Suddenly, a crisp crow's cry interrupted their gaze. Lynn, somewhat regretfully, redirected his attention and looked in the dire of the sound. There, a palm-sized gray crow stood on the ter, staring ily at him.

  The owner of the "Drunken Spirit" tavern was a true Gewet mert, exuding a shreragmatic air. Upon hearing the crow's cry, he momentarily paused in wiping a gss and grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth, and warmly greeted Lynn.

  "A rare fadeed. Wele to the 'Drunken Spirit' tavern. Is there something you need, my guest?"

  "I'll have a gss of a Roh wine, four vintages if I'm not mistaken. It should be seventeen Seccas copper s," Lynn walked straight up to the ter and pced the copper s ly in stacks of five and seven oable.

  The tavern owner scrutinized Lynn, and his gaze lingered for a moment on the longsword at Lynn's waist, but his expression remained unged. "That was st year's rate. Now it's... twenty-one copper!"

  Lyated for a moment, yet before he could respond, a stunning female patron at the bar pursed her lips and pyfully said, "Old Hawk, are y to fool the newer? I don't recall Roh wine suddenly getting more expensive here."

  As she spoke, the young woman looked with curiosity at Lyneen copper s fss of a Roh wine, while ravagantly priced, was indeed a generous order for the "Drunken Spirit" tavern. Especially ing from a young and handsome man with a well-built physique, he didn't seem like the type to spend vishly for no reason.

  Old Hawk paid no mind to the woman's interje and grinned, "Two ships capsized in the harbor this year, and the ingredients for Roh wine are scarce. It's only natural the price goes up."

  Lynn furrowed his brow and said, "But I only have seventeen Seccas copper s."

  The young female patron's i in Lynn suddenly waned. It seemed he was just another pauper spending his savings for a taste of good wine.

  "In that case, I suggest you ge your taste..." Old Hawk shrugged, "Of course, if you're ied in earning some extra money, I help you with that. Lame Laut is currently in need of someoo do private jobs for him. He's always generous with his payments."

  Lame Laut? Lynn raised an eyebrow. During his time iigating in Urn Town, he had heard that name more than once.

  The rumors about him weren't fttering...

  "Very well, I'm in need of suitable work," Lynn said after a moment of thought and nodded in agreement.

  Old Hawk swept the copper s oable into his pocket, asked one of the tavern's servers to temporarily take over his duties, and then turo Lynn, speaking once more.

  "Follow me. Your Roh wine is stored in the celr. I'll take it and then bring you to meet him."

  As Lynn followed Old Hawk without any suspi, the onlookers iavern couldn't help but dispy a smug smile.

  Everyone in Urn Towhat while Lame Laut was generous with his payments, he was also known for his ruthlessness. Many people who worked for him mysteriously disappeared, sometimes not even leaving a corpse behind.

  You could have money but not life...

  In the meantime, as the tavern patrons watched with amusement, Old Hawk led Lynn through the kit and into a ste room filled with flour and barrels. He stopped in front of a dirty, massive wine barrel.

  Click...

  Old Hawk pressed down on the lid of the barrel, and with a rush of liquid, the barrel slowly rotated, revealing a half-person tall secret passage beh it.

  "Follow this path. The person you want to meet is inside," Old Hawk whispered, l his voice. He hahe lit dlestick to Lynn and impatiently warned, "Be careful on your own. Don't cause trouble for me!"

  Lynn expressed his thanks, picked up the oil mp, and proceeded into the dark passage. As soon as he stepped in, the massive barrels stained with wine once again rotated bato pce, and the sound of the liquid being refilled echoed.

  The faint light from outside vanished, and the passage lunged into darkness. Lynn could only see a dim path ahead, and the air still carried the st of inferior-quality wine.

  Lynn tinued down the dim corridor, his guard up and his mind stantly reviewing information about several fellorentices.

  Due to his mentor, Coru, who had been stantly on the move over the years, there was no fixed pce for him to stay, and he wouldn't keep all the apprentices close by.

  After all, having too many unfamiliar faces suddenly appearing in a city would draw unwatention and hiheir ability to ceal their identities.

  So, the inal Karl's knowledge of these individuals was quite limited. He had only met them a few times and kheir names and faces to some extent.

  The only one he was somewhat familiar with was Jonny, who had sent him letters before.

  Of course, this familiarity was one-sided.

  To put it simply, the inal Karl had some teenage infatuation towards Jonny.

  As one of Coru's most promising students with high magical talent, Jonny was just oep away from being a full-fledged wizard. After Coru's death, he had bee the de facto leader of their group of apprentices.

  However, this one-sided infatuation wasn't likely to be of ao Karl.

  As Lynn tio pohe narroassage ahead gradually widened. With the dim dlelight, Lynn suddenly realized that this dark passage was leading to a dense forest outside Urn Town.

  Even though it was deep into the night, the sky wasn't as dark as expected. Silver moonlight filtered through the leaves of the forest, casting a soft glow on the solid earth, making it appear as though it was covered with a sheer veil. Lyhe magic within him beore active.

  This must be a Monday, he thought.

  Through the derees, Lynn could faintly see the sparkling stars in the sky and the massive moon. Acc to Karl's memories, this unique celestial event occurred only once a year and sted for about three to five days.

  But Karl's memories didn't mention that moonlight could affect magic.

  That made sense; Karl had only bee a wizard six months ago.

  As Lynn was thinking about this, a series of hurried noises suddenly echoed through the area. More than a dozen solidified Magic Missiles shot out from the derees surrounding him, blog his escape routes.

  A trap?

  That thought immediately crossed Lynn's mind. In the moment, he reacted swiftly. With his left hand free, he flipped it over, and a gray powder fell into his palm. It was the remaining material for his spell, the Ember of Red Fme!

  Lynn threw it with force, and the tiny particles ignited instantly, creating a scorg wall of fire in front of him.

  However, his hastily used spell, the Lesser Fire Wall, couldn't withstand the bined effort of several apprentice wizards. The Magic Missiles almost instantly peed the wall of fire.

  But Lynn had already achieved his goal. The heat and chaos caused by the fire disrupted their aim, and their Magic Missiles scattered, striking the trees and the earth behind him.

  Seeing fures in dark robes closing in on him in a semicircle, Lynn silently drew his longsword, while simultaneously opening a pouch taining phosphorus. He was ready for a fight.

  His preparation for battle involved using a small amount of phosphorus, and he didn't have much of it, but now wasn't the time to hold back.

  However, before Lynn could make a move, a cold voice spoke ahead of him.

  "Karl, why did you betray us?"