Published at 7th of February 2026 7:37 am

Chapter 2535: Fantasies

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Princess Town, inside the secret chamber of Old Porter Tavern.

When Angel opened his eyes, the first person he saw was Old Porter, standing not far away, too afraid to move.

"Why are you standing there?" Angel asked puzzled.

"Is there anything else that the master hasn’t instructed me to do?" Old Porter asked respectfully.

"Is that all you’re here for?" Angel rubbed his temples, helplessly saying: "I already said there’s nothing more, you’re free to do as you please. As for any doubts you have, go online and ask others yourself."

Hearing Angel’s words, Old Porter’s face showed visible disappointment. Clearly, Old Porter was still hoping to get some inside information from Angel.

"You should go out now, I have some things to do." Angel waved his hand to signal Old Porter to leave.

Old Porter could only nod and prepare to leave, taking a last glance at Angel as he walked to the door.

However, just as he was about to close the door, Angel suddenly called out to him: "Oh, I forgot to tell you something."

Old Porter immediately looked up, his eyes shining: "Master, is there something you want to instruct me?"

Seeing the faint excitement on Old Porter’s face, Angel couldn’t help but laugh: "Are you truly eager for tasks, or do you want some answers about the Wilderness of Dreams from me?"

"Both, both..."

Angel: "Then you might be disappointed; these matters can only be discussed in the Wilderness of Dreams. Outside, I won’t say anything. If you meet me in the Wilderness of Dreams, I can tell you, but in reality, there’s no chance."

Angel made a gesture, the meaning simple and clear: Everything for caution.

Old Porter understood, nodded seriously: "I understand!"

Saying this, he made the same gesture.

Angel didn’t care what Old Porter understood. If Old Porter truly wanted to know any information, he would have to go to the Wilderness of Dreams. But meeting Angel there wasn’t up to Old Porter.

"Master, if there’s anything, please instruct." With the mention of the Wilderness of Dreams over, Old Porter’s emotions started to calm.

"In a couple of days, someone from the Barbarian Cave will come to handle matters here. You just need to cooperate with them on the first day, after which you don’t need to be involved, and it’d be best not to investigate." Angel: "If possible, it’s best not to approach Princess Castle soon, or you could leave Princess Town altogether."

"The winds will rise, the nation will be in chaos. Staying here, even someone transcendent might get embroiled."

Old Porter: "But, I still have my own task."

Old Porter didn’t say what the task was, but Angel could guess. It’s either observing the chaos of the Gumman Kingdom or recording the various movements of the Gumman royal family and relaying them to the Barbarian Cave. In essence, Old Porter is a spy planted here.

But what Old Porter doesn’t know is that what he’s investigating is actually trivial. The real chaos, the truth of the Gumman Kingdom, is already known by those at the top of the pyramid.

What Old Porter is doing is merely superficial work to appease those spies in the Barbarian Cave.

And now, with imminent chaos, those superficial tasks by apprentice-level figures don’t need doing. Old Porter doesn’t need to stay here; it’d be better to leave the Gumman Kingdom.

"Your task will be canceled sooner or later."

Seeing Old Porter’s confusion, Angel continued: "If you don’t believe me, when the investigator arrives in a few days, you can ask them whether your task needs continuing."

"Your future is yours to decide, so make your own choices."

Old Porter pondered for a moment, then nodded: "I understand, thank you for the warning, master."

Angel: "Oh, by the way, I’ll leave at first light. Princess Town might turn upside down in the coming days, if you have a place to take refuge, it’s best to do so with Lady Melo. If not, you can stay here in the secret chamber. Before I leave, I’ll set up an illusion here. Unless they’re a True Knowledge Wizard or an Illusionist Wizard, they likely won’t notice anything unusual."

Old Porter sensed a killing intent in Angel’s words. It reminded him of Dox’s queries to Angel earlier.

Could it be that, as Dox said, Angel did something to Princess Castle?

As Old Porter indulged in conjecture, Angel glanced over at him: "Do you have questions?"

Old Porter immediately bowed his head, respectfully: "No questions."

"Then go do what you need to do, and prepare for any scenario. I don’t want you causing a mess and dragging me back to the Gumman Kingdom to deal with trivial matters."

Old Porter nodded seriously, then exited through the door.

Once Old Porter left, Angel took out the engraving pen, blood ink, and various materials, ready to set up a Magical Energy Array in the chamber.

