"The absolute monstrosity of it!"

  Harlan was filled with a grief and indignation so profound he almost wanted to scream at the heavens, desperate to vent the suffocating frustration exploding in his chest.

  He had never encountered a monster so utterly unreasonable, so completely contradictory to common sense!

  A full 26 layers of Mage Armor!

  Even an Official Wizard specializing in defense, stacking shield spells, would not be this frenzied, this insane!

  Harlan had exhausted every shred of strength in his body, even going so far as to overdraft his life potential to unleash that forbidden killing move. Its power was sufficient to severely maim, if not instantly kill, a powerhouse of the same rank. Yet, all of this had been forcibly blocked by Pierce in such a shameless, rogue-like manner. How could he not feel aggrieved? How could he possibly reconcile this?

  What was even more despair-inducing was that while the glow of the Mage Armor on Pierce’s body had dimmed somewhat, it was obviously not completely exhausted.

  Heaven only knew how many more layers of armor this monster had stacked on himself. 30 layers? 50?

  Facing such an opponent—a monstrous prodigy whose defense was as impenetrable as a tortoise shell and whose methods were endless—Harlan felt a deep, heartfelt sense of powerlessness and despair.

  On the other side, Sia and Peyton were already staring blankly, dumbfounded, resembling two petrified statues.

  When the giant flame wolf had taken form, even from a distance of dozens of meters, they could clearly feel the violent, scorching heat wave that seemed capable of incinerating all things. The suffocating oppression caused their hearts to tighten instantly; they dared not even breathe, deeply afraid that in the next second, they would witness the tragic sight of Pierce turning into ashes amidst the flames.

  However, the result was like a heavy hammer, ruthlessly shattering their perception of reality.

  Pierce had not only blocked this cataclysmic blow, but not even the corner of his clothes was scorched. He stood there, perfectly intact, rooted to the spot.

  The two stiffly turned their heads to look at each other, seeing in each other's eyes a trance-like daze, as if they were wandering in a dream.

  Too strong! So strong it felt unreal.

  Under the nearly worshipful gazes of Sia and Peyton, Pierce wore a calm expression. He walked unhurriedly toward Harlan, looking down from his vantage point at the once-arrogant Vice Commander of the City Guard.

  Meeting Pierce's impassive, ripple-less eyes, Harlan shivered violently, as if drenched from head to toe in a bucket of ice water, instantly jolted awake from his despair. The instinct for survival forced him to shout in a hoarse voice:

  "Wait a minute! I can compensate you! As long as you let me go, whatever you want—"

  Schwing!

  Before the sentence was finished, a mournful sword light flashed and vanished into the night.

  Harlan's begging stopped abruptly. His head flew high, tracing a parabola in the air before crashing heavily to the ground, rolling more than ten meters before coming to a stop.

  On that pale face, an expression of thick despair, terror, and a lingering disbelief remained frozen in time.

  Pierce did not even spare a glance at the severed head. With a gentle flick of his longsword, the dimensional bag on Harlan’s corpse bounced up; he caught it steadily and tucked it into his bosom.

  Immediately following this, he did the same with Riker’s corpse, taking the dimensional bag. Only then did he calmly return to the site of the battle, bending down to pick up the Animated Shield that had fallen into the dust.

  Running his fingertips over the surface of the shield and feeling the faint but extant magical fluctuations, Pierce breathed a slight sigh of relief.

  Fortunately, the Animated Shield had merely exhausted its energy temporarily and fallen into dormancy; it would recover its original state after being nourished with mental power for a period.

  He had to admit, that final blow Harlan unleashed with the last of his life force was indeed astonishingly powerful.

  It had not only instantly breached the defense of the Animated Shield but had also completely drained the thousands of mist crows stored within Mist Raven. It would likely take the better part of a month of recuperation to restore it to its peak state.

  Even so, the remnant might of the flames had smashed through more than 20 layers of his Mage Armor like splitting bamboo before finally dissipating into nothingness.

  Had it been any ordinary Rank 3 Wizard Apprentice facing this strike, nine times out of ten, they would have ended up with no corpse remaining.

  Although Legendary Knights were inferior in status to Official Wizards, their explosiveness and foundations were not to be underestimated. These powerhouses, who had struggled on the edge of life and death for years, might very well hide some powerful trump card capable of turning the tables.

