This wizard only wishes to be a teacher
Chapter 140 - 121 Hand of Shadow

Chapter 140: Chapter 121 Hand of Shadow

Greybone Academy Library.

"Sir," two Wizard Apprentices who were perusing documents in the library stopped in their tracks when they saw Lucien, especially the mysterious purple patterns on his Wizard Robe, and stepped aside to let him pass, bowing as they did so.

"Hmm," Lucien walked briskly past the two Wizard Apprentices toward a corner of the library. He crossed a wizard formation enchantment, then followed a hidden staircase down to the cellar of the Greybone Library.

At the end of the staircase stood an ancient Bone Snake statue. As it sensed someone approaching, the statue slowly came to life, with its stony eyes beginning to glow red, and emanated a pressure no less than that of a Formal Wizard, seemingly as a warning to the outsider not to come any closer.

However, as soon as Lucien took out a bone token, the eyes of the revived Bone Snake statue gradually dimmed. Then it curled back into itself and returned to its previous stillness.

Click, click, click...

Behind the Bone Snake statue, a hidden door slowly opened.

"Is this the pay-per-use library established by the dean?" Lucien glanced at the slightly dim environment inside, a thought stirring in his heart. He then released his spiritual power, which was blocked by a special barrier.

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

The eyes of the Bone Snake statue looked at Lucien, making a faint warning sound.

At the same time, Lucien felt a breath of air locking onto him firmly, even causing the hairs on his back to stand on end.

Although he didn’t know where this sensation was coming from, Lucien had the feeling that if he made any rash moves and the breath erupted, he would be seriously injured if not killed.

"Are these some of the methods left by a Second-level Wizard..." Lucien speculated in his heart, quickly reining in his spiritual power. He also raised his hands to show he meant no harm.

After a standoff, Lucien finally felt that spine-chilling presence slowly withdraw from him. The Bone Snake statue also looked away, becoming still once again.

Lucien quietly entered the somewhat murky passage.

Tap, tap, tap... the faint sound of footsteps echoed clearly in the enclosed tunnel. Ancient candlesticks set within the tunnel would always quietly light up with pale flames just as Lucien arrived, and then extinguish automatically after he had passed.

Due to the warning he had received earlier, Lucien didn’t release his spiritual power to explore while inside the tunnel. After walking roughly two hundred meters, he finally left the dense range, and what appeared before him was an underground library of modest size.

However, unlike the library above ground, the shelves in this library held considerably fewer books, and there was a special barrier on the surface of the shelves preventing Lucien from touching them.

From all around, tiny snakes as fine as threads of black silk crawled out, gradually converging and merging, slowly forming a cohesive figure around Lucien’s body.

It had the tail of a snake, the alluring upper body resembling a human woman, and hair of black strands.

At that moment, the eyes on the creature’s human-like face were tightly closed, while each strand of snake hair lifted slightly, with every red eye on the hair staring at Lucien.

She smiled and spoke in fluent Wizard language, "Young Greybone Academy Wizard, I am the steward here."

"Following the master’s rules, as a Formal Wizard of Greybone Academy, you can choose two Formal Witchcraft from the sixteen that the master has collected here for free, or you may use the free allocation to exchange for other types of knowledge with the master. If you want to trade for more, however, an exchange is needed..."

"Master?" Lucien’s mind stirred, realizing that the creature before him, which somewhat resembled a sentient being known as Snake Mother, must be a servant or a puppet of the Greybone Academy dean.

Thanks to the many wizard formations and methods arranged by that dean, she could unleash fighting power here in this underground library strong enough to crush any common Formal Wizard.

But soon, Lucien’s attention shifted from the Snake Mother to a list she handed over.

Hand of Shadow, Ice Magic Shadow...

Lucien quickly scanned the list for information on the sixteen Formal Witchcraft, but to his disappointment, these Witchcraft were fairly common, their value far less than those of the bloodline-based Magic he had learned from Carly.

"Steward, I would like to acquire the witchcraft model ’Hand of Shadow’," Lucien quickly went through the basic information about the Witchcraft and then spoke respectfully.

The Snake Mother nodded, but remained motionless, evidently waiting for Lucien to choose his second Witchcraft.

"For the second choice, I hope to gain some knowledge about nightmare entities. I’ve recently been troubled by one and need to resolve it as soon as possible..."

Lucien stated his request.

The red snake eyes on the hair of the Snake Mother watched Lucien for a while, as if pondering or observing. Soon, under the control of the Snake Mother, no fewer than five books flew off the shelves and landed in front of Lucien.

