Chapter 132: Abnormalities in the night
“Master Fanny and Bryan, what are the two of you doing?” Lisa called out from behind them, looking at both of them suspiciously.
“No, nothing.” Fanny glared at Han Shuo and pointed her finger in the direction of her lab, turning and walking inside afterwards.
When she reached out her hand, the space ring that Han Shuo had given her was displayed very prominently on her hand. Han Shuo was filled with joy after taking only one glance at it. He knew that Fanny had already accepted the ring. She was pointing in the direction to the lab, obviously telling him to wait for her there.
He hadn’t planned on lingering anyways, and he smiled foolishly as he nodded at Fanny. He then left on his own accord and walked to her lab.
After waiting there for a while, Fanny returned to the lab after ending her class in the training field. She opened the door to let Han Shuo in and asked him with her usual expression, “Alright, what do you want?”
Although Fanny was acting normally, both of them knew that their relationship had undergone a subtle shift. It was basically impossible for Fanny to maintain the dignity of a teacher in front of Han Shuo now.
Grinning cheekily at Fanny, Han Shuo smirked, “Don’t be so serious!”
Rolling her eyes bad temperedly at Han Shuo, Fanny said, “I need to be serious towards you; otherwise you shine so radiantly if I give you the slightest bit of warmth and your hands and feet become naughty.”
How were these ambiguous tones those of a teacher to a student? It was practically a flirtatious byplay between lovers. Han Shuo still felt content at heart even when Fanny was glaring at him.
Although he was delighted, Han Shuo’s willpower had gone through much tempering and he wasn’t someone who didn’t know what was truly important. He stilled for a moment, then started asking Fanny about all the difficulties in magical theory he’d run into lately.
When she saw that Han Shuo was raising questions, Fanny also turned solemn as she regained her attitude as a teacher. She carefully explained all the theories in detail out all the theories for Han Shuo. When she saw how hardworking Han Shuo was, and that he could even use the journeyman magic of Bone Prison now, Fanny was happier than even Han Shuo.
She sighed after a while, “With your abilities, it looks like you’ll be able to progress to adept mage before too long. I have to think for a moment before answering the questions you’re asking now, and can’t just answer off the cuff like I did before. It looks like I’ll be unable to teach you before long.”
A good student would impart onto the teacher an incomparable sense of achievement. But because Han Shuo had truly progressed too quickly, this gave Fanny some pressure. She was only an adept mage after all, and was only one level higher than Han Shuo now according to the divisions of power and levels.
Han Shuo’s rate of improvement was beyond her imagination. If things progressed at the current is rate, Fanny would make a weaker and weaker impact on Han Shuo. This made it difficult for Fanny to bear when this feeling permeated her heart, but she was still rather resigned to it.
“Heh heh, no matter what, you’re always going to be the Master Fanny who brought me in and set me on the right path. Hehe, even if our relationship changes in the future, your identity as my teacher will never change.” Han Shuo’s brain was working quite fast at the moment, and he could more or less guess her current thoughts based on the changes in her expression. He immediately spoke to her with a smile.
Shaking her head with a slight sigh, Fanny’s beautiful brows immediately creased and she spoke in a worried tone. “Our Babylon Academy only has Gene and I as the two teachers in the necromancy major. We’re only adept mages. When you learn all of our knowledge and have no one to teach you then, your rate of improvement will surely face obstacles. I’m most worried about this!”
“You’re thinking too much. When that day truly arrives, there may even be an even better way to resolve things. You don’t need to worry that much at this time.” Han Shuo could clearly feel Fanny’s concern for him. However, with the existence of the cemetery of death, Han Shuo believed that as his strength improved, he’d be able to make it into the further depths of the cemetery of death. He could vaguely feel that the inner depths of the cemetery of death would have ways to help him become even stronger.
Fanny seemed to think things through with Han Shuo’s speech and she nodded with a smile. “Perhaps you’re right, I am indeed thinking too much. Alright, it’s getting late. Go practice magic if you have nothing else. I’m going to go get dinner as well.”