Angel told Old Porter it was an illusion, but if Princess Town really faces unforeseen circumstances, an illusion alone is not secure; thus, combining an illusion and a Magical Energy Array is the optimal solution.

If Old Porter chooses to stay, this chamber can remain hidden for a short time, giving him a chance to log into the Wilderness of Dreams for help.

If Old Porter abandons the tavern and leaves, this chamber can serve as a secret base for the Barbarian Cave. Once registered at the Task Hall, this secret base could provide protection for members inside the Gumman Kingdom in the future.

While taking out various materials, Angel also called out Mandhela.

Mandhela didn’t speak immediately but quietly sat aside, lost in thought.

The obscure and dark aura surrounding her gradually floated, making her entire being seem like a pitch-black shadow.

When Angel had almost finished depicting the Magical Energy Array, Mandhela’s contemplation ended. Yet she still didn’t speak, merely watched Angel intently as he engraved, her expression complex, containing dislike and loathing, paired with indecision and hesitation.

Mandhela didn’t speak, but Angel suddenly turned to her: "I just had an inspiration, borrowing some of your energy."

Mandhela was surprised: "My energy is still mixed, its essence retains the scent of corruption."

Angel: "No matter, it can be filtered once more before use."

Without waiting for Mandhela’s consent, Angel directly controlled his spirit tentacle, extracting a significant portion from the dark aura encircling her.

The loss of external dark aura made Mandhela’s Soul Body empty, needing days to recover. Yet, Mandhela did not resist Angel; to her, this dark aura would once have been fiercely protected, but now, while she longs for power, she doesn’t want it to be something driving her to madness.

After borrowing Mandhela’s spiritual energy, Angel picked up the engraving pen, enveloping this energy, and smoothly engraved it onto the ceiling.

As this magic pattern was completed, a dense sinister aura spread through the surroundings.

Mandhela inhaled deeply, feeling her Soul Body rejoice: "This is an aura that nurtures dead souls; do you plan to nurture them here?"

Angel: "You’ll see soon enough."

Angel then performed some operations that Mandhela couldn’t understand, and soon, the sinister aura began subtly changing, shedding death’s scent, gaining a purity and cleansing feel, becoming more serene and peaceful. While still able to nurture dead souls, its versatility widened, now providing tranquility even to life."

"What is this?"

"Deathly Stillness Magic Pattern." Angel: "A magic pattern that nurtures dead souls. However, I’ve slightly modified it, borrowing your energy. Your energy attribute is very special, although it reeks of death, it carries a flavor of rebirth."

"Sure enough, with slight modification and filtering, it transforms into a new effect."

Mandhela couldn’t understand Angel’s explanation, only sensing it sounded lofty and impressive, though she was clueless. Curiously, she wondered what effect this modified magic pattern had.

"What effect? Can’t you feel it?"

Angel glanced strangely at Mandhela, then took out a slightly wilted apple from his bracelet. — He had no idea when this apple ended up in his bracelet, but judging by the bite marks on it, it was probably left by Toby during one of his snacking sessions in the bracelet.

Angel casually tossed the apple, and it landed in the corner of the wall.

Then he pointed at the apple and said, "Can you sense it now?"

Mandhela sensed for a moment, then turned back and stayed silent for a while, "Is this... food preservation?"

Angel nodded, "How is it, not bad, right?"

Before Mandhela could reply, Angel continued to inscribe other magical energy arrays, while also proudly saying, "This was inspired by the ’Dance of Metal’ magazine, which has a lot of alchemy tips for daily use. Though they are quite complicated, I tweaked them a bit, and the effect is quite impressive."

Mandhela felt like retorting, did you use my energy just for food preservation?

But thinking about it, she wanted to purge that energy anyway, so preservation it is. But, why inscribe preservation magic patterns here?

"Isn’t it because you didn’t kill the Princess? To avoid turmoil in Princess Town causing harm to our people, I’m planning to modify this secret room into a long-term residence with protection, concealment, and anti-detection capabilities."

"Since it’s for long-term staying, we should consider the quality of life," Angel chuckled, "This line is also from ’Dance of Metal.’

Mandhela: "... What kind of dubious magazine is that."

"Dubious? I find it quite interesting."

Mandhela let out a long breath, "But, you wizards eat like normal people every day?"

Angel paused.

Eh?! It actually makes sense!

The hunger resistance of a Level 1 apprentice is already strong, Level 2 and Level 3 apprentices even stronger. As for official wizards, as long as energy continues to nourish the bloodline, they can go without food without any problem.

