Hidden Corner

 Chapter 601 601 Study 1

He had seen the gryphon in the stories of his previous life, but this was the first time he heard about it in this blind spot.

If he could get closer to this creature that uses spell-like abilities, he might

 “I’m very interested, so what is your purpose?” Li Chengyi said bluntly.

Since the other party takes the initiative to throw out this bait, it must have something to appeal to.

"My purpose is very simple. The younger generation from our nearby territory have formed a youth association on their own, but there are not yet enough people to join, so if you can join," Mina said with a smile, her face was relaxed at this time, In fact, I was a little nervous.

 After all, in any case, the man in front of him is also a real nobleman with real territorial power, who holds military power in his hands.

Different from those of them who still have a little money at home. In fact, they are already two classes.

 Because whether they can inherit the family title in the future still needs to go through a series of tests.

"Youth Club?" Li Chengyi glanced at the people talking not far away. They were all little kids.

“I’m usually very busy, so I may not have time to play with you.”

"It doesn't matter. We don't have much to do on weekdays." Mina's forehead jumped, she suppressed the anger in her heart and forced a smile.

“So, to put it another way, I wonder if you would like to sell some books about the practice of mage?”

"Okay, Mr. Carlos, I don't have much time. I can understand your desire and yearning for magic, but I still want to warn you not to peek into the mage's field without permission. That will only bring trouble to yourself. Disaster."

The atmosphere became more and more lively, but Li Chengyi frowned and sat in the corner quietly drinking juice alone.

The man has short, messy brown hair, deep blue eyes with deep-set eye sockets, and light dark circles. There are flames and six-pointed star marks on the edge of his robe.

"Can't you be accommodating? I am willing to donate one thousand gold coins to you as the cost of spell research." Li Chengyi said solemnly.

 In this era when ten gold coins can allow ordinary people to live a normal life for a month, a thousand gold coins is not a small amount, even for him and Conovian.

“These props require a mage to use, so it’s useless even if you take them.” Conovian was obviously impatient.

"I'm sorry, this is not about the money, but because if I take the money, I can't do the work, and it will be unfair to you. I don't want to make grudges with others for no reason." Conovine replied.

 Mage!

 Li Chengyi stood up immediately.

Li Chengyi fell silent.

That is the only support mage in the Tislan territory - Conovian Kasa.

 “That’s okay.” Li Chengyi nodded slightly and glanced at the hall.

 The housekeeper led several people to a side hall and let them talk by themselves.

 He nodded towards Mina, passed by her, and walked straight towards the mage.

“Just a name?” Li Chengyi asked.

 There was a pause, and his mind was spinning rapidly.

"I'm sorry, first of all, I don't have any detection tools. In addition, the qualifications are fixed and cannot be changed since birth, so I'm sorry that there is nothing I can do." Conovian shrugged.

“According to the aristocratic law, you should have gone through the qualification blood test when you were three years old, so whether you have the qualifications or not has already been determined.” The middle-aged mage answered calmly.

At this time, a group of people just came down from the second floor. Among them, the housekeeper of Viscount Tisilan, accompanied by a bearded man in blue robe, walked downstairs calmly.

  And there are obviously not a few people who have the same goal as him.

Most of the mages in the empire also have territories. His territory is no smaller than Okla, so there is no special treatment in attitude.

 Although she doesn’t look pretty, she can still be considered cute despite all the different outfits.

Li Chengyi stayed where he was, watching the other party leave, frowning slightly.

Li Chengyi sat and waited patiently, watching the relatives of the two mages in front come forward to communicate. After the exchange, he stood up and bowed slightly to each other.

“Secretly collecting and purchasing mage practice books is a serious violation of imperial laws. In serious cases, the imperial mage association may label them as heretics and carry out military clearance.”

There were several nobles who also stood up and walked towards the mage.

 “Yes.” Mina replied. It feels like the blood vessels in my forehead are bulging more.

"Please stop thinking like this!" Conovine's originally cold expression suddenly turned serious, and his voice quickly rose in pitch.

 Li Chengyi asked again.

 “Sorry, excuse me.”

 The status of mages in the empire is very high. To be precise, the reason why the entire Sora Empire has such a high strength and status is mainly related to the mages.