  Pierce silently warned himself in his heart.

  However, caution aside, he did not feel much lingering fear.

  Even if all the Mage Armor had been shattered just now, he still had a layer of Magic Heavy Armor as a final line of defense. The high-level anti-magic properties possessed by the Magic Heavy Armor offered excellent resistance against Elemental Power as well.

  Harlan's blow was destined never to critically injure him.

  Exhaling a long breath of turbid air from his chest, Pierce turned to look at Sia and Peyton, who were walking toward him, and spoke calmly: "Let us go. Back to the garrison."

  With that, without waiting for their response, he turned and walked in the direction of the garrison, his steps steady, as if he had just performed a trivial task.

  Sia and Peyton hurriedly quickened their pace to follow.

  After the series of soul-stirring changes tonight, their admiration and awe for Pierce had climbed to a new height, bordering on fanaticism.

  Killing two powerhouses with Legendary Knight-level combat power in a single night! Such a sturdy battle record was simply mythical.

  Looking at the entire group of Rank 3 Wizard Apprentices participating in this operation, who else but Pierce could achieve this?

  En route to the garrison, Pierce took out a sheet of parchment from his bosom. Borrowing the moonlight, he swiftly wrote down the events of the night. At the end of the letter, he imprinted an Arcane Mark that only specific Wizards could decipher. Then, with a flick of his finger, he cast a simple Prestidigitation spell.

  With a faint flash of light, the parchment folded and transformed in an instant, turning into a lifelike silver butterfly, flapping its wings lightly.

  "Deliver it to the gate of The Spire Academy and release it; it will find the recipient itself." Pierce handed the silver butterfly to Sia.

  "Yes, My Lord!"

  Sia responded respectfully immediately. She carefully accepted the silver butterfly, which seemed to possess life, cupping it in her palm. Then, with a flash of her figure, she sped away toward The Spire Academy.

  Pierce led Peyton as they continued to rush toward the City Guard garrison.

  Just as the two were about to arrive at the garrison gates, a black shadow suddenly swept from the distant night sky like a meteor, moving with shocking speed.

  Peyton’s expression tightened, and he subconsciously drew his weapon to intercept, but Pierce raised his hand to stop him.

  Pierce slowly extended his gloved left palm.

  In the next moment, the black shadow traced a graceful arc in the air, instantly completing the transition from extreme motion to extreme stillness, landing lightly on the back of his hand.

  By the firelight at the garrison gate, one could clearly see it was a magnificent night owl.

  Its black, jewel-like eyes stared quietly at Pierce. Its beak opened, but what came out was a low, deep, and dignified human male voice.

  "I am aware of the matter. I will handle the follow-up and the aftermath. You may return to the garrison with peace of mind."

  It was the voice of Mentor Morven.

  "Yes, Teacher," Pierce bowed slightly, responding respectfully.

  The night owl nodded almost human-like, then flapped its wings powerfully, soaring into the sky and disappearing into the vast night in the blink of an eye.

  Only then did Sia, having completed her task, rush back from the distance. Seeing her panting breath and sweat-beaded forehead, it was clear she had run with all her might along the way.

  "Hard work."

  Pierce nodded to her, then paused no longer, leading the two of them with large strides through the garrison gates.

  Not long after, the originally peaceful garrison boiled over like a pot of oil splashed with cold water, instantly erupting into chaos.

  "What?!"

  Gwen, who had just returned from patrol, almost jumped up on the spot like a cat whose tail had been stepped on after listening to Vance's words. Her beautiful, exquisite face was written all over with incredulity and shock.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Pierce killed a Madness Drinker? Are you sure you're not joking?"

  "Absolutely true!" Vance's eyes were equally full of amazement and shock. "The entire garrison has gone mad with the news. The Madness Drinker's body has just been transported to the supply depot; many people saw it with their own eyes."

  Hearing this, Gwen could no longer doubt. She felt as if struck by lightning, standing there dumbfounded.

  She knew Pierce was strong; she had already experienced it in previous operations. But she never imagined he would be strong to such an outrageous degree.

  That was a Madness Drinker! A terrifying existence possessing Legendary Knight-level combat power!

