Even through the fabric of her white gloves, Damian felt the smooth, delicate touch of the Long-Eared Clan hybrid's hands.
Damian forced himself to remain perfectly calm. Although Erin Syl's aesthetics perfectly fit his "type," he absolutely couldn't afford to show any weakness here; they were standing right in the middle of the Court Wizard Headquarters.
He rapidly sifted through Alsha's extracted memories, calculating exactly how the Syndicate Boss would handle this situation. Before arriving at the Royal Capital, Damian had done meticulous homework, carefully studying the people Alsha interacted with to perfectly mimic her social traits and preferences.
He remembered a crucial detail: Madam Alsha never actively begged Erin for favors. The young hybrid was guileless and eager to please; with just a little subtle guidance, she would eagerly walk right into a trap.
He certainly couldn't just demand the technique directly.
Damian sighed, adopting a look of profound regret. "The God Gathering Method and Spirit Condensing Method are deeply guarded secret techniques of the Syl Family. It seems I am simply not destined to obtain the complete Wizards Manual."
"Eh?" Erin was stunned, blinking her emerald eyes. She hadn't even finished her teasing yet. "How can you say that? Sister Alsha and I are very much destined!"
"The Syl Family's secret techniques cannot be casually leaked to outsiders. It is safer if I just choose a different High-Level Meditation Method instead," Damian said softly, acting as if he were purely looking out for her well-being.
Seeing that Alsha was actually giving up, Erin immediately stamped her feet in sudden anxiety. "How can Sister Alsha be considered an outsider?!"
"Your Highness Erin, there is no need to say more. I cannot simply steal the Syl Family's legacy."
Erin was instantly led astray. Her attention was now completely focused on finding a loophole to justify sharing the restricted mental secrets.
Her mind raced. Her father, Prince Philis, frequently rewarded meritorious sorcerers with items from the family treasury. The Syl Family had developed within the Royal Capital for over a thousand years, and the techniques from the second half of the manual were no longer strictly exclusive to their bloodline.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she found the perfect bureaucratic loophole. "I know! I'll use the God Gathering Method and Spirit Condensing Method as official mission rewards and issue a field task! If Sister Alsha completes the commission I issue, you can legally obtain the techniques!"
Damian pretended to hesitate. "Can private family techniques really be used as official mission rewards?"
"Father rewards meritorious people with items from the treasury all the time! It's perfectly reasonable for me to do it too!" Erin declared, fully convincing herself.
Although Madam Alsha's status among the Court Wizards was technically within the Administrator track, she still possessed the clearance to accept field commissions at the Mission Hall. However, completing those missions usually didn't help an Administrator's promotion, whereas the Investigator sequence relied entirely on accumulating completed commissions to rank up.
Erin practically dragged him downstairs to the first-floor Mission Hall. She quickly brought up a glowing, real-time list of available commissions.
She skillfully filtered through the active tasks. After a moment, she pointed excitedly at the board. "Look! This person's pet cat has been missing for several days. Sister Alsha, help her!"
Without waiting for a response, Erin instantly accepted the mission on the board and outsourced it directly under Alsha's name. She swiftly set the official reward for the outsourced task as 'to be negotiated.'
"Eh? Why is there a mission issued by a mundane resident of the Sixth Ring?" Damian picked up the physical commission slip and frowned.
The target of the mission was an ordinary resident living in the outermost Sixth Ring. Logically, commoners couldn't enter the Wizard Tower to issue commissions; if they had trouble, they usually went to the local Security Office. Only if the municipal guards couldn't solve a magical disturbance would it be escalated to the Court Wizards.
Damian read further down the parchment. It turned out the missing cat belonged to a family with a wizard relative. That relative had used their clearance to issue the official commission on the family's behalf.
