Chapter 422: 422

Elemental cores weren’t exactly rare, but as excellent magic materials, they were consumed on a large scale both in enchantment and magic-equipment-forging .

So, not many of them were available on the market .

Besides, it was even harder to gather five kinds of elemental cores at the same time .

Therefore, Roland was rather surprised that the Guild of Mercenaries delivered the five types of elemental cores so quickly .

Meeting with the men from the Guild of Mercenaries and giving them the final payment, he got the five elemental cores .

Roland had read introductions to elemental cores from the books in his Magic Tower . They were said to be rhombic crystals the size of an adult’s fist . Different elements would result in different colors .

Those cores were rather beautiful . They seemed to be crystals, but there was flickering magic light flowing in them like very tiny shooting stars .

Roland put the five elemental cores into the system backpack . He planned to go to Ill in a couple of days and learn how to transform into an Elemental Lord .

After finishing the business about the magic school and the Magic Tower, Roland activated a teleportation spell out of the city and came to Ill, the unique border town that was split between human beings and elves, again .

Because it was near the Elf Forest and under the cover of the magic power of the World Tree, the air here was particularly fresh . One would be relaxed and reinvigorated if they took a deep breath .

That was how ordinary people would feel .

However, as a Mage, Roland could tell that the effect of the air was because of the abundant natural power in it .

Compared to the elemental magic power, which was neutral, natural magic power had more qualities of life because it was preferred by all natural life .

Of course, the natural magic power could slightly strengthen all natural life too .

The most obvious example of the enhancement was that the human beings living around the Elf Forest were much healthier than those living in the middle of the human world .

Entering the town, Roland was about to go to Susie’s manor when he met a patrol team of elves .

The sheriff saw Roland and came to him promptly with a smile . “Hey, kin, it’s been a long time . ”

Kin… Roland was stumped for a moment . Then he remembered that he picked the elven bloodline for his Hybrid specialization .

Players like Roland only regarded themselves as human beings, and their bloodline was nothing more than a background setting for them .

They never took it seriously, so they never really felt anything special about it .

But in the eyes of the elves, Roland was really a half-elf .

That was a cognitive dissonance .

The handsome sheriff was rather warm . “You’ve come to the town again . Are you going to stay here henceforth?”

The sheriff’s presumption was well-grounded . Generally speaking, only the elves who intended to return to the forest would stay in Ill now and then to see if they could be adapted to forest life .

Roland shook his head . “I’m here to meet someone . ”

“What a shame . ” The sheriff pointed to his left and said, “Do you see the giant white eucalyptus tree? My tree house is right above it . Drop by if you have time . ”

Roland was slightly surprised by the enthusiasm of this elf .

They weren’t wary of him at all just because he had the eleven bloodline?

Well, that was true .

The elves barely suspected their own kind except for the drows, unless the drows had really done many things that made the elves trust them .

Smiling at Roland again, the sheriff left with the patrol team .

Roland came to Susie the Silver Fox’s manor .

Perhaps because the guards recognized Roland, they let him pass without stopping him at all .

The moment Roland came in, he saw the sexy long-eared drow lying on a long chair in revealing clothes and giggling in the middle of lots of men .

Susie spotted him immediately after Roland showed up .

She quickly stood up and said to the other men . “My date is here . You can go back now . ”

All the men were frustrated . They glared at Roland angrily for a moment, before they all reluctantly left .

After all the outsiders in the manor were gone, Susie said, “You’re finally willing to come here? Lord Ans waited for you for half a month, before he had to leaven to tend to his business . ”

“Sorry about that,” Roland said rather awkwardly . “I was delayed by many things . ”

Susie walked by Roland and said, “Follow me . ”

Roland walked behind Susie .

As they moved on, Roland could smell Susie’s scent .

Roland had thought that a drow as unrestrained as Susie would wear lots of perfumes, but on the contrary, her perfume wasn’t strong but very pleasant . It was like the fragrance of flowers .

They climbed to the third floor of the building, and Susie pulled out a dark golden suitcase from the bottom of her bed . She opened it in front of Roland .

Inside the suitcase were two hardcover books, whose paper was white and whose writing was black . There were also plenty of handwritten, complicated patterns at the margins of the pages .

Both books were rather quaint .

Susie picked up one of them and displayed it before Roland .

Roland saw the familiar pictograms again .

Then, Susie closed the book and asked proudly, “Ancient Elvish is incomprehensible even for most elves . Can you really understand the book?”

Roland shook his head . “I can’t . ”

“I can teach you . ” Susie sat down on the bed . As she leaned back, her long, straight legs were crossed and fully revealed before Roland’s eyes . “But you have to find me another set of elemental cores . ”

“That’s at least sixty gold coins . ” Roland clicked his tongue . “Your tuition fee is really high . ”

“High as it may be, you still have to learn the language . ” Susie seemed determined to rip Roland off . “You can always learn it from someone else, or give up the prospect of being an Elemental Lord . ”

Roland stared Susie in the eye . “You want to be an Elemental Lord too?”

