Chapter 77 - The People From the Headquarters Are Finally Here (1/2)

Roland returned home. After eating lunch, he took an afternoon nap, then went on the forums to see other players brag.

After all, amongst the 500,000 players, there were quite a lot of people who were willing to share their tips and experiences—Roland was also one of them.

He slowly read through them. Some boasted, some talked about the local conditions and customs of the city they were in, and some gave an account of the weaknesses, habits, and other traits of wild monsters and beasts.

Roland read with great pleasure.

Those who hung about in the forums all knew that once they encountered a topic of interest, they would kill a lot of time lingering in the forums.

Before Roland noticed, when he had become weary, it was already evening.

After eating the dinner his mother had made, he took a shower. Then, once he practiced the horse stance in his room, he entered the game again.

He first oversaw the magic lab on the fifth floor, dispelling the magic apprentices’ doubts. After the morning went by and he finished the lunch Vivian had made, Aldo came by his study.

Vivian was in the middle of asking Roland some questions, but she smiled at Aldo and promptly left the study.

Aldo looked at Vivian as she left; he was somewhat surprised. “You actually haven’t touched her?”

Roland’s mouth twitched helplessly. He didn’t want to be led by the nose on this topic, so he asked straightforwardly, “Chairman, what matter do you have this time?”

At this moment, Aldo’s expression turned stern. He said slowly, “The people from the headquarters are about to arrive—they’ll be in the city in roughly an hour.”

“Isn’t this just as you wished?” Roland chuckled. They’re finally coming.

Aldo laughed aloud. “Yes, I can finally see someone resist those evil frauds from the headquarters. I hope you won’t disappoint me.

“You should say that you hope the people from the headquarters don’t disappoint me. I hope they’re just as you said: bossy, greedy, and condescending.” Roland closed a book. He made new progress on the derivation of Language Proficiency: he could carry out language and character translation simultaneously, but it didn’t work one hundred percent of the time as occasionally, some sentences carried odd tones. “Then what plans do you have next?”

“In a battle between two giant dragons, we weak little b**chy rabbits naturally have to hide in the sidelines first.” Chairman Aldo laughed, completely paying no mind to his own cowardice. “So I’ll disappear for the next three days for some important business. All matters, large or small, inside the magic tower, can be handled as you please.”

“What if I run off?” Roland asked.

“It doesn’t matter even if you stole everything inside the magic tower.” Aldo shrugged. “Things like resources and money will come back eventually anyway. If you absconded with the money, things would be even better. I would be able to issue a bounty as the headquarters’ command; this way you and the headquarters will fight each other till your last breaths.”

Upon hearing this, Roland smiled. “It seems everything is within your expectations!”

Aldo shrugged smugly. “All right, I have to go, it’ll be too late if I don’t go now.”

With these last words, Aldo left the magic tower.

Roland stood by the window of the upper levels and watched Aldo’s figure disappear amongst the buildings of the city.

If the headquarters was really as Aldo had said, he would eventually end up going against the headquarters anyway, so it was harmless that Aldo used him for a while since some of the tower’s interests were already in his hands anyway—gold coins, resources, and the books in the library collection.

During his time here, in the spare time away from his magic experiments, he already used the system’s built-in photography function to record over half of the collection inside the library. This was the most essential part of a magic tower. Even if he stopped working at the magic tower, he would have gained something.

Besides, he didn’t completely trust Aldo: this was why he chose diplomacy before resorting to force.

There was no rush to burn bridges.

After waiting for a while, Roland went down to the second floor, rang the golden bell, and gathered all the magic apprentices.

“You have all now learned the basic form of Hand of Magic, but progression will be slow from study alone—it’s better to put it into practice,” Roland said. “Outside the city, there are two Golden Sons gathering beggars, even building houses for them. Now, all of you, go out and use Hand of Magic to transport building materials and dig holes for them. More practical use will be greatly beneficial to the growth of your magic power.”

The magic apprentices looked at each other. They’d never been given such a mission.