  Even she, relying on the Gem Magic passed down by her family, could at most circle around a Madness Drinker for a while. To kill one was absolutely impossible for her.

  Yet Pierce did it! And it was a solo kill!

  "That guy... exactly how much strength has he hidden?"

  Gwen murmured in a low voice, a tremor in her tone.

  Suddenly, she remembered something, and her face went pale instantly.

  Crap! The wager!

  Gwen's face collapsed completely, like a frost-bitten eggplant.

  As a high-value target, the bounty for a Madness Drinker was a full 1,000 Merit Points!

  With this massive sum of Merit Points credited, Pierce had securely won the wager.

  Even if she went without sleep or rest now, clearing out all remaining heretics in the Northern District, it was impossible to obtain more Merit Points than Pierce.

  The outcome of this wager was no longer in suspense.

  "Lost again..."

  Gwen gritted her teeth secretly, a wave of indescribable frustration and depression surging in her heart.

  Vance looked at her strangely. "What's wrong with you? You look terrible. Are you injured?"

  "Nothing." Gwen waved her hand weakly, forcing herself to perk up and ask casually, "Where is Pierce? Where is he now?"

  "With Overseer York." Vance's face suddenly became extremely strange, a look in his eyes that was hard to describe.

  Gwen keenly caught this and asked strangely, "What? Does Overseer York have business with Pierce? Is it for a commendation?"

  Vance coughed lightly and lowered his voice. "It's because of Harlan."

  Gwen frowned deeply. "That guy Harlan is troubling Pierce again? Truly a lingering ghost! Why doesn't a person like that just die?"

  "...His lingering ghost has probably dispersed by now," Vance said, swallowing his saliva, his expression incredibly weird. "In fact, Pierce not only killed a Madness Drinker last night, but he also effortlessly killed Harlan as well."

  "...What?!"

  Gwen froze for a full 5 or 6 seconds before her brain could struggle to process the information in that sentence. Her eyes snapped open wide, and she let out a cry of shock.

  Coming back to her senses, she hurriedly grabbed Vance's arm, urgently asking what on earth had happened.

  Vance had to recount the complete story he had just heard, which had been verified by multiple sources.

  After listening, Gwen's small, cherry-like mouth hung open in an 'O' shape, unable to close for a long time.

  Harlan, the dignified Vice Commander of the City Guard, actually colluded with the heretic Madness Drinker? In exchange for helping the Madness Drinker escape the Northern District, he demanded the heretic assassinate Pierce?

  And the result was trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice—not only did the plan fail, but he was double-killed by Pierce alongside the Madness Drinker!

  What kind of fantasy story was this?

  It was simply too absurd, too insane!

  Gwen suddenly felt a strong sense of unreality, as if she were in a grotesque dream.

  Vance was not surprised at Gwen's reaction at all, even empathizing somewhat. After all, when he first heard about this from others, he also almost thought the other party was telling a clumsy joke.

  "Junior Brother Pierce... really hides his light under a bushel. It seems I vastly underestimated him before."

  Vance shook his head, sighing with emotion.

  "Sure enough, people who can be accepted as personal disciples by Lord Morven are all monsters with aptitude far surpassing ordinary people!"

  Before, there was Senior Sister Yvaine, who was about to advance to Official Wizard with a top-grade advanced meditation technique before graduation.

  Now, a Pierce had emerged out of nowhere, a Rank 3 Wizard Apprentice who killed two Legendary Knight-level powerhouses in one night.

  The students of Morven's lineage were simply more perverse, more outstanding, one after another.

  Gwen's emotions were complicated to the extreme.

  Usually, others felt the blow and despair from her, the genius. But since meeting Pierce, the situation had completely reversed. She had repeatedly felt that despairing gap from him.

  Now, she suddenly understood somewhat how those ordinary Wizard Apprentices felt when facing her.

  Seeing Gwen looking struck down and unhappy, Vance immediately guessed what she was thinking.

  "Accept reality, Junior Sister Gwen," Vance patted her shoulder, advising earnestly. "You are a genius, true, but that guy Pierce... he is a monster more terrifying than a genius. Comparing yourself to him is purely looking for misery. It's better to relax your mind. After all, monsters are the minority."

  Gwen remained silent, her heart filled with helplessness.

