Chapter 82

"An appeal?" Gao Deng smiled faintly. "Do you think I would come to you if I didn't have solid evidence?"

Dalun, with a show of bravado, said, "Since you are so confident, why don't you go directly to Lord of the Manor? Why come here? I think you are just bluffing."

Gao Deng shook his head and took out a stone tablet from his dimensional bag, waving it in front of Dalun. "I came to you just to ask one thing. This stone tablet, you should be very familiar with it, right?"

Dalun's eyes lit up, revealing a greedy look. Gao Deng felt more confident; it seemed the other party indeed knew the stone tablet was related to the Sun Elf mage's legacy. However, he didn't know where Dalun had obtained the stone tablet.

But Dalun's words did not match his expression.

"I don't know what this stone tablet is. Get out of here!" he denied outright.

After a moment's thought, Dalun added, "Let me tell you, Gao Deng. Do you really think you will have a good outcome by offending me? Even if you do have evidence of my crimes and report it to Lord of the Manor, and I am punished, so what? I am a mage, the son of Baron Cold Lake. As long as I defend myself, Lord of the Manor will at most expel me from the Mage Corps. If he goes too far, it will cause unrest among the nobility of the Far Frost Province. In winter, who will be willing to fight for him against the orc raids?"

Seeing Gao Deng remain silent, Dalun smiled smugly. "So what if you are a baron? Do you have a fief? Do you have subjects? Do you have an army? You are just an empty noble, barely better than merchants."

"Ah," Gao Deng shook his head and said slowly, "You are right. If you defend yourself before the Duke and bring up your identity as the son of Baron Cold Lake, and with the support of other nobles, the Duke will not take your life. At most, he will expel you from the Mage Corps. You will only suffer a loss of reputation. But for a mage who values arcane power above all, reputation is nothing."

"But," Gao Deng quietly raised his left hand and pinched the green crystal pendant around his neck, "you should know that the dead cannot defend themselves. And I don't care about the defense of the Far Frost Province."

His thumb lightly rubbed the pendant, and the incantation slipped off his tongue. A menacing blade golem appeared in the room.

"Attack!" Gao Deng gave the order.

Gao Deng had already made up his mind to kill Dalun and eliminate the root of the problem. He had taken out the stone tablet just to lure the other party and see if he could get some information, saving himself the trouble of searching for clues later.

But since the other party seemed unyielding, he went straight to the point.

"You, you dare to commit murder in the Mage Corps' quarters?" Dalun was shocked, his thin body rolling on the ground to narrowly avoid the blade golem's attack.

In a room with a ceiling height of only 2.5 meters, the 3-meter-tall blade golem had to hunch over, greatly weakening its combat effectiveness.

But Gao Deng only needed the blade golem to buy him some time. His spell was already prepared. He raised his hand and threw a sphere of raging fire energy.

Then, Gao Deng immediately put on his hood, wrapping himself in the fire lizard cloak and standing behind the blade golem.

The fireball exploded in the room, releasing a violent burst of flame energy. The high temperature and air currents wreaked havoc, destroying everything in the room.

Crack...

Sensing the furniture and household items being ignited by the flames, the fountain array on the wall immediately activated.

The room quickly turned into a watery mess. The metal shell of the blade golem hissed as it was doused with cold water, steam rising and enveloping the room in a mist.

Gao Deng glanced at the charred body on the ground. The thin Dalun clearly could not withstand the fireball spell cast by Gao Deng, who had mastered "Elemental School Specialization (Fire)," and died on the spot.

He searched Dalun's body, finding the dimensional bag. He took out the stone tablet and then found a leather-bound notebook after further searching.

Putting these items in his bag, Gao Deng did not touch anything else. He took out several stone tablet fragments from his own dimensional bag.

These fragments were made last night using the Transmutation School spell "Mold Earth." They looked identical to the authentic Sun Elf stone tablet, even retaining a faint magical aura. Gao Deng was confident that with his experience as a 20th-level mage, the forgery would fool even Robb Antello.

He had used a fireball spell to kill Dalun to destroy the scene. When Robb Antello asked, he could say the stone tablet was damaged in the fight and keep it for himself.