“I’m a Sword Dancer,” Susie said matter-of-factly . “The Elemental Lord is also known as a Sword Dancer among the elves . You think I’m not interested in that?”

Roland smiled and took the book from Susie’s hand . He then snapped his finger and cast Language Proficiency on himself .

The drows could cast spells too, so Susie recognized what Roland had just cast easily .

She jumped to her feet in shock . “You’re capable of this spell?”

“Is it strange?” Roland looked at her .

Susie sighed and lay on the bed in disappointment, her arms and legs stretched out . With her messy and revealing clothes, she couldn’t be more inviting .

Roland moved his eyes away . He had seen this too often from Andonara, and he had gained enough resistance .

Besides, Susie wasn’t as beautiful as Andonara, and her body and her vibe weren’t as good either .

The only aspect in which she dwarfed Andonara was her wildness .

Some people liked wild girls, but some didn’t .

Roland was one of the neutral people who appreciated such girls but weren’t crazy about them .

While turning the pages, Roland asked, “It’s just sixty gold coins . I’m sure you can gather them yourself, can’t you?”

“Just sixty gold coins?” Susie turned her body around . “That’s sixty gold coins! Did you know that this manor only cost me thirty gold coins in total? I’ve never had savings of more than twenty gold coins . Sixty gold coins is something that only the big nobles and magnates can take out casually . ”

“But you charged sixty gold coins for teaching me Ancient Elvish?”

“That’s Ancient Elvish that few people in the world can understand! I spent forty years learning it,” Susie shouted in discontent .

“It’s just an unpopular language,” Roland remarked unconcernedly . “It’s only of some historical and archaeological significance . I don’t think it’s a big deal . ”

“You’re too pragmatic . The fluency in Ancient Elvish shows that you are a man of knowledge and depth . ” Susie lay back on the bed again . “But all the good Mages are just like you . ”

Roland thought for a moment and said, “While I don’t need you to teach me Ancient Elvish, you can teach me other things . ”

“I don’t think there’s anything else I can teach you . ”

“What about the tricks in enchantment?”

Susie was briefly stunned . “The tricks of enchantment I know are not worth sixty gold coins . ”

“What do you know?”

“A lot . But all the tricks are rudimentary . ” Susie thought for a moment and said, “I can teach all of them to you, but they’re worth a dozen gold coins at most . ”

Enchantment was very important for Mages, but few human beings were capable of it .

Roland could hardly find a teacher to learn it .

The drows were naturally capable of enchantment, although some knew more tricks than the rest .

Now that he had come across a drow, he might as well learn it first .

“After I return to the human world, I can try to gather a set of elemental cores for you, and you will teach me the tricks of enchantment to me in exchange . ” Roland thought a moment and said, “In the meantime, you will owe me a favor . I may ask you to do something for me when I need you . ”

The drow looked at Roland in disbelief . “You’re so generous? That’s a price difference of more than forty gold coins . ”

“Sometimes, a favor is more valuable than that . ”

Susie laughed after hearing that . “You have faith in a favor promised by a drow?”

“I have faith in the credit of the elves,” Roland explained . “You’re in elf territory, but none of the elves come to you for trouble . So, you must have qualities to make them trust you . ”

Susie smiled, helplessness shining through her smooth, dark face . “Do you have to be so smart?”

“I’ll go back . ” Roland put the book back into the suitcase and closed the suitcase . He grabbed it and said, “I’ll come back to you after I gather the elemental cores . ”

Sitting on the bed, Susie hummed a response .

Roland teleported himself back to Delpon from Ill . He instantly released another mission for a set of elemental cores at the Guild of Mercenaries .

Though Susie claimed that her tricks were cheap, enchantment was really invaluable in the human world, because there was nowhere to learn it .

Besides, Roland could build big data models for the enchantment tricks he learned . The more he learned, the more patterns he would find .

With enough data, he would be able to infer a lot of things .

At this moment, Roland had almost completely cracked the mystery of the magic arrays .

Thanks to the exam-oriented education he received in his previous life, he was best at analyzing math problems and inferring the solution to these problems when he had their answers .

After he arrived at the Magic Tower from the Guild of Mercenaries, Vivian immediately came to him and said, “We’ve received a message that Chairman Tobian is dead . The headquarters do not have a leader now . All the branch chairmen are being summoned . On the tenth of next month, a new General Chairman will be elected . ”

“Was he killed by his bastard son?”

“No . ” Vivian shook her head . “According to our intelligence, he was killed by five Golden Sons . ”