"Wait... the child's pet has been missing for a whole week? How pitiful. I really want to take this mission, but it requires a Level 8 Investigator to formally accept it." Erin suddenly had another brainwave. She grabbed Damian's hand, her voice dropping into a sweet, drawn-out whine. "Alsha~ sister~ let's take this mission together~ We can help them find the poor cat~"
Despite her royal status, Erin possessed a reckless heart for adventure. Within the Court Wizard hierarchy, she was officially registered as an Investigator. However, she was only ranked as a junior Level 9 Investigator, and absolutely no squad leader in the Alliance was willing to let the acting Speaker's daughter join their team.
The reason was glaringly obvious: Prince Philis strictly forbade his precious daughter from taking dangerous field missions.
Damian hesitated slightly. As a First-Level Sorcerer, he could effortlessly handle a mundane Level 8 Investigator task. However, taking Erin Syl on a mission strictly above her clearance rank clearly went against the iron-clad will of the Prince backing her.
But on second thought, it is Madam Alsha who will be defying the Prince's will. What does that have to do with me? Damian thought ruthlessly. He only cared about securing the God Gathering Method.
Furthermore, the real Alsha had the backing of the Moon Candle Society and had supplied the Prince with the highly addictive Divine Brew. A minor infraction like a runaway cat mission wouldn't be enough to shatter his cover identity.
"It is quite pitiful. Let's take this mission together," Damian finally agreed.
Erin was instantly overjoyed, flashing a blindingly sweet, sugar-filled smile. She immediately updated the registry, formally locking in both her and Alsha's names for the joint commission.
Then, without missing a beat, Erin pulled two ancient scrolls of parchment from her spatially expanded alchemical bracelet. "Here you go! These are the God Gathering Method and Spirit Condensing Method."
"We haven't even done the mission yet," Damian noted, genuinely surprised by her brazen speed.
"Taking the mission is just a bureaucratic formality! You can just outsource the actual cat-finding part to someone else later," Erin giggled, immensely proud of her own cleverness.
Damian clicked his tongue, a genuine smirk breaking through his disguise. "As expected of Her Highness. You are truly wise."
"If Sister Alsha is willing to be my Princess Consort~ then the absolute core secret technique of Wizards Manual - Part Two can also be given to you~ It's a profound technique that allows one to practice different Meditation Methods simultaneously~" Erin's tone was dangerously sultry, like a devil's whisper, but she quickly broke into a fit of giggling. "I'll go back and prepare my field gear! I'll come to your house to find you later!"
Erin waved happily and ran off toward the teleportation arrays. In her excitement over a field mission, she had completely forgotten her original intention, which was to invite Alsha to an evening concert.
An eighteen-year-old elf... considered a legal adult by human standards, but by their clan's age calculations, she's still essentially a minor, Damian thought to himself, watching her retreating figure. Alsha's face really is a lethal weapon against everyone—young, old, male, and female.
With no one left to disturb him, Damian returned to his secluded table and picked up the magical catalog once more. It was time to browse for items outside of the Meditation Methods.
He desperately needed to purchase the Other World alternative materials necessary for refining the Philosopher's Stone.
The catalog possessed an enchanted search function. By tracing the desired materials onto the parchment with magic, it automatically snapped to the corresponding detailed inventory interface.
Damian couldn't help but marvel once again; the magical infrastructure of the Royal Capital was truly miraculous.
After tracking down all the necessary substitute alchemical ingredients required to forge the Philosopher's Stone , he filled in the delivery address for Alsha's Third Ring duplex and seamlessly paid using the vast reservoir of contribution points under her name.
Besides the Wizards Manual - Part One and the Philosopher's Stone materials , Damian also aggressively bought up every single restricted Runic spell matrix that caught his eye.
By the time he closed the catalog, Damian had completely drained every last contribution point from Madam Alsha's account.
[75 STONES] - Unlock1 Bonus Chapter
[150 STONES] - Unlock 2 Bonus Chapters
[300 STONES] - Unlock 3 Bonus Chapters