“How about if we go to dinner together?” Han Shuo’s heart lurched as he offered this naughty suggestion.
“Humph. Dream on. I will have nothing to do with you before you become an adept mage. Mm, hurry and leave now. You’re never up to any good if you stay here.” Fanny smiled and waved a magic staff in her hand, trying to get Han Shuo to leave.
Han Shuo was in no rush either as he yelped accordingly and backed up towards the door. Just as he was about to be swept out of the lab, he suddenly moved like a flash of lightning and kissed Fanny, laughing merrily as he made his escape amidst Fanny’s embarrassment.
“Darned kid, I’ll get you one day!” Fanny said huffily as she slammed the lab door closed with an audible clang.
At this moment, something registered in Han Shuo’s mind as he suddenly heard a low panting sound. Three original demons suddenly flew out without a sound and floated towards the origin of the sound.
Earth rider Clark was hiding by a fence post in the distance, his originally handsome features distorted by anger. He was staring at Han Shuo with a look of hatred, and Han Shuo was quite familiar with that kind of look. That was how Fitch had been looking at him before he’d taken his revenge.
His heart chilled, Han Shuo suddenly felt that this was a bit tricky. Clark was an earth rider, and Han Shuo had witnessed the might of his strength before. Although Han Shuo’s strength had taken great leaps forward, he was well aware of his limits and knew that he absolutely couldn’t take Clark on alone. It was a bit difficult to be hated by such a character.
Privately weighing up solutions to take care of him, Han Shuo walked slowly towards the dorm. The earth rider Clark was following close behind him, leaving silently only after Han Shuo walked into the dorm. Through his observation via the original demons, Han Shuo could clearly see the expression on Clark’s face and knew that Clark wouldn’t take things lying down.
With his strength as an earth rider and the methods he displayed in the Dark Forest, Han Shuo believed that if Clark were to make a move against Han Shuo, he wouldn’t try hidden subterfuge like that kid Fitch. It was likely that Clark would bring about an attack as indomitable as a thunderbolt once he commenced, and would absolutely give him no chance to come back. With Clark’s strength and confidence, he would never leave anyone alive.
Clark and Claude were brothers, so their personalities were exceedingly similar. They were both people who appeared forthright and full of sunshine on the surface, but were characters that were filled with darkness inside. Han Shuo had long since discerned this point and thus been privately on guard against them.
Han Shuo didn’t linger in the dorm that night, but rather hid himself in the old warehouse, placing one original demon in the dorm. He wanted to see if Clark would take advantage of this opportunity to bring about a devastating blow to himself.
The warehouse was as messy and dirty as usual as all sorts of useless items were shoved within, only to be cleaned in the morning by Borg and Carey. Now that Han Shuo was tall, muscular, and more than double his original size, the warehouse was a bit of a tight fit for him, but for security concerns, he still had to do so.
When all was quiet in the dead of night, Han Shuo meditated silently to concentrate his mental strength. As he remained alert mentally, his entire body seemed to meld with the color of the night. His breathing and heart beat decreased at an astonishing pace. If it wasn’t for the fact that heat remained within his body, bystanders would’ve thought he was a dead man.
The speed of his meditations was much faster than it had previously been. Although Han Shuo had been mentally prepared for this phenomenon, when he felt the concentration speed of his mental strength was much faster than before and that his mental strength was replenishing at a flabbergasting pace, he finally understood that the level of his mental strength training had surely outstripped ordinary mages.
After who knew how long, when the frosty night was about to pass, the original demons finally discovered Clark’s body, just when Han Shuo felt that he’d overreacted and Clark wouldn’t come by. In stark contrast to the Dark Mantle or any other nightwalker, Clark didn’t conceal himself at all. He still wore the clothes that he had worn during the day, but his face appeared a bit overcast. He strode in from afar and didn’t arouse anyone’s attentions.