"The five books here all meet your requirements, but a single Formal Wizard’s exchange qualification isn’t enough to exchange for them," Snake Mother spoke quietly.

"According to the rules left by my master, the value of this knowledge is 3.2 Formal Witchcraft. However, I must tell you that the value of the two witchcraft bestowed to you is non-cumulative. For instance, if you exchange for this tome worth 0.8 Formal Wizard knowledge, the remaining 0.2 can’t be rolled over to the next time," she continued.

"Then if I am willing to pay some other price to trade, what would it be?" Lucien asked while inspecting the basic descriptions of these books with his spiritual power.

"Knowledge, knowledge that is useful to my master," Snake Mother smiled at Lucien. With a wave of her hand, a dense list of many names suddenly appeared, all recorded on it.

Lucien’s face tensed slightly.

The knowledge listed, even the most basic, was useful at the Formal Wizard tier level, an extremely precious accumulation for every Formal Wizard.

"Can’t we use magic stones or other materials?" Lucien looked at Snake Mother, still somewhat reluctant.

Snake Mother shook her head gently, and after a brief silence, she looked at Lucien.

"Rest assured, by my master’s order, I will not reveal any details of our trade here to other Formal Wizards, and until I have the master’s permission, I also won’t sell the knowledge you trade to me to other Formal Wizards privately..."

"That’s truly dark..." Lucien muttered in his heart, then with a flip of his hand, he pulled out several scrolls from his pocket.

"This is the witchcraft model for the First Order Witchcraft ’Ring of Flame’..."

"This is part of a research manuscript by a Formal Wizard level Fairy..."

Lucien introduced them while feeling somewhat pained in his heart.

Although he had already mastered these items or had backups, trading away the originals still gave him the feeling of being robbed.

"That totals to a value of 3.7 Formal Witchcraft. Wizard, do we trade?"

"Add this, too," Lucien said reluctantly, picking up another book worth 0.5 Formal Wizard from a nearby shelf.

"Agreed." Snake Mother nodded lightly. After taking the items that Lucien offered, she waved her hand gently, and the several books and scrolls Lucien had picked were freed from their isolation barriers.

"You can only browse them here. Look as long as you want, but you can’t take them with you, nor can you damage them," Snake Mother pointed at a few tables and chairs and then her body suddenly dissolved into thousands of tiny black snakes, which scattered and disappeared into the cracks in the floor or the bottom of the bookshelves.

Sigh...

Lucien placed the books and Sorcery Scrolls on the table, and then started to carefully read through them.

The first one he studied was the Witchcraft ’Hand of Shadow’.

This was a piece of witchcraft specially selected by Lucien for Adeline, belonging to the single-target close-range attack category. It could be used not only in battles with other wizards but also exerted a strong suppressive force on spiritual bodies and special life forms. It could even attack creatures that hid in the Dream Layer, an absolutely suitable method against Adeline.

Even using ’Hand of Shadow’ to attack a nightmare creature like Adeline, a Third-level Wizard Apprentice, was overkill. But if he could actually get a grip on Adeline, perhaps a single strike of Hand of Shadow would be enough to take care of that annoying little thing.

However, the thought of Adeline inevitably brought to mind the Wizard Loren, disguised as a little girl.

Wizard Loren was not only the behind-the-scenes manipulator of Adeline, but also possessed some information about the Cloud Country’s ruins. Absolutely one of the Formal Wizards, Lucien was most wary of at the moment, and moreover, had an intricate connection with the ever-persistent Adeline.

Although the contract of Greybone Academy prevented him from engaging in combat with Wizard Loren, this situation remained a constant hidden danger.

Furthermore, according to Wizard Hawson’s description, Wizard Loren was a notorious killer and madman within Greybone Academy... Even in the past, there had been reprehensible incidents where she indiscriminately turned apprentices into dolls or spiritual bodies.

Who knew if one day, should Wizard Loren go mad again, Lucien might be implicated by her actions.

After Lucien put down the Sorcery Scroll, he picked up a few of the books related to spiritual bodies from the table, also recalling the basic information about Wizard Loren in his mind.

This was a seasoned Formal Wizard proficient in curses, spiritual bodies, and Human Body Modification who, due to a failed spiritual body experiment, had become irreversibly fused with the nightmare creature she had summoned...

Suddenly, a bold idea flashed through Lucien’s mind.

If nightmare creatures could also be used as Magic Pets or subdued through certain special methods, then might it be possible for him to refine or even enslave Wizard Loren indirectly through the nightmare creature that had accidentally fused with her?