Chapter 85: Breaking Off Relations

As a teacher, the more outstanding one’s disciples become, the more satisfied and happy one feels. Moreover, Messel wasn’t the kind of person who was narrow-minded or envious of others’ talents.
“That’s enough for today’s training. After you go back, it’s best to try entering your own consciousness world every few days. Every mage has their own unique approach to this kind of training. As your teacher, I can only guide you in the general direction; the rest depends on your own exploration!”
“You also need to strengthen your alchemy skills. I heard about the auction you organized. You’ve done well in this area—although your foundation isn’t very solid, you’ve managed to come up with many unique inventions through creative thinking. I’m pleased about that. But to truly succeed in alchemy, mere creativity isn’t enough; continuous experimentation is necessary to achieve real progress.”
On his first attempt at training, Donald achieved an unexpected level. It seemed his talent in spiritual will was extraordinary, but in reality, it came down to imagination and vision—plus the help from the Book of Truth, otherwise Donald’s conscious mind wouldn’t have recovered so quickly.
To be honest, it was only now that Donald truly realized how fortunate he was to have Messel as his teacher. Before, he thought as long as he had books and the advantages of the Book of Truth, he wouldn’t be far behind silver-ranked mages and would have a good chance of reaching gold rank in the future.
Now he realized he still had a long way to go on the path of becoming a mage!
The first hurdle in a mage’s training is the bronze stage. Without proper guidance from a teacher, one would end up taking detours, like many second- or third-rate mages, who get stuck at the bronze stage. Their future path becomes not only difficult and tortuous but also almost entirely blocked from reaching gold rank.
This is the tragedy of lacking proper inheritance. In the entire North County, aside from Chris and the other two bronze masters who reached first-rate mage status under Messel’s guidance and have a chance of advancing to gold rank, the rest will remain stuck at the bronze stage.
It’s not that Messel is selfish and hoards knowledge; rather, those mages took wrong paths from a young age and didn’t have outstanding talents. Even if they were given true inheritance, few would have the perseverance to abandon their current skills and start over. Besides, their situations are complex, and their character isn’t entirely trustworthy.

Unlike the three with Chris, who could be said to have grown up under his watchful eye, his temperament was well understood, and they were both mentors and friends to each other, which is why he provided them with some guidance. But this guidance was different from the systematic teaching given to direct disciples like Donald.

Messel found partial, incomplete transmissions from other schools in various texts, opening up a path for the three with Chris to pursue the training of orthodox mages. Although these incomplete transmissions, unlike his own lineage that led directly to legendary levels, only allowed them to reach the Golden rank with no further content, they still ensured they stayed on the right track during their early training and avoided taking detours. As for subsequent transmissions, it was not too late to seek them once they reached the Golden rank.

Just like mages like Messel who followed ancient orthodox mage traditions, although they seemed to progress slowly on the surface, they built a solid foundation over time, achieving a stable level of power that far surpassed that of ordinary mages. Before reaching each major rank, they faced no bottlenecks like ordinary mages; once their strength was sufficient, breaking through became as smooth as going with the current.

So, even though Messel’s own mage power had stagnated at the Bronze level for many years without breakthroughs, it was because he was deeply immersed in alchemy and for other reasons. In reality, at the soul level, Messel had already surpassed the limits of Bronze and was no weaker than ordinary Silver-ranked mages. If he chose to break through, he could immediately become a strong Silver-ranked mage, on par with those at the Silver Subversion level.

This was the advantage of mages with orthodox traditions. It was also one of the reasons why Messel, a Silver mage in a remote area, could make even a giant like the Mage Association hesitate.

However, even though the ancient mage traditions had no bottlenecks in terms of rank, Donald’s progress was still too fast. There was no other way—his innate talent and potential, enhanced by becoming a hero through the Book of Truth, far exceeded those of ordinary professionals, plus the benefits from absorbing demonic power, which saved him much of the time needed for accumulation, allowing him to quickly reach the Bronze rank.

If it weren’t for Messel repeatedly confirming that his disciple wasn’t taking any shortcuts or detours, following the orthodox mage path strictly and making rapid breakthroughs while maintaining an exceptionally solid foundation—almost as if he had trained for decades—Messel would have had to temporarily restrict Donald’s cultivation until he had accumulated enough strength before allowing him to break through.

Although this situation is extremely rare, it has not been unheard of in ancient times. It is said that they are a group of people with astonishing magical talents, known as those with magical veins. Born with such abilities, they need little training to accumulate great power from their own bloodline and soul energy, advancing at a rate several times faster than ordinary people. Though such individuals are exceedingly rare, once they appear, they become highly sought-after talents by various magical factions.

