Imina quickened her pace to keep up with Lyle, who had already walked ahead. Her narrow eyes glanced at Lyle's profile—a figure that looked gentle and seemed to blend perfectly into the lively festive atmosphere.
For some reason!
Imina always felt that the man before her was inscrutable. Though he didn't look old, he seemed to have an invisible barrier between himself and everyone else.
"What exactly do you want to do, Tang?" Imina pursed her lips and suddenly spoke in a soft voice.
"What?"
Perhaps due to the boisterous noise around them, Lyle didn't seem to hear Imina's question clearly. He turned his head and spoke with a look of confusion.
Did he really not hear her?
Obviously not; they weren't ordinary people.
"Nothing," Imina said flatly after opening her mouth for a moment.
They hadn't walked far.
Lyle paused and stopped in front of a stall displaying various brightly colored decorations.
Imina was somewhat puzzled. She looked at the items on the stall; most were women's accessories, and their value wasn't high.
"How much is this hairband?"
Lyle looked at the stall owner and pointed to an item among the goods—a black circular hairband decorated with golden thread patterns.
"Two silver coins." The stall owner looked up at the two of them, his eyes lighting up as he spoke immediately.
Hearing this price.
Imina frowned. The hairband was clearly not worth that much, but what made her even more curious was why he was buying a gift-like hairband.
Lyle nodded and didn't haggle. He took out two silver coins from his pocket and handed them over.
The owner was stunned for a moment, then his face immediately broke into a wide smile. He quickly took out an exquisite gift box from the side and placed the hairband inside.
Lyle took the gift box and reopened it. As he took the hairband into his hand, a glow of magic power flashed in his palm.
"Magic Mark."
After casting the spell.
Lyle put the hairband back into the gift box and handed it to Imina beside him.
"Who buys a gift and gives it to someone right in front of them?" Imina was stunned, but her eyes brightened slightly as she took the gift box without hesitation.
"It's not for you. Help me give it to Leinas," Lyle said calmly. "It has my residual magic on it, just like the spell I cast on you before."
Imina's face darkened. "Then where is my gift?"
Clearly, Imina didn't care about the magic matter at all.
"This is for you."
Lyle turned his palm over as if performing a magic trick, and took out a wine flagon plugged with a cork from his Inventory.
"This is wine brewed using Dwarven techniques. Consider it an unexpected gain of mine from before."
He had placed "The Urn of Endless Wine," that Lizardman treasure, among the Dwarves in the Lava Zone for them to drink from.
After drinking it for a long time, those Dwarves felt the alcohol content was too low, so they used Dwarven brewing techniques to purify it.
"Who gives a wine flagon to a girl!"
Imina looked at the flagon being handed over, her amber pupils flickering. She spoke as if complaining while quickly taking the flagon into her hand.
Her pointed ears, hidden inside her hood, were turning slightly red at this moment.
Her greatest hobby was drinking, but logically speaking, Lyle shouldn't have known this, because she had never drunk in front of him.
After all, she was a bad drunk. Back in the Imperial Capital, she often got into arguments with others because of drinking, and even did many things that she found embarrassing.
This flagon of wine might not be of high value, but it was clearly prepared with care.
Imina carefully stole a glance at Lyle, gripped the flagon a bit tighter, and said while pretending not to care, "Since you gave me a gift, I have some good news for you."
"Then let's go."
Lyle paused and looked directly at Imina.
"Um, shouldn't we notify them?" Faced with the gaze of those black eyes, Imina subconsciously didn't dare to look back.
"With Emerald Leaf here, there's no need to worry about safety," Lyle said softly, glancing at Enri and the Emerald Leaf Witch, who were in high spirits among the crowd.
The two figures soon disappeared into the crowd.
"Where is the Lord? Why don't I see him? He was clearly right behind us just now."
Enri realized belatedly and turned her head to look for Lyle, only to find that he was nowhere to be found.
"The Lord has his own business," the Emerald Leaf Witch said coldly.
"Oh."
Enri felt a bit disappointed, but soon her eyes lit up when she saw a crowd gathering in the distance. "Miss Emerald Leaf, look over there!"
