strongmen would find it impossible to breach.

Feeling the powerful energy fluctuations and pressure emanating from the building, Donald felt awe and longing for such immense strength.

Each floor of the mage tower was about twenty feet high. The first floor served as a reception hall and living area, while the library Donald wanted to visit was on the third floor. Along the way, he saw many mages and apprentice mages hurrying past—this was the time Donald had seen the most mages in this world. Yet, unlike the warm and family-like atmosphere in the mage guild, these mages, despite their large numbers, seemed cold and lacked cohesion.

Led by the bronze-ranked mage to the library, Donald went through the procedures at the entrance. Ignoring the cold treatment, he excitedly stepped into the sea of books.

Compared to the modest collection in the Stone City mage guild’s library, this library, divided into five major areas, each as large as Donald’s own villa, undoubtedly contained a vast number of books. Just by estimation, Donald figured there were at least hundreds of thousands of books here. Although some of them were non-magical, covering topics like history and geography, this sheer quantity showed that an organization on a national scale like the Mage Association was indeed not comparable to local groups like mage guilds.

For the first three days, Donald didn’t have time to focus on books unrelated to magic. Instead, he carefully examined key books on the principles of various schools of magic, the construction of magic circles, alchemy, and more.

However, unlike other mages in the library who would ponder and memorize the content, Donald skimmed through the books quickly, moving from one to the next right after finishing one.

This left the members of the Mage Association, who were responsible for monitoring an outsider mage like Donald, puzzled and surprised, and they soon dismissed his methods as contemptible. They deemed him too greedy; although he seemed to have read many books, it was impossible for him to gain anything real, as knowledge of magic required careful reading and contemplation to be truly understood.

As a result, the mages reduced their surveillance of Donald.

By now, Donald no longer had time to worry about others’ gazes and focused on quickly going through the books he had chosen.

In fact, inside a carriage outside the Mage Association’s headquarters, three beings were bent over their work, diligently copying texts. Donald was once again using his old trick to steal from the Association’s collection. This time, in addition to the Soul Walker, there were two Blood Elf priests—one responsible for copying the text and the other for drawing illustrations—while the Soul Walker handled turning the pages and binding the copies. The Soul Walker’s ability allowed him to connect up to four units, including himself, over a range of two kilometers. No matter how many people helped, Donald’s limited energy meant he couldn’t control them all.

Inside the carriage, Donald had prepared a quantity of parchment and ink worth three thousand gold sols, all stored in a space bag for the three copyists to use.

Unlike the Mage Association, the mage tower held an enormous number of books, yet Donald only had four days, so he could only select the most valuable ones to copy. Although his methods seemed unconventional, the negligence of the monitoring mages, who failed to report them to the higher-ranking mages, meant no one noticed anything unusual about Donald’s actions. Otherwise, a Grand Master Mage, with his powerful mental senses and keen awareness, would surely have detected the anomaly in Donald’s state.

While Donald was buried in the library, his guardian knight, Uther, was also participating in the annual knightly examinations held by the royal court’s nobility council under Ferdinand’s arrangement. Given Uther’s heroic standards, his abilities far surpassed those of a bronze-ranked high knight, making such examinations unnecessary for him. The ranking system for knights, as a noble profession, differed slightly from that of other professions but was similar overall—those below black iron rank were knight servants; reaching the upper levels of black iron granted the strength of an apprentice knight. Bronze rank marked high knights, silver ranked them as grand knights, and gold ranked them as holy knights.

But Donald must secure a proper status for his first hero, so that he can rightfully become a knight guardian of the Merlin family, attracting more talents to his family in the future and expanding its influence, thereby strengthening the Merlin family’s territory. Although the required strength for a novice knight is only at an advanced level of black iron, simply reaching that level does not mean one can easily become a knight. Beyond the strength requirements, several essential assessments are necessary: literary knowledge, noble etiquette, and tactical command. Just the literary knowledge requirement alone eliminates at least half of the candidates. It is already considered somewhat learned for common adventurers to recognize some common scripts, which puts them above ordinary commoners. The literary knowledge assessment requires having read at least three books of over ten thousand words each and being able to summarize their content. This is not difficult for candidates from noble families, but it is a huge setback for commoners. Every year, many people who fail to understand the rules and recklessly assume they are strong come to take the exam, only to be stunned on the spot, providing material for jokes and talk. While those commoners mock these people, they fail to realize that this is precisely the tragedy of their own status.