Since these geniuses are born as “golden seeds,” it takes them almost half as much time to become golden-level powerhouses as ordinary mages. Only after reaching the golden level does their advancement slow down, but they still have far more time to strive for higher ranks. It is said that several of the great archmages of the Ancient Arcane Empire and the legendary grand mages of the Ancient Magic Empire were of this kind of genius.

Messel suspects that his disciple might be one of those with magical veins. However, there are only a few brief records about them, making it impossible to confirm based on specific circumstances.

Currently, Donald’s foundation is surprisingly solid, far beyond his teacher’s expectations. All that’s lacking is knowledge, which is why Messel is confident enough to let his disciple continue training. One can imagine how deeply grateful Donald must be to his teacher after learning these things. Without his guidance, even with the Book of Truth, he would likely not go far on the path of magic. He might not even reach the silver rank, and at best could only advance to gold through the heritage of a hunter. That would mean giving up his career as a mage and becoming a warrior with limited magical abilities. Though powerful, it is not what Donald truly desires.

After returning from his teacher, Donald inspected his territory once again to check for any weaknesses in its defense system. The information provided by the silver-haired elder detailed the various forces the Macbeth family had established in the North County, both openly and secretly. Among them was the organization that attempted to assassinate him before— the Black Knight Brotherhood, a bandit group that has risen in the southern part of the North County in recent years.

Through analysis of various intelligence sources, Anguva is 80% certain that the Black Knight Brotherhood is a covert force backed by the Macbeth family, used to amass wealth and handle unsavory tasks for them. However, not long ago, Anguva’s spies found that all members of the Black Knight Brotherhood in Stone City had disappeared, as if they had withdrawn en masse from the area, with no signs of their activity left.

The withdrawal of the Black Knight Brotherhood coincided precisely with the assassination of the genius mage Donald. Donald then thought of the warning he had received from someone signed as Blake Jack, which he guessed was also done by the Black Knight Brotherhood. “It seems this thief organization has probably broken free from the Macbeth family’s control. Even if it isn’t completely independent, it’s at least no longer under their command.” This was good news for him—at least the Macbeth family had lost a useful ally, making it easier to deal with them in the future. However, what Donald didn’t expect was that just three days after he returned to his territory, the Macbeth family already took action. “Buy the estate?” Hearing this, Donald looked at the administrator from the viscount’s manor and found it utterly absurd. Early that morning, this man had come to his territory under the name of Viscount Macbeth. Donald, who was handling affairs in the territory, met him in the lord’s manor. To his surprise, this man immediately made such a request. The Macbeth family’s administrator continued smiling and saying, “Our viscount knows that the baron must be very busy managing his new territory and has no time to attend to the estate. So, he intends to take some of the burden off the baron by purchasing Nightfall Manor, so the baron can focus on developing the territory.” “You should know that our viscount is the governor of the North County—the most powerful noble here. Entrusting the estate to the viscount is the wisest choice.” Donald calmly replied, “So I should thank the viscount? I wonder what price the viscount intends to pay for my estate?” The administrator shamelessly said, “I heard that when the baron first bought the estate, he spent less than two thousand silver sols. Our viscount is known for his generosity and is willing to pay three times that amount, or six thousand silver sols! I wonder if the baron will be satisfied?” At these words, William behind Donald became furious, his fists clenched tightly, wishing he could beat this man into a pulp. After all, Nightfall Manor’s monthly income alone was almost equal to that amount. The Macbeths wanting to buy the estate for six thousand silver sols was undoubtedly an attempt at shameless forced purchase. Donald laughed in anger.

“Your Lordship the Viscount truly has great plans! But I never said I intended to sell the manor. Darknight Manor is my first estate; it holds too many memories for me. Even if it remains unused, I won’t sell it. So, it’s better for your master to give up on that idea!”
Hearing this, the steward’s expression finally changed as he threatened harshly, “Lord Baron, you probably don’t realize the strength of our Lordship the Viscount. The Macbeth family will eventually become a great noble house. Not to mention in the future, even now, no baronial domain can stand against us!”
Donald sneered and said, “What you say is true. But Viscount Macbeth already has his own territory, and the other nobles of the Northlands, including our Merlin family, also have their own lands. You’d better wait until your Lordship becomes the sole ruler of the Northlands before saying such things!”
The envoy still tried to cling to the viscount’s estate, using threats and inducements, but Donald ignored him further and simply said loudly to his administrator, “William, show this man out!”
William then led several strong servants to drag the noisy envoy out, so as to prevent him from saying anything offensive that might offend their master.