As she spoke.
Enri happily took the Emerald Leaf Witch's hand and hurried forward. Throughout the process, the Emerald Leaf Witch surprisingly didn't resist.
It seemed Enri was born with an ability to make people feel close to her.
Outside the Royal Capital.
In a manor controlled by the "Eight Fingers Security Department."
Mages dressed as Magic Casters were casting spells below, showcasing their abilities.
On the top floor of the manor.
Lyle and Imina stood by the window, watching the scene below.
"How is it? Is there anyone you're satisfied with?" Imina looked expectantly at Lyle, who was deep in thought.
At this moment.
Lyle was looking at the prompts flashing across his Status Panel, spending skill points to master them.
magic power system:
[Illusionist] · "Feign Death" (Tier 3): Creates an illusion that makes the opponent think they have killed the caster.
[Court Mage] · "Hot Spring" (Tier 3): A lifestyle magic that creates a Hot Spring for bathing to relieve fatigue.
faith system:
[Shrine Maiden] · "Dispel" (Tier 3): Dispels summoned creatures, depending on the Rank, resistance, and skills of both parties.
[Priest] · "Sunlight" (Tier 3): Creates a blinding light causing a blindness effect and deals certain damage to Undead creatures.
[Beast Speaker] · "Animal Communication" (Tier 3): Allows communication with wild animals.
'Skill Points: 66 → 61'
...
Lyle had finally picked out some valuable skills from the many Magic Casters below to acquire Base Classes.
"A cost of five skill points," Lyle thought, feeling it was a bit of a pity.
He hadn't been acquiring Base Classes en masse because skill points were precious, but now he had no choice but to use them.
Because the number of High-tier Classes was too few.
As expected.
Magic Casters who mastered the "magic power system" and "faith system" were the most numerous, so it was easy to satisfy these two systems.
However!
Among the Magic Casters Imina had brought, not one was a "psychic system" or "other system" Magic Caster.
Lyle knew from the start that Magic Casters mastering these two magic systems were rare, but he hadn't expected them to be this scarce.
Currently, his four major magic systems were:
...
magic power system: Pharmacist, Alchemist, Mage, Necromancer, Warlock, Illusionist, Court Mage.
faith system: Priestess, Priest, Forest Priest, Cleric, Shrine Maiden, Clergyman, Beast Speaker.
psychic system: Wizard, Witch.
other system: Shaman, Summoner.
...
The "magic power system" and "faith system" could already use 10th Tier Magic; acquiring more Base Classes for these two systems didn't have much meaning anymore.
Unless it was a Base Class of immense value.
Because further up was the Domain of Super-Tier Magic, which had nothing to do with Tier Magic anymore, and it also had the prerequisite that the player level must reach Level 70.
Because after a player reaches Level 70, they can only learn one Super-Tier Magic for every level they gain. In the game, the number of Super-Tier Magics a player could master was only 30.
"Stop."
Withdrawing his gaze from the Magic Casters below, Lyle spoke softly.
"Yes." Imina nodded, poked half her head out of the window, and signaled toward a direction in the courtyard below.
"Did you not find the Magic Casters you wanted?" Imina could see that Lyle was not satisfied.
"Not enough."
Lyle shook his head. He was about to continue speaking but suddenly paused to ponder.
In this other world, the classification of different Magic Caster systems wasn't actually that clear. Moreover, Imina, who wasn't a Magic Caster, might not necessarily know what "psychic system" or "other system" magic was.
"What I need are casters who master some strange and unusual magical abilities, different from normal Magic Casters."
After briefly organizing his words, Lyle continued.
A look of realization appeared in Imina's eyes. "I see. It happens to be the Festival Day right now. Among the many Magic Casters who have come from all over the country, there might be the casters you need, Lord."
"I'll leave it to you, Imina."
Lyle spoke with a smile, but in his heart, he didn't hold much expectation of being able to complete the set easily.
The "psychic system" and "other system" were each short of five Base Classes. Trying to complete them was no simple task.
Actually, there was another method that could compress the number of Base Classes needed.
That was to raise [Genius] to the maximum level of 15. That way, the number of classes required could be reduced.