"Moreover, when I went to the Rosewater Pavilion with Tullas, the chef Asaz mentioned that generally, when apprentices travel, they first learn magic bread. Once they master this culinary trick, even a Level 1 apprentice won’t go hungry."

Originally, Angel felt like arrows were piercing him, and when Mandhela mentioned magic bread, another arrow hit his chest.

"So, why do all this unnecessary work?"

Faced with Mandhela’s inquiry, the air suddenly became silent.

After a long silence, Angel slowly said, "The magical energy array is a whole, needing the cooperation of various magic patterns inside, and among them, there can be compatibility or incompatibility. The current magic pattern is very compatible with the whole array, so I inscribed it for this reason."

"Really?" Mandhela squinted in doubt.

"Of course. Besides, this magic pattern also has the effect of nourishing the soul. Why are you focusing on the trivial preservation effect?"

Mandhela: "..." Wasn’t it you who mentioned it first?

Angel: "Forget it, you don’t understand magical energy arrays, I don’t blame you. Compared to these trivial matters, you actually want to ask about Tullas’ response more, right?"

Anyone could see Angel was changing the subject, quite awkwardly, but Mandhela took the bait without hesitation.

All her mind and attention focused entirely on Angel.

Angel gave Mandhela a moment to prepare, and then cautiously chose his words, "You are the one who’s spent the most time with Tullas. You should know him well."

"Before I talk about his reaction, I want to know, with your understanding of him, what do you think his reaction to your departure will be?"

Mandhela was silent for a moment, "Probably no reaction."

Angel: "Correct."

Mandhela didn’t feel any joy at getting it right, instead, her expression instantly fell.

Angel raised his eyebrow, "Isn’t this what you said yourself? You already guessed his reaction."

Mandhela lowered her head, "I thought there might be a surprise."

"If life were full of surprises, how would anything serious ever get done?" Angel said, "Besides, don’t you think, considering you’ve been gone for half a day only? What reaction do you expect? That he would anxiously search everywhere, or cry while shouting, ’Where are you?’"

"Put yourself in his shoes, if you were gone from your relatives for half a day, would you think they’d have any reaction?"

"I don’t have any relatives," Mandhela’s eyes glinted with a hint of darkness.

"If you don’t, then just imagine, is half a day really that long?"

Mandhela stayed silent for a moment, also feeling that Angel seemed to make sense, she had only left for half a day, expecting Tullas to have a reaction to her leaving was really a bit demanding.

"Then if I don’t log in for a few days, by that time, will I..."

"No." Angel rejected without hesitation, "I’m very busy right now, not only do I have to help you handle the aftermath at Princess Castle, but I also have a task to go to Sandworm Market, where’s the time to play these games with you. This time, I needed your help, so I made a deal with you. But, there won’t be a next time."

After a long pause, Mandhela: "Alright, I’ll go see for myself."

After saying that, Mandhela seemed still a bit unwilling, she continued to probe, "So... did Tullas not mention me at all?"

Angel thought for a moment, "Not exactly, I told him you might not be able to log in for a few days."

Mandhela’s eyes lit up, "So how did he respond?"

Angel: "He said he knew. Then he just said he wanted to return to Originheart City, so I sent him off."

Angel originally intended to embellish Tullas’ response, but since Mandhela had earlier hit him with two arrows, Angel skipped embellishment and just delivered Tullas’ direct words to Mandhela.

Angel thought Mandhela would be heartbroken by this, but unexpectedly, Mandhela seemed quite delighted.

While Angel was puzzled, he heard Mandhela mutter softly to herself, "As soon as I left, he went back to Originheart City. Sure enough, without me, he feels bored. Only when I’m by his side does he not feel lonely."

Listening to these increasingly outrageous words, Angel’s expression turned extremely subtle.

He originally thought Mandhela might be hurt mentally, but to his surprise, she had concocted such a narrative in her mind.

And, it kind of makes sense.

But the real situation, Angel knew, Tullas never thought of Mandhela.

Should he tell her the truth?

Looking at Mandhela immersed in her own thoughts, with her lips slightly curled, and a faintly joyous aura surrounding her... after pondering, he decided not to shatter her dream.

Anyone else could be different, but Mandhela’s case was special.

For her, having some fantasy is better than despair.

Besides, the fantasy wasn’t entirely impossible to come true.

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