Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 84: Chapter 75 Leaving Haifasardo

Fran, still completely unaware of what had happened, was still struggling in Book Mountain.

Had the Haifasardo nobles given up on their books first after hearing Cortez’s request upon arriving here?

With tens of thousands of hefty volumes, Hill was somewhat overwhelmed.

No wonder the folks from the Mage Association had never sorted them.

He was thankful for the knowledgeable and tactful branch president who had not come in yet.

Hill used magic power to float the books around him, flipping through them one by one, no longer caring to maintain appearances.

Fortunately, after becoming a Magister, this kind of rudimentary magic like using magic power to pick things up could be used without thinking; an Elemental Body was indeed useful.

Sometimes, Hill had a strange feeling, whether in his past world or the current one, that transcending the mundane always involved abandoning the flesh.

Indeed, could the path of achieving sanctity through the flesh not work in any world?

While entertaining such random thoughts, Hill sorted the books.

He intended to keep any books with annotations; sometimes one could see a lot of truth here.

After all, the nobles would never imagine that the first thing their prodigal descendants sold would be the books representing their ancient heritage.

Every word and sentence left behind was real emotions and sincerity for future generations to see.

For identical books, a pristine copy should also be kept; Hill planned to place a set in the town’s Lord’s Mansion.

If Olivia was smart enough to come borrow them, then he would lend them to her.

Hill had no intention of getting involved in church matters.

The few farmers in Hill’s Domain had not planned to devote their faith entirely to the Space-Time Church; Olivia’s overly forceful approach resulted in them all declaring their everlasting love for the Goddess of Agriculture.

When Hill heard this, he laughed until his stomach hurt.

The God of Time and Space only wanted a general belief, but Olivia wanted much more.

She even wanted Hill to say something; Hill asked her what she thought of making such a request to a mage.

What he needed was the teleportation array of the Space-Time Cathedral; he had no intention of worshipping any deity.

Seeing Olivia leave helplessly, Hill could feel her ambition boiling.

This was indeed a typical noblewoman, patient when there was no opportunity, but absolutely manipulative and shrewd once she found one.

Unfortunately, in Hill’s Domain, it was difficult for her to rise.

Before Hill left, Olivia had already asked if she could take in apprentice priests.

Hill only gave her two slots, and they could not become citizens of the Domain; List would not take care of them.

If she wanted to climb higher, she needed to leave behind a successor to manage the church. Hill wasn’t sure if she understood that this so-called successor had to be recognized by Hill first.

But it hardly mattered, she herself had been advanced through the grace of the deities, completely unaware of how difficult it was to advance within the Space-Time Church.

In ten years, it would be good if she could train a proper apprentice priest.

A typical noblewoman, always adaptable.

So far, her ambition had not crossed the lines Hill had set, and striving for her future wasn’t wrong.

Hill finally finished going through the mountain of books, cleaned himself up a bit, and opened the door.

As expected, Commins quickly came floating in with a pile of books.

”Mr. Polanio, the magic books are all here, please make your selections.”

Hill pointed to the books he had picked out, ”Calculate the price for these; we’re still settling in gold coins, right?”

”Yes, Mr. Polanio.” Commins said cheerfully, ”I didn’t expect Mr. Hill to choose so many.”

”I belong to a branch family, so I don’t have many heritage books,” Hill said calmly, ”When the Saral nobles left, they took all the books with them. I really didn’t expect that Haifasardo’s nobles would sell so many books.”

Commins shook his head with a smile, ”The nobles of Haifasardo’s are actually quite wealthy. But Cortez charges by the vehicle.”

Hill widened his eyes in surprise.

”Haha. Mr. Polanio didn’t see that coming, did he?” Commins laughed heartily, ”Books, although precious, take up too much space.

The kind of space rings that end up in the hands of nobles are those small ten-meter ones. They’re not even enough to hold their wealth.

Mr. Polanio, what expectations can you have for nobles who escaped to Cortez so disheveled?”

Hill silently shook his head and started picking up magic books from the table.

The magic books here were much better than the ones he had bought before.

Hill was quite surprised, ”Why is the quality of the magic books so much better?

Aren’t mages exempt from taxes?”

Commins smiled helplessly, ”Mr. Polanio, I am the only branch head who wasn’t summoned to the capital.

Other city branches, even if they receive some decent magic books, wouldn’t dare to sell them!

Mages aren’t fools, not even those who engage in shady practices. To prevent the nobles from selling them off at will, they’ve all made various preparations.”

Hill nodded, ”I’ll take all the magic books.”

Commins finally showed surprise, ”Is Mr. Polanio planning to take on apprentices?”

Hill shook his head, ”I’m still young, don’t have enough experience, can’t teach apprentices.

Not experienced enough, so I need to read more. My grandfather used to forbid me from reading these kinds of magic books,” Hill said pointing at a book.

The magic books in Hill’s hands all consisted of a copy of a spell accompanied by a page detailing the spell, the proper type of magic books.

But the magic books he bought at the association often had only a few pages of magic paper in a thick volume.

The rest were the mages’ personal reflections.

A spell could only be copied onto magic paper of corresponding level, Hill had been startled the first time he saw such a thick volume of magic books,

which turned out to have just a few pages of actual magic paper, with the rest being ordinary book paper made by alchemy apprentices.

But as he read on, he found joy in it.

Just like the book he pointed out, it began with the tragic struggles of the mage during his apprenticeship.

The tumultuous life journey, after enduring countless hardships, finally became a respected mage.

To encourage his peers who were also struggling on the path of a mage, he decided to share his years of research experience:

How to release the Shield of Water faster and better.

Although Hill only flipped through a few pages, he felt very eager to finish this novel.

Commins smiled resignedly, ”Alright. Mr. Polanio, please pay attention to the content in the magic book. I wouldn’t want Master Fran showing up at my door one day.”

Hill nodded with a grin.

It had gradually grown dark outside, and Hill decided to settle the bill and leave quickly.

He planned to fly to the plains outside Haifasardo to spend the night. He better not stay in this city.

As he was heading downstairs to catch the carriage, other mages also stood up.

It seemed they planned to take advantage of the crowd dispersed by Hill and fly away together.

Hill bade farewell to Commins and left without hesitation.