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On the top floor of the machine tower, there was a great chamber that was built to resemble a large metal box. The metal walls were glowing with different runes while a screen hovered in the middle, which displayed a burning lava lake. Occasionally, several flying fishes would leap out of the lava. They were then immediately killed by a witch before she stored the dead fishes inside her storage necklace.

A man in a black robe was watching the screen. Using the brightness, one could see the man’s skin, or what should have been his skin, giving out the glimmer of polished metal.

Now and then, he would look away from the screen and fall into his own thoughts.

The witch displayed on the screen was now looking at the abyss in the middle of the lava lake.

“Ho ho... she’s coveting our main sacrificial material. Such a brave girl.”

The door of the chamber was pushed open, and a handsome-looking figure walked inside while wearing a bright smile on his face.

The robed man did not look back. “I thought it’s ‘The Spade’ who would come first. So it’s you instead, huh Muse?”

“The promotion of the purification garden is crucial to all of us. As the city master, of course I should come,” Muse said as he joined the robed man while still smiling. “Oh? Isn’t that the home of a Lord of Tentacles?” Muse showed a cold look. “Hey, Lawson... is someone actually attempting to capture it?”

“Wait, so you’re interested in our garden now? I thought the only thing inside your brain is doing research,” Lawson joked in his emotionless robotic voice. However, he still brought their topic onto the right track before Muse could retort. “Yes. Two apprentices, and you’re looking right at them.”

Lawson already changed the display that was now showing two individuals separately. One of them was still hovering above the lava lake—a witch wearing flowers and tree vines—Sinehowze, while the second one was the dapper-looking man Dira, who had a good number of people floating around him.

“Isn’t he one of the selected apprentices we sent?” Muse pointed at Dira. As a dedicated researcher, he never spent much time minding other matters. He only recognized Dira by the latter’s silver uniform.

“He’s not. A witch called Carveline copied Dira’s appearance. You may not know her well, but you should be interested in her title—the Duchess of Facade.”

“Facade...” Muse frowned while searching his memory. “Pastor’s Garb?”

“Only Pastor’s Outerwear, to be precise. Carveline is the current Pastor.”

“So... the real Pastor has gone to Origin World?”

“Should be. She left her outerwear at her clan.”

Muse stared at Carveline on the screen with an eager look. “A piece of clothing left behind by Pastor... Wish I can bring it to my lab. Someone said that there’s a trace of demon’s power hidden inside that thing.”

“If you’re being serious, we can always try to get it by some... indirect approach,” Lawson said and pointed at the giant monster lurking in the lava lake.

“Forget it, the Pastor Clan still holds too many secrets. You remember how they were working in the dark during the demon calamity? Maybe they looted something really good out of it.” Muse yawned and sat beside his partner. “So, the two little girls want to get their hands on the Lord of Tentacles? Even with Pastor’s parts, they won’t make it.”

“They aren’t aiming for the Lord of Tentacles, but its egg down in the nest,” Lawson said as he focused the display onto the vine-covered woman. “She’s a gourmet apprentice. They came just so that she could use the egg to cook something.”

“That’s rare. A gourmet apprentice in the purification garden...”

“The law of purification is valuable to all. Besides, she’s not half bad. Maybe she’s actually stronger than that Pastor inheritor, Carveline,” said Lawson.

Muse didn’t keep up with the topic. He simply crossed his legs and yawned again. “Then let them get the egg, by all means. But they’re going to offer me some of their new dishes. I wonder how the Lord of Tentacles’ egg tastes like.”

“The egg is used for the ritual as well. Letting it into someone’s belly means a hundred more apprentices have to pay their lives.” Lawson glanced at Muse, who was always indifferent about everything apart from alchemy and research.

Muse was one of the two city masters, but Lawson would never put Muse in charge of any critical city affairs since the latter wouldn’t mind killing people just to escape his duty.

“If they really get the prize by their own hands, we’ll let them.” Lawson ended the subject.

After a while, the door was opened by someone again. A group of wizards entered the hall. Mithra was among them.