When he arrived at the window of the room Han Shuo lived in, Clark dashed forward and leapt upwards, flying through the air and landed adroitly in Han Shuo’s room.
“Although I don’t have concrete proof, the disappearance of my younger brother Claude must surely have something to do with you. Don’t think that I’m too harsh, it’s that you’re simply too irritating. You’ll vanish after today, and Fanny will never find traces of you, even if she searches.” Clark muttered to himself after landing through the window and surged forward like lightning, stabbing downwards with his sword.
Han Shuo had used some of the pillows in the closet to set up his bed and made it it seemed like someone was sleeping there. Therefore, when Clark stabbed downwards and even made a faint sound ring out with his sword, it gave him a feeling that something was amiss. Clark pulled back the blanket to see that there were only pillows inside. His face changed slightly.
He stared off into space for only a moment and immediately put things back as they were. He retreated from the room like lightning and seemed to plan to return along the way he came.
Just as this moment, the original demons patrolling the area suddenly felt another person’s presence approaching. This person was like a shadow in the night, his body almost glued to the wall of the classroom building and observing Clark’s actions from afar.
Han Shuo had thought that this person was in cahoots with Clark, but when the person followed surreptitiously behind Clark after he left, Han Shuo immediately understood that this fellow’s target should be Clark. He was greatly startled as he hadn’t thought so many random, bizarre matters would take place in the Academy.
As he saw Clark and that person run in the direction of the knight school, Han Shuo was deathly afraid that the original demons wouldn’t be able to see everything clearly because they needed to keep a distance. He immediately dashed out of the warehouse and kept an exceedingly large distance between the two, observing them through the original demons.
When the original demon followed them back to the knight school, Han Shuo discovered that Clark entered one of the rooms and sat there without speaking. This room was where Clark had once spoken to Duke. It seemed like this was where Clark lived now.
The shadow that had been following Clark made its way here and stood for a while in the distance after seeing Clark enter a room. He then made his way soundlessly in another direction in the knight school.
He sent an original demon to remain within Clark’s room and had another keep watch on the surroundings. The third original demon followed that shadow, trying to glean more information about it.
After a short while, the shadow made its way to an isolated room in the knight school, lifted up a few tiles on the roof, and bounded into the room from above.
“You’ve come back.” Lawrence was sitting in the dim room and holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, speaking faintly to the shadow that had landed from the roof.
Han Shuo was greatly astonished. He hadn’t thought that the shadow’s final destination would be Lawrence’s room. As the son of a great finance minister in the Empire, Lawrence had actually bought black iron ore from him a while back. Han Shuo had even sparred with Lawrence, and had some goodwill towards this person. To think that he’d sent someone to follow Clark!
Han Shuo suddenly thought of Candide’s words to him the first time he’d arrived in the Dark Mantle. Candide had said that Lawrence’s identity was uncommon, and had reminded him that if Han Shuo walked too closely with Lawrence, it could result in attracting an enormous amount of trouble. Candide had wanted to speak further about Lawrence’s identity, but didn’t say more.
When Han Shuo saw this scene, he immediately understood that Lawrence’s identity wasn’t as simple as merely the son of a great finance minister. The son of a finance minister wouldn’t warrant such a reminder from one of the three heavyweights of the Dark Mantle.
“Yes, Clark went to the necromancy dorms after leaving his room and darted into one of the rooms. He seemed to want to kill one of the students. However, I saw him walk out with a dejected look on his face and didn’t hear any sounds of fighting. He likely didn’t find who he was looking for.” The shadowy figure responded.
Lawrence was suddenly interested as he looked at the shadowy figure. “Oh, that’s a bit odd. Right, tell me which room did Clark enter?”
When the shadow described the location of Han Shuo’s room, Lawrence was taken aback and then smiled mysteriously, “So he’d wanted to make a move against Bryan. Heh heh, this is interesting. Quite interesting, indeed. It looks like I need to sit Bryan down for a good conversation.”