However!
Compared to the consumption of skill points, five levels were clearly more precious.
"The warehouses in the Six Great Nobles' territories are already being purchased; several locations have already been bought. As for the rotten grain and other food supplies, they are being prepared and will still take some time."
Imina continued to report on the second matter Lyle had assigned.
"Mm," Lyle replied.
He also knew that this matter was more complex and time-consuming; it wasn't something that could be completed in a mere ten days or so.
A smile appeared on Imina's face. "As for the demi-human race slaves with the 'Wild Shape' ability, I only managed to buy three. I don't know if that's enough."
Lyle's gaze paused, and he looked at Imina in surprise. "I really want to praise you right now. You truly have the flair of a worker."
"Don't give me that."
Imina rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
This was the benefit of using the "Eight Fingers" influence; one could easily accomplish many things that would have been difficult and troublesome to do with individual strength before.
As for the location of the three demi-human race slaves, they were in a hidden warehouse of the manor.
What first met the eye.
Were three two-meter-high metal cages, containing three scrawny figures with builds similar to humans.
These three demi-humans had faces like apes, long ears, and grey-brown fur all over their bodies, exuding a wild aura.
Seeing the appearance of Lyle and Imina, these three demi-humans, despite their weak auras, still swung their arms to beat against the iron cages, making muffled "thud-thud" sounds.
"They do look quite like monkeys."
This was the first time Lyle had seen such a demi-human race.
"They are Bugbears, a related species to Goblins. They are a race with low intelligence and are quite barbaric. These three are rare Bugbears from their entire race who possess Magic Caster abilities."
"According to information from the Eight Fingers Smuggling Department and Slave Department, they were supposedly captured from a demi-human tribe destroyed by the Slane Theocracy."
"Compared to ordinary strong Bugbears that can be used as labor, these three are smarter, but perhaps because they are casters, their bodies are thin and weak, making them unable to perform physical labor."
Imina pointed at the three Bugbears in the cages and introduced them:
"Because they are smarter than ordinary Bugbears, they are also harder to tame, which resulted in them not being sold for a long time. It can be said we got lucky and picked them up cheap."
Deep in the Great Wetlands.
In the dense forest where the Twin Witches originally resided.
Lyle dropped the three weak Bugbears, whose bodies were covered in whip marks and various other wounds, onto the ground.
The reason he didn't go to the Lava Zone this time was because the environment there wasn't suitable for the upcoming experiment, while the dense forest had various magical beasts that could be used directly as Materials.
A streak of crimson light rose from the east.
Lyle looked up and saw the sun already peeking out in the east, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Three years left!"
January 1st, Year 3 Before the New Calendar!
"Heal Greater Wounds"!
Lyle raised his wrist and cast a healing spell on one of the Bugbears.
A pure white healing light was released.
The wounds on this Bugbear's body recovered rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Woo!"
The moment the Bugbear regained consciousness, it bared its sharp teeth, looked fiercely at Lyle, and then immediately turned around to flee.
"All-Race Charm."
Lyle calmly cast the spell.
The Bugbear's movements froze, its gaze instantly became dull, and it stood obediently in place, swaying its arms.
"This Magic Ritual is much more complex. The Materials are all prepared, now to see how the effect is."
Lyle took out the Magic Ritual he had obtained from the Forest Gnome from his Inventory. He carefully scanned the ritual contents he had already memorized, ensuring no details were missed.
This Magic Ritual allowed a Forest Gnome to gain the ability to transform into a certain magical beast that exceeded their own body size limit, at the cost of giving up the complete "Wild Shape" ability.
For example, that Forest Gnome named Dogan Stone-Lizard had used this Magic Ritual to transform into a Basilisk, which was much more powerful in both size and strength.
Although he had already seen a successful case.
Lyle still wanted to experiment and confirm it once more to observe the specific details of this ritual.
During this time, he had been having Enri and the Twin Witches purchase a large amount of Alchemy Materials, which were also prepared for this.
Following the steps of the Magic Ritual.
Lyle set up the entire ritual step by step, only then letting out a slight sigh of relief.
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