Long Mei’er smoothed the fur on the spine of the white rabbit and looked back at Richard, earnestly saying, "Alright, Wizard Richard, since you’re so persistent, I’ll give you another chance. Frankly speaking, the ’Void Book’ you want is more confidential than the ’Blood Alchemy’ you exchanged last time. It’s not accessible to non-core members like you, and even most core members don’t have the rights to exchange for it. However, I can give it to you, and you won’t need to overdraft your points."
"What’s the condition?" Richard asked.
"Do you know, the ’Void Book’ kept in the division isn’t complete, it’s only a part, to be precise, the second half. According to clues obtained by previous members of the organization, the missing first half is kept by an ancient wizard family in a city at the border of the Southern Free Federation, near the Soma Alliance. But where exactly, it’s unknown.
If you can go to that city and successfully retrieve the first half of the ’Void Book’, I’ll lend you the second half for your research."
"Anytime, you can retrieve the task-related data from the data room."
"Okay, I’ll prepare and set off."
"You can." Long Mei’er nodded, paused, looked at Richard again, and said, "Wizard Richard, during the process of retrieving the ’Void Book,’ consider your research path properly. Sometimes making mistakes isn’t scary, but not seeing the mistake and continuing forward is—if the direction is wrong, the more effort you make, the further away you get from success. If you come to understand this and give up researching the ’Void Book,’ then I can offer you other rewards for completing the task. Believe me, the rewards will exceed your imagination."
"Thank you, Supervisor Long Mei’er." Richard nodded lightly without saying much, got up, and walked out.
Long Mei’er watched Richard leave, saying nothing, staring intently at the gray-green door of the conference room as if trying to see through it. The air around his body gradually solidified, the conference table squeezed, making a creaking sound. The white rabbit in his arms huddled into a ball, trembling madly as if encountering a natural enemy.
A few seconds later, Long Mei’er frowned, the surface of the conference table instantly exploding with dense cracks, the white rabbit couldn’t help but let out a shrieking cry.
Canon, who had been watching the white rabbit from the side, couldn’t help but remind, "Supervisor Long Mei’er, you..."
Long Mei’er’s aura suddenly withdrew, glanced at Canon, got up holding the white rabbit, and left the room, replying as he walked out the door, "I’m fine."
"I..." Canon’s remaining words stuck in his mouth, only half a moment later in the empty conference room he dryly murmured, "It’s not you I’m worried about, supervisor, it’s..." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝘯𝘦𝘵
"Sigh." Finally, Canon sighed, shook his head, and walked out the door.
With the sound of a "squeak," Richard walked out from Research Room No.3, where the ancient tree species Ximu was "detained."
Not far away on the open grounds, Witch Demon Elder Ah Fu was sitting in his rocking chair, while a huge two-and-a-half-meter-tall skull knelt on the ground, its upper body lying across the Witch Demon Elder’s legs.
Bow-backed, the Witch Demon Elder was holding some white bones, digging them from who knows where, huffing and puffing as he installed them on the skull’s back.
Finally, after installing the three arms on the left side of the back, the Witch Demon Elder wiped his sweat, was about to take a break, when he suddenly saw Richard emerge, hurriedly pushing the skull aside.
Quickly catching up to Richard, he glanced at the Research Room No.3 Richard had just come out from, and instinctively lowered his voice to say, "Hey, kid, are you really going far away?"
"Yeah, didn’t I already tell you earlier today? Why ask again?" Richard said.
"Why do you think I’m asking again!" The Witch Demon Elder couldn’t help but roll his eyes, pointing at Research Room No.3, "When you leave, if the tree inside really goes crazy, what do we do?"
"Don’t worry, it won’t go crazy."
"But just, what if it does?" The Witch Demon Elder said skeptically, "The tree in the room said it was because it absorbs void energy that this space item, once fixed, cannot be moved easily. I always feel it’s a conspiracy just to prevent you from taking this space item with you, so you must be vigilant."
"No need to worry," Richard said, "Mr. Ah Fu, according to my calculations, even if the other party really wants to cause trouble, they won’t be able to store enough energy to be used in a short time. Even in the boldest guess, the other party would have to wait seven days—until the eighth—to cause trouble. And I’m leaving tomorrow and will try to complete the task within the next seven days and come back, eliminating the possibility of them causing trouble."
The Witch Demon Elder didn’t feel reassured, continuing, "What if you don’t come back within seven days? Wouldn’t I be in danger?"
"Have faith in yourself, Mr. Ah Fu." Richard chuckled lightly, "Even if you don’t have confidence in yourself, trust the magic puppet you created. Although the tree in the room is an ancient tree species, it has been injured, and can’t openly recover its strength; it won’t be very strong. You and your puppet can handle it."
"But..." The Witch Demon Elder wanted to say more.
But Richard didn’t listen and seemed to be busy, gently patting the Witch Demon Elder’s shoulder, turning to leave.
Looking at Richard’s back, the Witch Demon Elder couldn’t help but mutter, "Have confidence in myself? Have confidence in my magic puppet? As a witch demon resurrected using garbage corpses, severely affecting my power performance, what confidence can I have? Even if I had confidence, it was shattered by the initial little girl, followed by the angel.
Besides, my magic puppet has only undergone a few simple modifications. While its capabilities have been enhanced, it’s essentially still a weak skeleton. Especially since this modification isn’t complete yet, it’s effectively half-crippled; to defeat a longevity exotic species would be a wonder, having confidence would be odd!"
Muttering, the Witch Demon Elder frowned and walked back to his rocking chair, ready to continue installing arms on the skull.
Though he had little faith in this skull, but a bit more strength provided a bit more peace of mind.
However, just when he was seeking the bones to install, he realized the bones left on the ground had vanished. Looking up suddenly, he saw six white bone arms gently swaying behind the skull, like enthusiastically greeting him.
The Witch Demon Elder paused, glanced around, and asked the skull, "Did that little girl come and help you install the remaining arms?"
"No, no." After speaking, the Witch Demon Elder denied his speculation, shaking his head, grinning, "That naughty girl was facing some troubling challenges when I went to find her earlier. How could she have time to come over? So, did you install the arms yourself?"
In the end, the Witch Demon Elder looked at the skull, unable to help but widen his eyes: "First, you drew your own design; now, you installed your arms yourself; what... what exactly are you?"
The skull continued staring at the Witch Demon Elder, the two locked in a long gaze, as the bare skull couldn’t display any expressions due to the lack of muscles and skin. Only the azure flames within its eye sockets burned steadily, occasionally flickering, like ripples in a stagnant pond, quietly saying: What can I be; I’m just a skull, installing one’s own arms and the like, isn’t it quite normal for a skeleton?
The Witch Demon Elder swallowed with complex emotions, silently pledging that this skull before him was the strangest he’d ever seen in his life.