  How can there be such a monstrous guy in this world?

  Even when Senior Sister Yvaine was a first-year freshman, she probably didn't have such terrifying strength, right?

  As Vance said, the news of Pierce killing two Legendary Knight-level powerhouses consecutively spread through the entire garrison like a Category 12 hurricane, causing an unprecedented uproar.

  Not only were the Wizard Apprentices and Knight students participating in the operation discussing it heatedly, but the interior of the City Guard was also in an uproar.

  Especially since this matter involved the scandal of a dignified Vice Commander colluding with heretics, it was like a heavy bomb dropped on a calm lake, whipping up stormy waves.

  Walking through the garrison now, whether in the canteen, the dormitories, or the training grounds, one could hear people discussing this matter intensely everywhere.

  Command Center, top floor office.

  Overseer York stood with his hands behind his back in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the crowd in the square below, whispering and looking agitated. His expression was obscure.

  A moment later, he slowly turned around to look at Daylon, sitting on the leather sofa, his gaze sweeping over the Recording Ring quietly placed on the coffee table.

  "Finished watching?"

  Daylon nodded slightly, sighed long and hard, and said with emotion, "Harlan didn't lose unjustly."

  "Who would have thought that a 16-year-old boy who has been a Rank 3 Apprentice for less than two months would possess such unfathomable strength? Harlan, this time, truly kicked an iron plate."

  Overseer York's gaze was dark, his tone cold. "I warned him long ago to get involved less in the struggles between Wizards. Getting involved in the affairs of those monsters... mortals like us don't have enough lives to fill that pit."

  Daylon nodded in deep agreement, his expression somewhat desolate.

  These Legendary Knights seemed high and mighty in the eyes of ordinary people, mastering powerful supernatural forces. But to Wizards who truly mastered the truth, they were just slightly stronger ants.

  Let alone Official Wizards, even an excellent Rank 3 Wizard Apprentice like Pierce had the strength to kill them independently.

  If they really recklessly got involved in the game between Wizards, even the slightest aftershock of battle was not something they could bear.

  That fool Harlan was coaxed into losing his bearings by the petty profits promised by Hugo, even losing his basic judgment. He didn't think carefully; even if he luckily succeeded in killing Pierce, could Hugo really protect him?

  Naive! Stupid!

  Morven was a dignified Rank 5 Potions Master, holding a pivotal position in the entire Spire Academy. If he really wanted to deal with a Legendary Knight to avenge his disciple, let alone Hugo, even if the head of the Perry Family came in person, he might not be able to stop it.

  Could the Perry Family send someone to watch over him every moment for an outsider knight?

  From the moment Harlan was blinded by greed and agreed to Hugo's request to attack Pierce, he was actually already a dead man.

  Daylon turned his head to look at the dark night sky outside the window, a quiet sigh escaping his heart.

  The true masters of this city, and even this world, were Wizards from beginning to end.

  Knights like them could only live longer by tucking their tails between their legs.

  While the entire garrison was buzzing because of Pierce's battle record, the person involved was locking himself in his room, deaf to the world outside, burying his head in counting tonight's spoils.

  There were a total of two dimensional bags.

  First was Riker's dimensional bag. This one had the most miscellaneous items, piled high with smoked meat, dry rations, clean water, changes of clothes, and other living supplies.

  Obviously, this guy had long been prepared to hide in sewers or ruins for a long time.

  Unfortunately, man proposes, god disposes; in the end, none of these things could be put to use.

  Pierce naturally looked down on this junk, tossing it aside casually, planning to find a chance to clean it out later.

  In terms of wealth, Riker's net worth also appeared somewhat shabby. There were only 30-odd Magic Stone coins, over 1000 gold coins, and some scattered silver and copper coins.

  There were quite a few potions, more than 30 bottles, but they were all inferior potions that hadn't even entered the ranks, worth only a few hundred gold coins in total.

  Besides that, there were some fragmented spell-casting materials, but few were valuable.

  "A dignified Madness Drinker, a mid-level cadre of the sect, and his total net worth isn't even 50 Magic Stone coins. He was really doing miserably enough."

  Pierce criticized secretly while counting.

  However, when carefully examining those spell-casting materials, a few heavy metal ingots suddenly attracted his attention.

