Chapter 139 : Chapter 139

Chapter 139. The Banquet

Fulan arrived at the entrance to an estate and looked inside at a glance.

The entire estate was not large, but its decorations were extremely meticulous. Everywhere, there were ornaments that made it clear the resident was a mage.

On the plaque by the entrance was the image of a staff, indicating that this was the residence of a mage.

From the gate, the first thing one saw was a small pool. In the middle of it stood a statue of a mage, gripping his staff tightly and gazing at the book floating before him.

Inside the estate stood a somewhat old house. Although its outer walls had clearly been maintained, there were still quite a few cracks and gaps.

Several of the windows had been reinforced with wooden planks, while some places that should have been windows had been sealed off entirely with boards.

In front of the main door was a projecting porch. The supporting pillars seemed to have been refurbished only recently and were painted a deep brown.

When a maid saw Fulan standing at the entrance, she immediately stepped forward, bent slightly at the knees, placed both hands over her abdomen, performed a formal curtsey, and asked,

“Honored Mage, have you come in response to an invitation to the dinner banquet?”

Fulan nodded, and the maid led her into the estate and pushed open the front door of the house.

After guiding Fulan through a rather dim corridor, she brought her to a long dining table.

A man was already seated on one side of the table. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he was presumably the administrator of Ged Town.

He wore a conservative blue-gray robe, with gloves of the same color on his hands. There was no school insignia on him.

Two mages were already seated at the table, one on each side. Under the maid’s guidance, Fulan took the second chair on the right.

The chair had a red cushion, and the backrest was slightly reclined, making it fairly comfortable to sit in.

After Fulan sat down, the man at the head of the table suddenly spoke. Slowly, he said,

“Praise be to magic. Welcome, fellow mages... I am Caleb Walker, the administrator of Ged Town. I have been stationed in this town for thirteen years.”

He pointed to the man on the left side of the table. He had a sharply carved face, brown hair, and wore a long robe bearing the unmistakable marks of the Necromancy School.

“Zeno Harper, a member of the Necromancy School and a researcher of the Skull Society.”

When it came time to introduce him, Zeno lifted his chin, seeming quite pleased with that manner of introduction.

On the right sat a woman with beautiful purple hair flowing outside her robe. Her fingers were pale, as white as winter snow.

Without waiting for Caleb to introduce her, she said on her own,

“Daphne Marlow of the Alchemy School, researcher of the Brass Society.”

Then she looked eagerly at Fulan, clearly wanting to hear her self-introduction.

Fulan swept her gaze across the three of them and said slowly,

“Fulan of the Forge Furnace School. I have no surname. I am a researcher of the Northern Society.”

Daphne, who was seated closest to her, froze for a moment, then smiled and said,

“I thought you were from the Modification School. You look so young, yet you’ve already become a Formal Mage. May I ask how old you are?”

“Eighteen.” Fulan concealed her true age. Becoming a Formal Mage at fifteen was not unusual in itself, but for a commoner to do so at fifteen was rather rare, so she hid her real age.

“Then you’ve grown a bit slowly. You’d better seek some help from the Modification School...”

Daphne joked, then cut herself off and said to Caleb,

“Now that everyone is here, let’s begin the meal. I’m a little hungry.”

Caleb gestured for the servants at the side to start bringing the food before each of them.

No one showed any surprise or curiosity over the fact that Fulan had no surname or that she was a researcher of the Northern Society.

It was perfectly normal for a commoner to become a Formal Mage. Quite a number of their colleagues had also become Formal Mages, and then obtained their own surnames not long afterward. It merely took some time to apply to the Alliance for registration.

As for the Northern Society, none of them had heard of it, but they did not care much. After all, there were countless societies within the Alliance.

Hearing the name of a society from another school that they had never encountered before was entirely normal.

By comparison, however, the Skull Society that Zeno belonged to was something almost every mage knew of, and he was quite proud of being one of its members.

“The Skull Society accepts not only members of the Necromancy School, but also those from the Alchemy School, the Modification School, and the Elemental School. As long as you have a unique understanding of skeletal creatures, you can join.”

“Although it’s called the Skull Society, the things the mages inside study actually do not have that much to do with skeletons. Their work is more about the study of the Land of Death, along with certain studies concerning spirits...”

After the food was served, Zeno did not touch the meal before him even once. He simply kept talking to the other three about the Skull Society.

As for Fulan, she looked at the food in front of her and found herself somewhat lacking in appetite.

There was a steak covered in a rich sauce, but the sauce carried a sour tang. Beside it were some vegetables coated with seasoning, along with a long strip of black bread and a red powdered spice on the side.

Ever since arriving in this other world, Fulan’s standards for food had become simple: as long as it filled her stomach, it was fine. It did not need to taste particularly good.

This meal already counted as a feast by the standards of her time in this other world. The ingredients were luxurious, and there were at least seasonings on everything. But Fulan still had no appetite and could only eat slowly.

Originally, she had thought that since someone was treating her to dinner, she might finally get to taste food with a different flavor. But in the end, it was still the same sort of fare, and only the steak made her take a few extra bites.

After swallowing some of the vegetables, Caleb, seated at the head of the table, asked,

“Then can you reveal some of the research content you saw in the Skull Society?”

This was a rather sensitive question, because knowledge was an extremely precious resource among mages, especially knowledge that was unique to someone else’s society.

Yet Zeno showed not the slightest concern and said,

“Of course. Let me tell you about a free experimental record I once read. It was an experiment on optimizing the spell Create Soul.”

Next, Zeno explained the specific contents of the experiment to the mages present, including what operations could be performed after killing the target to improve the spell’s success rate. From that, he introduced a new First-Tier spell: Greater Spirit Awakening.

He believed that none of these people would know Create Soul, the spell unique to the Necromancy School, so he spoke freely about the entire principle behind the spell, stopping only short of revealing its final spell structure.

【You heard the experimental content concerning Create Soul. Create Soul proficiency +50】

To be honest, Fulan had never planned to practice this spell, and she had not expected that simply coming out for a meal would let her hear the details of a First-Tier spell.

That made her realize something. As long as she went back and experimented a little, she would most likely be able to reproduce that First-Tier spell, Greater Spirit Awakening.

“Truly fascinating material. As expected of the research results of a major society...” Caleb applauded and praised it.