The visual recall spell in the crystal ball could not be altered, so the existence of the Sun Elf stone tablet could not be hidden from the Lord of the Manor. If Gao Deng openly asked for the stone tablet after his service, the Lord might be generous and reward it to him.

But it was impossible for the Lord not to be suspicious.

From the use of water elementals as servants in his home, it was clear that the Lord valued family safety and privacy. With so many wives, extra precautions were necessary to prevent any mishaps.

Dalun's Sun Elf stone tablet could control water elementals, making it a potential threat. If Gao Deng, knowing the stone tablet's use, asked for it, how would the Lord react?

Gao Deng could not tell the Lord the truth. This was crucial to his new character template and career advancement, and the more secretive, the better.

Scattering the fake stone tablet fragments around Dalun's body, Gao Deng put the blade golem back into the pendant and stood in the ruined room, waiting quietly.

With such a commotion, someone would come soon. As the representative of the Lord of the Manor, he had to act to subdue the criminal. If he left quietly now, it would raise suspicion. It was better to wait openly.

As Gao Deng expected, the door was soon opened with a Knock spell, and a group of Mage Corps members rushed in. They were on high alert, holding standard wands and staring at Gao Deng, the intruder.

A tall, young mage with a short haircut stepped forward and demanded, "Who are you? Why are you in Dalun's room?"

He glanced at the charred body on the ground, his tone growing colder. "Did you kill Dalun?"

Gao Deng raised his right hand and reached into his robe. This action made the group of mages even more tense. They feared he might pull out a powerful magical item and attack.

"Don't be nervous," Gao Deng said calmly, slowing his movements and pulling out the Lord of the Manor's private emblem. "I am Robb Antello's magical assistant, sent to investigate a matter. Dalun resisted and was killed by me."

"So you are the newly appointed magical assistant, Gao Deng Freeman?" The young mage looked at Gao Deng's emblem, confirmed his identity, and lowered his wand. The mages behind him also relaxed their combat stances.

It seemed he had considerable influence in the Mage Corps, as many followed his lead.

"I am Russ Dumic," the young man said stiffly. Although the tension had eased, his face remained cold and his attitude unfriendly.

Naturally, someone causing a disturbance and killing on their territory would not be allowed to leave without a fuss, no matter how justified.

Gao Deng thought for a moment and found the name familiar. The Lord of the Manor's chief mage, Yolande, also had the surname Dumic.

Could he be Yolande's nephew?

It seemed his luck with the Mage Corps was truly bad, as he had encountered another person whose position as magical assistant he had taken.

"Russ Mage, please step aside. I am in a hurry and need to report the results to the Duke immediately. By the way, do not disturb the scene; the Duke will send someone to handle it."

"What, you caused such a big commotion and just want to leave?" Russ crossed his wand over his chest.

"Do you want to teach me a lesson, or do you all want to teach me a lesson together?" Gao Deng did not back down, his left hand forming a claw, a white light ball forming in his palm.

"Instant spell casting, third-level spell 'Dispel Magic'!" someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

In their understanding, using the "Instant Spell Casting" feat required a spell slot higher than third-level. This meant Gao Deng had used the technique to cast a third-level Abjuration spell "Dispel Magic," indicating his spellcasting ability had reached the sixth level!

A high-level mage capable of casting sixth-level spells was beyond their confidence to defeat. Perhaps a group attack might have a chance, but the honor of the Lord of the Manor's Mage Corps members did not allow them to do so.

However, these mages did not know that the "sixth-level" mage before them could do what a regular third-level mage could not because of a completely different spellcasting system.

Russ found himself in a difficult position. He considered himself to have exceptional talent in magic and an advantage with an uncle who was a member of the Arcane Federation guiding him.

The position of the Lord of the Manor's magical assistant, which should have been his, was taken by a man named Gao Deng Freeman, which made Russ very resentful. But now, seeing Gao Deng in person, he realized the vast gap between them.

Although he was a fourth-level mage and had achieved this level at a young age, which was already remarkable, Gao Deng's achievements left him feeling hopeless.

At the same age, Gao Deng was a sixth-level mage? What did that mean!