"In that case, I wonder if Lord Conovian can sell me some small items and props used by mages. The price is negotiable."

 He left the last sentence, turned around and walked out of the side hall, saying no more.

Li Chengyi felt so frightened that he was not even allowed to study on his own.

 It seems that this is a kind of maintenance and blockade of its own position by the empire's superior class.

The salon soon reached its climax. The Viscount personally spoke. His two daughters and twin sisters appeared together. Their identical appearance and figure immediately attracted everyone's admiration.

"Dear Master Conovian, I am Carlos from the Okla Territory." Li Chengyi introduced himself, "I came to see you to ask you to test whether I can become a mage."

 When it was his turn to step forward, the mage's attitude was slightly more formal. After all, he was a territorial noble with real power. Although he is only a baron, his territory is not large.

“Can’t we test it again?” Li Chengyi asked.

This trip, meeting this mage was his real main purpose.

 Because the founding emperor of the empire was a powerful mage noble.

 The plan failed.

I didn’t expect the mages to block their own knowledge so tightly, not even allowing them to secretly study it themselves.

 It seems that the previous actions have to be slightly modified.

He was thinking about how to arrange his future actions. The income from the baronies in the three towns was still enough, but it could only barely support his daily book purchases.

 If you want to spend more on mages, it is far from enough.

 So it still needs to be open source.

 In addition, since mage-related items are not allowed to be bought and sold privately, he still needs to find a channel that is concealed enough.

 Shaking the ruby-like juice in his hand, Li Chengyi thought quietly.

 Suddenly, there were bursts of cheers outside the hall, mixed with the clash of weapons.

 When he came to his senses, he found that there were few people left in the hall.

The people present at the meeting were all nobles from the nearby territories and their families. Apart from his handsome face, he was actually inconspicuous among them.

 Because Okla Territory is not considered strong or even weak in the surrounding territories.

 Hence, no one took the initiative to befriend him. The adults thought he was young and embarrassed, while the younger ones thought he was a baron and the threshold was high.

Li Chengyi stood up and walked out of the hall. Anyway, he made up his mind to gather the number of people to go through the ceremony, so he mixed in the crowd and looked at the two nobles fighting on the grass outside.

They were two aristocratic young men whom they did not know. When they fought, they were very organized in their attack and defense.

 Under the applause of the two viscount's daughters, the two young men became more and more like roosters with spread wings, fighting back and forth.

Soon, one of the boys was hit on the shoulder by a slash, staggered to the ground, and lost. He looked depressed.

"Babbitt wins, and the winner will make a request within his ability to the Viscount! Who else wants to challenge!" the guard on the side shouted loudly.

Soon, another noble boy came up, but was easily cut down with a few swords.

This young man named Babbitt was tall and strong. He raised his sword proudly and shouted.

Li Chengyi stood aside and watched the noble youths coming up one after another, trying to defeat the man, but they were all controlled by him for a longer or shorter time and were defeated.

This Babbitt's swordsmanship is not considered exquisite. The key is that he is very powerful and has long stamina. He won seven or eight battles by relying on his physique.

 When I hit the back, the people around me were completely silent.

"Is this the strength of the knights in the east?" Babbitt was a little crazy. Seeing that no one came forward, he made a show of swordsmanship, with a reserved and arrogant smile on his face.

“I just came from the royal capital to visit my cousin Alice, and by the way, I wanted to test the strength of the younger generation here. Now it seems that they are all a little behind.”

His words were reserved, but they also caused the people around him to frown slightly.

 Some people looked at Viscount Tislan and found that he also looked a little unhappy.

 Obviously this incident was not arranged by him.

"This Babbitt is the disciple of a noble envoy who came to the royal capital this time. It seems that the royal family has some opinions on the east, and there are some differences with the Viscount." Mina quietly moved closer behind Li Chengyi and said, vocal channel.

“This is intentional to embarrass the Viscount.” She whispered.

"Then what? What does it have to do with me?" Li Chengyi said lightly. He's not interested in any of this.

 Human struggles are far less important in his eyes than seeking knowledge and igniting the divine fire. As long as it doesn't interfere with him.

