Wizards: Starting with Fairy Crests

007: He has ill intentions!

Lin Qi's fingers gripped the sword without the slightest relaxation; his muscles were taut, and his sharp gaze was fixed on the swaying bush.

From the shadows, three figures emerged one after another, all dressed in rough gray or brown clothing, covered in dew and mud from the forest, indicating they had been trekking in the wild for quite some time.

The man in the lead was tall, with a fresh claw mark on his face, and his eyes were sharp and scrutinizing; he was Harold, a fellow apprentice.

To his left was a skinny, monkey-like fellow with constantly shifting eyes, named "Skinny Monkey" Marin; to his right was a gloomy-faced, scarred apprentice with strange tattoos on his neck, Kellerb.

"Lynch's apprentice?" Harold spoke first, a perfectly timed look of surprise on his face, but his gaze quickly swept over the sword in Lynch's hand and the conspicuous Grey Tower apprentice cloak he wore—

Not long ago, Lynch went to the Gray Tower to register his academic achievements and officially passed the assessment period. This is the apprentice cloak that the Gray Tower issued after he passed the assessment.

"What a coincidence." Harold stepped forward and stopped at a distance that was neither too close nor too far, neither too intimate nor too intimidating, with a warm smile. "We were just heading to Silent Manor to take care of some business, and we didn't expect to run into you here."

At this point, Harold seemed to realize something and said with slight surprise, "Lynch's Apprentice, you...you wouldn't have also taken on a mission from 'over there' Silent Manor, would you?"

That refers to the Witch with the Evil Eye, of course. The Thousand-Eyed Demon Soup is no secret among the apprentices, and many of them know that the Witch with the Evil Eye has a magic potion that can quickly promote meditation.

Lin Qi remained vigilant, feigning ignorance: "What?"

He paused, shook his head, and calmly explained, "I was just collecting some moonshine moss and night-singing bird feathers around here. Silent Manor? That place doesn't sound like a place for an apprentice like me who just passed the assessment."

He deliberately emphasized that he had "just passed the assessment," making it clear that he had already passed the assessment period as an apprentice.

"I see..." Harold's face immediately showed undisguised disappointment, but a knowing and subtle assessment flashed deep in his eyes. The skinny monkey Marin next to him seemed to want to say something, but was stopped by a subtle look from Harold.

Harold's gaze swept over Lynch's cross-shaped sword and his grey tower cloak, which was clearly of a higher quality than their coarse cloth. His smile faded slightly, replaced by a more polite tone: "In that case, we won't disturb your gathering any longer. Good luck, Lynch apprentice. We still have a long way to go."

He nodded decisively, turned around with his two companions, and quickly disappeared into the dense forest path on the other side, walking hurriedly without the slightest hesitation.

Only when their figures were completely swallowed by the trees did Lynch's tense shoulders relax almost imperceptibly, but he still listened intently, his sharp eyes fixed on the direction in which they disappeared.

There is no such thing as unearned kindness and enthusiasm in the wizarding world. Although Lynch didn't know what these three people were up to, he was certain they had no good intentions.

You'd better leave here as soon as possible!

After thinking for a moment, Lin Qi extinguished the campfire, packed up the food he had just prepared, and quickly left to find a more secluded campsite.

...

A few minutes later, on another path not far from the forest.

"Harold, why don't you do something?"

Skinny Marlin couldn't help but lower his voice and say urgently, his eyes gleaming with greed: "That kid just passed the test, and he might still have magic stones in his spatial pocket as a reward for passing the test!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Harold hissed, his eyes sinister. "You know he passed the test? What does that mean? It means he might have mastered a spell model! Who knows if he'll summon a deadly fireball or poisonous insects? If we act rashly, we might be the ones who die!"

Scarface Kellerb added in a low, hoarse voice, "Besides, his grip on the sword was very steady, and his eyes were too calm; he didn't seem like a terrified lamb. The way he refused so decisively probably meant he had already seen through our ill intentions."

Harold spat regretfully, "What a pity... I was hoping to persuade him to join the team. That godforsaken place, Silent Manor, desperately needs a 'scout'... If he could go ahead, at least he could help us test whether those rumored curses and traps are true or not."

He glanced back in the direction of Lynch, then shook his head. "Forget it. A guy who already has some trump cards and is clearly wary is hard to handle. Let's go. The 'things' in the manor are our real target."

......

A few days later, at Silent Manor.

