88 Steal

After watching the attendant mage retreat and close the door behind him, the fiery-red-haired tower guardian walked to the enchantment table beside her and picked up a Demon Sealing rune that flowed with lightning from a box.

She hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn’t activate the communication spell inside.

The magic chanters who could be chosen as tower guardians were all members of ancient senator families that had a lineage in the Astral Council for centuries. As for training venues like the Astral Observatory that allowed one to mobilize mana as easily as breathing all year round, as long as one wasn’t too talented, one could basically train their mind and reach the threshold of the Legendary stage during their term.

On this basis, as long as one pulled some strings in the Senate, one could obtain a Legendary promotion vacancy and truly advance to the Legendary domain.

However, even with such generous conditions, most talented youths from senator families weren’t willing to train in the Astral Lighthouse. The requirements were only partly the reason. The key was that this form of training was too boring. Moreover, once they entered the Lighthouse, it meant that they were completely out of touch with the world.

Becoming a tower guardian meant becoming a part of the operation of the Astral Laws during their term of office. They couldn’t bring any personal emotions and family interests into their work. Not only could they not maintain contact with their families, but as tower guardian, they couldn’t even use their names. They could only address themselves with the lighthouse’s code name.

Back then, she voluntarily came to Nakuland, known as the Empire’s sewers, and became the tower guardian of the Viper constellation lighthouse in Blacklight City to break through to the Legendary stage and protect her family’s shaky seat in the Senate. Now that she had successfully advanced to the Legendary domain, the five-year period was almost up. She really didn’t want anything to happen in this city in the remaining month or so.

Especially in these troubled times.

Heaven knows why so much has happened recently—the Undead Tide, the manifestation of the Eighth Holy Spirit, and the Moon Realm parishes becoming active…

It was as if a huge revolution was brewing over this land.

If it weren’t for the restrictions of her status as the tower guardian, she wanted to contact her family in Ring City and ask them what the Astral Council’s attitude towards the Blackwater Province was.

She only hoped that nothing bad would happen in Blacklight City. At the very least, nothing bad would happen in the next month.

With this in mind, she spread her hand, and a shadow took shape in her hand. Then, it squirmed and transformed into a pitch-black bat.

“Inform the guards guarding the Mad Box to raise their vigilance by two levels during this period.”

The bat demon spirit made of shadows flapped its wings and flew out, merging into the night outside the lighthouse.

She looked at the deep night sky outside the lighthouse and heaved a sigh of relief.

If she ignored the Moon Realm parishioners outside the fortress, the only thing that could cause chaos in the Astral Lighthouse was probably the Mad Box that sealed the Lunar Monster.

She needed to do a good job of maintaining security. At the very least, she had to finish the rest of the month peacefully.

Other than that, she didn’t have any higher requirements for this unlucky place.



A tavern, another tavern.

William propped his collar and followed the Crow Feather Prophet into a tavern that smelled of cooked potatoes.

Why can’t taverns be avoided when it comes to gathering information?

William looked around at the terrible environment and couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.

The boss at the bar was wiping the equally dirty wine glass in his hand with a dirty rag. He believed that any normal customer would give up on ordering a glass here after seeing this scene.

The Crow Feather Prophet sat at the bar skillfully and said to the middle-aged man who looked a little dazed, “Two cups of Moonlight Brew.”

The man turned one eye to him with difficulty. William realized that the other party had a prosthetic glass eye.

Smack! Smack!

After a while, two cups of amber liquid were placed in front of the counter.

The Crow Feather Prophet picked up one of the cups and finished it in one gulp. William didn’t say anything. He sat beside him and fiddled with the cup.

“There’s only the night and nothing else…”

the Crow Feather Prophet lowered his voice and said to the boss.

After confirming the secret signal, the boss nodded without a change in expression.

He took out a wine cup cushion from under the bar and pressed it on the table. Then, he silently moved it to the Crow Feather Prophet’s hand.

“This is the garrison map of the Astral Lighthouse’s fortress periphery, as well as the information on the rotation of guards last month. They’ve been raising their guard level this month. Our demonic spirits don’t dare to probe too deeply, so you shouldn’t rely too much on information about this,”

the boss said as if he was talking to himself.

He continued, “If you need our cover, the Crows active in this area have already hoarded a considerable number of Magic Explosion Stones. You can detonate them on the west wall of the fortress area to attract their attention. Then, you can use the shadows to infiltrate from the fourth inlet on the east. We’ve already dislodged an opening in the magic barrier there. You can then enter the vicinity of the Astral Lighthouse for a deeper probe…”

“Wait…”

The Crow Feather Prophet interrupted the other party and turned his gaze to William.

“I’m not in charge of the Astral Lighthouse’s exploration mission like before. We plan on retrieving the target.”

The tavern owner stopped and glanced at the travel-worn William. Then, he said to the Crow Feather Prophet, “Just the two of you? You should remember how many people died from our last attempt, right?”

The “last time” he mentioned was 15 years ago.

Back then, the Crows’ elites were mobilized. A Legendary-level Beak and three Master-level Claws worked with the dozen or so Feathers who incited Blacklight City to riot and tried to barge into the Lighthouse Fortress.

As they had severely misjudged the level of defense the fortress area had for the seal, the outcome of that operation was an extremely tragic failure.

Not only did all the elite combatants back then die in the tower, but the entire Blacklight City’s intelligence system also suffered a devastating blow. The Crows still hadn’t completely recovered from that loss.

“They have recently tightened the defense of the Lighthouse Fortress. Moreover, I heard that the tower guardian’s realm is higher than 15 years ago. Once the alarm goes out, she can seal off all magic power around the fortress within half a minute,” the tavern owner warned.

This didn’t account for the consequences of releasing Demon General Mania after breaking the seal.

The tavern owner didn’t know William’s identity.

He wasn’t a Crowman, and he had never had the experience of forming a connection with the Father of the Crows in a stormy night dream.

Just as the Crow Feather Prophet was about to explain to him, William said, “We don’t plan on snatching the soul fragment. Instead, we plan on stealing it.”

The Crow Feather Prophet looked at the Presiding Judge in confusion.

He originally thought that this trip was a simple operation with the Presiding Judge charging into the fortress area with his mighty strength and snatching the soul fragment from the Viper Astral Lighthouse before evacuating.

However, from what he said, he wanted to infiltrate and steal the soul fragment?

Therefore, he didn’t plan on banishing the Demon General named Mania and letting the Divine Realm Lunar Monster wreak havoc in this city?

Or was the Presiding Judge waiting for the Astral Lighthouse and the Moon Realm to fight it out with the Gift Church before reaping the benefits?

Just as he was considering the Presiding Judge’s plan, the other party suddenly pointed at him and said, “To be precise, you’ll be the one to steal it.”

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