"Relationship? Didn't you agree to join the Youth Club? How about getting married?" Mina encouraged in a low voice.

 “Not interested.” Li Chengyi refused.

 He is not afraid of trouble, but he does not like trouble.

Mina wanted to say something else. Soon, Jayne, the young man who wanted to challenge Li Chengyi before the youth meeting, rushed out.

"I'll do it!" Jayne was holding a single-edged sword, a shield in one hand, and wearing light leather armor. He was angry and struck Babbitt in the head with a sword.

 Dang!

 The two of them blocked each other.

　　Then one person raised his foot and kicked, and the other struck him with a shield.

There was another muffled sound, and the two separated.

 In the blink of an eye, the two of them changed their moves one after another and fought for more than ten times, with no winner or loser.

But this is only on the surface. In fact, Jayne's strength and physique are not as good as his opponent at all. That is because the opponent has fought many games in a row and consumed a lot of money, so he can barely fight against him.

 After beating him like this, he realized the problem himself, and the blood on his face became thicker and thicker.

ah!

With a sudden roar, Jayne jumped up, held his shield in front of him and stabbed downward with the sword.

This move is his ultimate kill. It is the ultimate move in the Tangta swordsmanship genre - shield jumping and heavy stabbing.

  Unfortunately, the opponent spotted his killer move in advance and easily avoided it with a roll.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 bang.

Jayne, who landed on the ground, was unable to dodge and was kicked from the side by Babbitt. He fell to the ground and tried to get up, but it was too late.

His neck was stuck by a double-edged sword, and he was unable to move immediately.

 “Winner, Babbitt!” the referee soldier shouted again.

 The faces of the people around him changed slightly.

 At this point, there is actually no point in continuing. Babbitt has fought so many games in a row. Even if someone comes later and beats him, the Eastern Territory will have lost all face.

“Who else?” Babbitt yelled, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a stern look in his eyes.

"Is there anyone else?" Viscount Tislan couldn't sit still. He was unwilling to let Babbitt make a request to him.

 Whether it’s about face or the interests of the Eastern Territory.

 But all the young elites from the east are here, and none of them can suppress the other.

 No one said anything.

The surrounding torches continued to burn, making crackling sounds. The nobles watching the show were silent at this time. The smiles on their faces gradually disappeared and were replaced by frowns.

Seeing that no one dared to speak out anymore, the arrogance on Babbitt's face became even more obvious.

 “Looks like I won.”

 The competition is over.

　　Bobbitt successfully obtained the authority to make requests to the viscount. This made everyone look ugly.

Li Chengyi finished watching the play and participating, and then got on the carriage leaving.

Just as the carriage drove up the driveway, there was an angry shout from behind.

 “Carlos!”

 A fast horse rushed close to the carriage and stopped sharply on the side of the carriage, showing the knight's high equestrian skills.

Sitting on the horse was Jayne. His face was still red and his eyes were fixed on Li Chengyi in the car window.

 “Why don’t you go up? Why do you let Babbitt be arrogant?!”

“I don’t like meaningless fights.” Li Chengyi replied casually, without raising his head, still flipping through the book in his hand.

 Although it is about cultivating insects, if he wants to ignite the divine fire, he needs to absorb all types of knowledge.

Anyone who prevents him from igniting the divine fire is his enemy. Everyone who has nothing to do with him lighting the divine fire is just a passerby.

 This is the criterion he set for himself.

 Protect yourself, don’t cause trouble, avoid danger, and strengthen yourself. This is the core of his behavior.

 After all, he did not forget that he was forced into this blind corner.

 So far, he has not encountered any real fatal danger that could threaten him.

 So he has reason to believe that there are huge crises and dangers lurking waiting for him.

 “Are you still from the East!?” Jayne suddenly became even more angry.

 “So what? If not, so what?” Li Chengyi replied.

"You!" Jayne was speechless. The other party didn't even care about his identity as an Easterner. What else could he say?

 In his opinion, Li Chengyi should be at least about the same strength as him, but he is unwilling to stand up and speak out unanimously. This is a betrayal of the east!

 It can be done now.

Jayne was riding on the horse, his chest rising and falling with anger, and he could only watch the carriage go away quietly.

 (End of this chapter)