Silent Manor is a sinister manor that appeared in the Gray Mist Forest several years ago.

No one knows when it appeared, as if it appeared out of thin air overnight; no one knows who the owner of this place is, and no one has ever seen anyone come or go here.

There are rumors that many rare magical plants are grown here, which has attracted a large number of apprentices who come here because of its reputation.

However, the vast majority of them never came out after entering this place...

"Snap!"

With a snap of a rotten branch under his foot, Lynch stood at the entrance of Silent Manor. The surroundings were eerily silent, and the sound of the breaking branch was the only noise.

Standing before the rusted and twisted wrought iron gate, Lin Qi cast a deep gaze into the interior of the manor.

Everything before my eyes was bathed in a distorted gray hue. The main building of the manor was a crooked three-story stone structure, half of its spire collapsed, as if it had been gnawed by a giant beast.

The walls were covered with some kind of deep purple vines, which were not still, but were wriggling slightly at an extremely slow, almost imperceptible pace, like the blood vessels under the skin of a sleeping behemoth.

All the windows were empty and dark, the glass broken, without any light, only bottomless shadows that seemed to suck away any gaze that entered them.

The air was eerily still, without a breath of wind. The intense silence wasn't just stillness, but a heavy, oppressive reality, as if sound itself had been stifled and absorbed.

"It's much more sinister than it looks in the game..."

Just standing at the entrance of this manor, Lin Qi felt a chill run down his spine. If he had any other choice, he really wouldn't want to take a single step inside.

"rustle..."

Just then, a faint sound came from behind, which was particularly noticeable in the quiet moment.

Lin Qi's brow twitched, and he quickly hid himself behind a tree.

Before long, several figures appeared in Lynch's field of vision; they were Harold and his group, whom he had met a few days ago.

Lin Qi held his breath and hid even deeper behind an ancient tree with a gnarled trunk and mottled bark, his gaze piercing through the gaps as he sharply targeted the source of the sound.

Harold and his two companions emerged from the forest path and stopped a few steps away from the iron gate of the manor.

Skinny Marlin, panting heavily, eagerly reached for the half-closed, heavily corroded iron door: "Hurry! I heard those 'Rotting Eye Vines' are near the old wall behind the main building. If we find them, we can..."

"Wait!" Harold hissed, grabbing Marin by the back of his collar and pulling him back. His eyes scanned the eerily silent manor with suspicion. "Are you looking for death? Can't you feel anything? There's not even a breeze here."

Scarface Kellerb crouched down, picked up a bit of grayish-white soil from the doorway with his fingers, sniffed it, and his face grew even more somber: "The smell of death... is too strong. It's not just the rotting plants."

He looked up at the deep darkness behind the windows, his voice low, "I've heard... that people who come in here weren't killed by monsters."

"What is that?" Marin shrank back nervously.

Harold picked up the conversation, a barely perceptible fear in his eyes, as if repeating some taboo: "It's 'disappearance.' Some say the manor itself is alive, that the vines will wrap around your ankles when you're not looking. Some say there are soul-devouring statues hidden in the darkness, and if they make a sound, they will come to life..."

Marin turned pale upon hearing this, while Kellerb silently examined his weapons and the few simple scrolls he carried with him.

Harold sighed, his gaze sweeping once more over the deathly silent courtyard, his tone filled with regret and calculation: "That's why I said, if only we could have tricked that kid Lynch into coming in that day. He could have been used to... scout ahead. Wouldn't it have been much clearer if he'd gone first?"

He spat, as if spitting out some kind of frustration: "Too bad, that kid was too wary."

"Forget it, there's no point in saying this now."

"Everyone, stay close to me, don't touch anything, keep your eyes open... Whether we can get the 'Rotten Eye Vine' depends on this."

He took one last deep look at the dark building that resembled a crouching behemoth, gritted his teeth, and carefully pushed open the iron gate first.

The rusty hinge emitted a long, sharp creak, like a painful groan, breaking the stagnant silence, which was then swallowed up by an even deeper stillness.

The three of them, with their bodies hunched over as if facing a formidable enemy, stepped into the dilapidated courtyard, which seemed to have been stripped of all color.

After the three left, Lin Qi emerged from behind the tree.

His eyes were cold, and a chilling light flashed in them.

Good guy!

Although he had guessed from the beginning that these guys were up to no good, he really didn't expect them to be so vicious, that they were trying to kill him!

"Since that's the case..."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips: "Then don't blame me for being impolite!"