  These metal ingots were a pure bright silver throughout, with a smooth and delicate texture, biting cold to the touch, extremely hard when pinched, and astonishingly dense.

  Pierce took them under the light and examined them for a while, and his eyes gradually lit up.

  "Silver Dragon Tungsten!"

  This was a rather rare magical metal material.

  This metal had excellent ductility after being melted by magic fire, able to be drawn into extremely fine threads; yet when it cooled and set, it possessed extremely high hardness. More importantly, it simultaneously possessed excellent mental power conductivity, not losing out to expensive Mithril in this regard.

  Therefore, it was often used to make the core components of high-level magic weapons or staffs.

  When refining magic weapons, adding even a small amount of Silver Dragon Tungsten could significantly improve the weapon's quality and magical conductivity.

  Because of this, Silver Dragon Tungsten had always been a hot commodity in the circle of Enchanters, and the market price was naturally very high.

  One kilogram of standard Silver Dragon Tungsten was worth up to 15 Magic Stone coins, almost equivalent to a Glimmer-grade magic item.

  And the three pieces of Silver Dragon Tungsten in Pierce's hand were substantial, weighing at least 7 or 8 kilograms in total. This meant that just these few pieces of metal were worth over a hundred Magic Stone coins!

  This was far more expensive than all the other things in the dimensional bag combined.

  "Turns out this is the most valuable treasure; almost missed it."

  A happy smile appeared on Pierce's face, and he silently apologized to Riker in his heart.

  Really sorry, shouldn't have called you a pauper; you did have some inventory.

  Putting away Riker's things, Pierce immediately began counting Harlan's dimensional bag.

  Compared to that shabby Madness Drinker, the net worth of this dignified Vice Commander of the City Guard was much richer.

  Just in Magic Stone coins, there were a full hundred or so, and gold coins numbered 7000 or 8000.

  There were as many as two hundred bottles of various dazzling potions, neatly stacked on the shelves.

  Among them, Dragon Blood Potion and Boiling Blood Potion, the two high-level potions most popular among the knight class, totaled nearly 30 bottles. These were hard currency.

  Pierce roughly estimated that the total value of items in Harlan's dimensional bag definitely exceeded 120 Magic Stone coins.

  Adding Riker's legacy, Pierce's harvest from tonight's battle was nearly 300 Magic Stone coins! This was almost equal to the profit he made from painstakingly refining and selling 4 or 5 batches of improved potions.

  "No wonder so many people like killing and looting in the wild; this money comes really too fast, too easily."

  Pierce sighed with emotion in his heart.

  Of course, high returns were often accompanied by high risks.

  If there wasn't sufficient strength as support, those hunters who tried to kill and loot often easily became the prey, killed and looted themselves. Just like Harlan and Riker tonight.

  After categorizing all the spoils and putting them into his dimensional bag with satisfaction, Pierce stood up, stretched greatly, and cast his gaze toward the deep night outside the window.

  "Wonder how Teacher handled things on his end?"

  Pierce thought for a while, then shook his head.

  Since Teacher said he would handle the follow-up, he just needed to wait for the result with peace of mind, no need to worry about it anymore.

  Instead of agonizing over those political games, it was better to calculate his Merit Points.

  In the previous sweeping operations, Pierce had successively obtained over 200 Merit Points.

  Adding the more than 700 obtained from the encirclement operation before, the total barely exceeded 1000 Merit Points.

  And this time, killing the Madness Drinker, a high-value target, yielded a bounty reward of a full 1000 Merit Points.

  Calculating it this way, the total Merit Points he held had just crossed the 2000 point mark!

  This was enough to exchange for a quota in the Realm of Truth that he had dreamed of.

  Thinking of this, a smile couldn't help but rise at the corners of Pierce's mouth.

  Speaking of which, thanks really had to be given to Harlan. If he hadn't actively sent over the big fat piece of meat that was the Madness Drinker, Pierce would never have gathered enough Merit Points to exchange for the Realm of Truth quota in such a short time.

  Now, not only was the key quota for advancing to Wizard in hand, but the wager with Gwen was also securely won. This could definitely be called a double blessing.

  Thinking of the depressed, frantic look Gwen would have after learning the result, the smile on Pierce's lips deepened instantly.