“Chief.” The wizards expressed their courtesy and took their respective seats, while a witch with short, black hair, a tight-fit leather suit and a scar over her eyebrow walked in front of Lawson. “Sir, how’s Jolene doing?”

Muse spoke before Lawson could.

“Jolene is your student, right, Spade?”

Spade nodded. She sent Jolene into the garden as one of the elite apprentices.

“Well, she’s not your daughter or something, so what’s the fuss? Just chill. You can always look for another student if she’s dead.” Muse grinned.

Spade’s eyebrows twitched a little. She fully expected such words from this city master. She looked at Lawson while hoping for a more reliable answer.

“Muse is quite right. Choosing to enter the garden means taking a potential risk. Even if they are our own apprentices, no one can guarantee their safety.”

Despite his harsh words, Lawson secretly gave Spade a nod.

“I understand.” Contented, Spade returned to her seat since she already learned what she needed.

Some of the other wizards also tried to ask for the situation of their own students, and similarly, Muse would say negative comments, while Lawson provided useful clues, either openly or implicitly.

The wizards all got what they wanted to hear, but Muse looked pretty unhappy about it.

Lawson suddenly scowled at something. He quickly manipulated the screen, which began to show different images in the sky above the lava zone.

“What’s the problem?” asked Muse.

“Someone just touched the dimension barrier...” Lawson narrowed his eyes.

“The barrier?” Spade also put on a serious look. “There are still three hours away before the Sea of Purification opens. The sky is full of demon fishes now. Someone actually got past them?”

The apprentices from the city all knew about this clue, and none of them would approach the dimension barrier at this moment because it might cost their lives.

“Is it ‘Child of Ocean’?”

As they believed, “Child of Ocean” Jebra’s talent worked wonders in this garden. His familiar whale could help him evade most of the demon fishes, and thanks to his water-manipulating talent, the Sea of Purification was like his home court.

“Why don’t we see who just did it?” Mithra asked.

The old man seemed impatient too. He was doing his own work at Elixir Hut when Muse barged in and asked him to check out the monitor in the tower.

Mithra knew that Muse was mainly interested in Angor. Just as expected, Muse dragged him away with a cunning grin.

“I got a filming stone here. Since Angor is going to join our Research Department, we should have something to restrain his actions, and this is a perfect chance to collect one.”

“Restrain him, huh?”

You’re just having fun, Mithra complained in his mind. Each time Muse got his hands on a new “toy”, the man would quickly try something fun with it.

That was why Mithra ended up here.

The image shown by the monitor fixed at the location of the dimension barrier. They saw a huge swarm of demon fishes that included several near-wizard-level ones hunting for a single individual.

“That’s... an Ignis Medusozoa!” someone exclaimed loudly while pointing at a giant jellyfish.

This exceptionally eye-catching creature floated above all other fishes while releasing blue embers into the environment. Those unfortunate enough to touch them would soon become ash and bones.

This “Ignis Medusozoa” too, was one of the main sacrificial materials for the garden.

Here, Lawson and Muse were the only two who were confident enough to confront all of these monsters, while the others would admit that they couldn’t get away in one piece if they were there.

It was easy enough to pick them off one by one, but when so many fishes gathered...

“Who’s the brave b*stard that attracted so many monsters?” They all checked who was flying beside the barrier.

Next, they either frowned, sighed, or laughed when they could see the boy’s face clearly.

Clearly, whoever angered all the fishes had ejected his soul, which was standing right in front of the dimension barrier while dragging his body behind.

“Is he a Soul Manipulator?”

“Hey, look at his face. Do you remember what the magazine said the other day?”

“I see it now... He’s Sunders’ student, Angor, is it?” Soon enough, someone recognized Angor’s identity.

“Yup. Who’d think the boy’s the first one to reach the barrier? It makes sense though. All of Phantom’s students are weirdos. Brilliant weirdos.”

As the others discussed, Mithra remained silent and tried to get over his surprise. He always believed that Angor, as someone extremely talented in alchemy, didn’t have much combat experience due to his age.

But the damn boy is good! Both his strength and his gut!

Lawson suddenly said something that drew their attention, “Now this is interesting... That kid possesses the power of a natural law.”