Chapter 657: Free Labor

As soon as Lucy finished speaking, Saul withdrew his earlier aura.

He had never believed that the Stargate Council selected powerful second-ranks just to have them kill each other.

That would be a foolish waste.

However, Luke had provoked him covertly several times, and Saul wouldn’t pretend not to notice.

Anyway, if killing were really required, he would definitely be the one to survive to the end.

No matter what trump cards these people had, once Saul opened his consciousness battlefield, none of them could escape.

Moreover, he was now a second-rank wizard. Although he wasn’t confident about using the mental battlefield to restrain third-rank wizards, dealing with wizards of the same rank was no problem.

Corey’s two eyeballs returned to their wooden stupor, only Luke still looked somewhat stiff.

Lucy was quite satisfied with the warning effect of her words, and the ice on her face melted somewhat.

She raised her hand, and three floating magic scrolls suddenly appeared in her palm.

Each scroll had an exquisite seal with golden patterns on it.

“This is a magic formation called Ice Lock that the Stargate Council just designed to suppress Storm Eyes. But for various reasons, it hasn’t been completed yet.

If any of you can complete the formation’s design and improve your own strength to the degree where you can independently loosen the door within your body, you’ll be considered victorious in the selection.

The Stargate Council will provide all necessary human and material resources for advancement to help you completely push open the door within your body.”

None of the three candidates reacted strongly to Lucy’s words. Obviously, not just Saul, but the others had also known about the rewards for successful selection before coming.

They just hadn’t expected the selection condition to be researching magic formations.

Luke replaced himself with a new mouth and casually threw the old one to Kafka beside him.

Kafka caught the mouth and swallowed it with a “crunch,” like a beast that had been hungry for a long time.

“Luke’s revival has serious side effects,” Saul thought, shaking his head internally, “He can’t compare to my mentor at all.”

“Magic formation design and improvement are all measured in years. Isn’t using this as a selection condition somewhat inappropriate?” Luke said with his new mouth.

Lucy turned to look at him, “If you feel you can’t complete the Ice Lock formation’s design and modification within one year, you can withdraw from the selection.”

Luke immediately narrowed his eyes, obviously displeased with Lucy’s words and attitude.

Corey still showed no emotional expression.

Saul touched his chin, seemingly thinking about how to complete the task quickly, but strangely thought, “It’s not my imagination—Lucy really doesn’t like this selection. Is she dissatisfied with the matter of selecting a third-rank, or dissatisfied with us candidates?”

A flash of amusement passed through Saul’s eyes. He hadn’t overlooked that Lucy was also a second-rank wizard who had been wandering at second-rank for a long time.

If she were truly the young lady of the Stargate Council, perhaps she wouldn’t care about this opportunity to advance to third-rank.

But she was just an artificial human—Stargate Chairman Alick might not be willing to give her so many resources for advancement.

And relying on herself… Saul really hadn’t seen how talented this young lady was.

“If someone among us can simultaneously loosen the door within their body and complete the Ice Lock formation design, how would that be calculated?” Saul asked.

Since it was a competition, the rules must be clarified.

“If two people simultaneously come to submit formations, or arrive at Old Days Manor within one day of each other, then we’ll compare the quality of their formation designs. The one with tighter pollution containment wins.” Lucy answered without hesitation, having obviously thought of this answer long ago.

“From your meaning,” Luke had regained his composure by now, “We don’t need to research in the same place? How do you guarantee candidates won’t cheat by seeking others’ help?”

Saul thought, “Even if you locked me up with you all, you wouldn’t discover me seeking others’ help.”

“I never said you couldn’t seek others’ help.” Lucy gave an answer no one expected, “Your knowledge and connections are also part of evaluating you. After all, we don’t want a new third-rank wizard who can only fight independently when battle is needed.”

“We don’t want a powerful third-rank wizard. We want someone who can quickly step forward and solve problems when issues arise in the Borderland.”

“If any of you can invite a fifth-rank wizard, the Stargate Council would have no problem directly promoting you to elder, let alone third-rank.”

Seeing that no one had other questions.

Lucy distributed the three scrolls to the three people.

After Saul received his scroll, from the corner of his eye he still watched Lucy and saw her gaze also lingering on the scrolls.

“Indeed, she actually wants to be one of the candidates,” Saul silently put away the scroll, called Byron, and the two flew away together on the giant bird Diu Diu.

Standing on the bird’s back, Byron was the first to unfold the Ice Lock scroll.

Although this was a problem the Stargate Council had given to several second-rank wizards, Byron’s foundational knowledge was sufficient to understand the topic.

“This Ice Lock formation has the same problem-solving approach as part of the inertization formula we’re currently researching.”

Saul glanced over and nodded, “Both are about reducing the activity of Black Tide pollution. But they’re thinking of freezing, while we’re thinking of deactivation—the degree differs somewhat.”

Byron wasn’t proud because of this, “If we didn’t have already deactivated black powder in our hands, we probably wouldn’t have thought of this level either. Even if we had, we’d have no clue.”

“This formation claims to be incomplete, but actually only has a general framework of thinking.” Saul chuckled and stopped looking at the scroll, “The Stargate Council found three free laborers to help them find new methods for sealing Storm Eyes. Even if we all fail in the end, they’re not afraid—they can temporarily send a third-rank to guard the Borderland until the Storm Eye problem is solved.”

Byron slowly rolled up the formation scroll, saying in a flat voice, “But they don’t know we’re also researching similar problems. Although this formation only has a framework, it gives us a new method for solving problems.”

“I now have new problem-solving ideas for a difficulty that had me stuck.”

Saul smiled and patted Diu Diu beneath him, “Then let’s speed up and return.”

The pale yellow giant bird traced a beautiful arc across the sky.

The flying shuttle arrived on time to pick up its master.

The pumpkin carriage disappeared on the road.

Only Lucy remained standing quietly at the gate of Old Days Manor.

Her beautiful eyes were slightly lowered, looking at the ground diagonally in front, not knowing what she was thinking.

After about ten minutes, when the three candidates had gone far beyond sight, another person slowly emerged from Old Days Manor.

He wore a smile on his face, walked with a casual posture, and his middle and ring fingers held a small silver harp.

“The feeling of personally sending away opportunities isn’t pleasant, is it?”

Lucy suddenly turned around, the coldness on her face completely disappeared, gradually becoming a wronged but stubborn expression that couldn’t be revealed.

“You don’t understand the situation. Don’t talk nonsense.”

If it were before, Lucy might have attacked directly, but now after becoming familiar with Kismet, she found that although this person was frivolous and sometimes spoke nonsense, he was considerate and always unconsciously took care of her emotions.

Plus, he had been half-killed by Ophelia’s punishment last time. If Lucy hadn’t found him, he might have lain in this dangerous manor until death.

This made Lucy reluctant to beat him up.

“I’m not talking nonsense. I’ve watched clearly these past days. After you got the scroll, you waited another day before calling everyone over. You actually don’t want to give up this opportunity to advance to third-rank, right?”

Kismet’s index finger gently slid across the strings, producing subtle yet lingering music.

“You also want to become a candidate, don’t you? This is simple—I can help you kill one of them. Then wouldn’t a candidate position be freed up?”

Kismet continued approaching, his breath already hitting the woman’s forehead.

“Who do you want to die?”

“Luke?”

“Corey?”

“…Or Saul?”

(End of Chapter)

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