76 Figaro Formula Part 1 (2/2)
”Where is Nailisi?”
”Sleeping,” Sika replied as she stuck up her mouth. Sika could not understand how Nailisi could sleep for over ten hours every day without getting bored. Aside from mealtimes, she never saw Nailisi appear. As for Sika herself, she was too used to running around the mountains all day. This courtyard seemed too stifling for her even though it was already so enormous.
Sika remembered what the village chief had told her before. No matter how ferocious a beast was, as long as it was captured and fed for two years, it would also become a pig. Sika felt exactly that way now. She was just doing nothing and living every day awaiting her own doom.
”Getting homesick?” Saleen asked. Looking at her expression, Saleen was able to guess that Sika was in a bad mood.
”I don’t know.” Sika grew even more confused after Saleen asked her that question. It was already winter. Would there enough food stored for the village? If there was not enough food, the Holy See would come and wreak havoc, and then dupe some youngsters into going away with him. Sika wondered whether the village chief would have been disappointed in her, now that she didn’t want to return despite being richer than before.
”Actually, it would have been best if we had returned to Caucasus, but we have crossed paths with the Holy See’s deacon and our murder would be exposed. The Holy See’s underlings are active in Caucasus, and if we met them we would be facing a lot of trouble. I’m just afraid of implicating your village, and I’m worried about Aini as well. If the baron is still alive, then we will definitely be in trouble once we leave the Bitter Water Prefecture.”
”Oh?” Sika had just learned the Qin language recently and was still unfamiliar with it, so she did not know what had really transpired. She had only known that the baron was a bad guy. When she heard what Saleen said, she actually calmed down.
”But the viscountess is very smart. She… will help me do an investigation into the problem. Once we receive more information, we will decide whether to leave or stay.”
Even though Saleen loved living under the sorcerer’s teachings and training, he did not want to make Sika suffer. When Saleen had been at his weakest, Sika had used her weapon and beliefs to protect him. Training wise, he would take the initiative to look for a teacher to continue training once he advanced to Grade 4. Even if Earl Sufonso really despised Saleen, he would not dare to attack him again.
Even though Jason was only a Grade 5 mage, he was the most powerful mage in Saleen’s heart. Whatever questions Saleen had, Jason had been able to answer them without much thought. As Saleen’s ambitions had grown, he had finally understood what this meant.
Succession.
Only the strongest of sorcerers would possess this kind of inheritance, leading to the cultivation of a mage master like Jason.
The Figaro formula did not need to be learned here, at the Bitter Water Prefecture.
”Saleen, that actually won’t be necessary. We can just get people to deliver the money to the village next year. It’s just that I no longer have the magic beast soul so I’m having difficulty practicing my fighting technique. I would like to buy a magic beast. May I?”
”Why not? As long as we can get one, the money is not an issue.” When Saleen learned that Sika had been vexed over this matter, he actually became more at ease. It was pretty cheap for mercenaries to purchase a magic beast, because the value of a magic beast was in its magic nucleus. As long as a person did not purchase the magic nucleus, even if they were to get a Grade 6 magic beast, it would only cost a few thousand gold coins.
For a low-level mage, this was a huge sum of money. However, Saleen had taken sixty thousand gold coins from Aini and still hadn’t spent it yet.
When Sika heard that Saleen was supporting her decision, she grew more cheerful and said, ”I shall go bathe now. You must be busy. Please go and do whatever you need to.”
”What?” Saleen was surprised by Sika’s response. He had already grown accustomed to Sika being very messy. She could even make new leather armor very dirty. But just then, he realized that Sika had cleaned her leather armor. Her hair had also been combed very smoothly, with a hint of fragrance.
Saleen shook his head and made his way to Faerun’s room. It was already noon, and Saleen was Faerun’s assistant. It was bad to skive. Not everyone managed to get an opportunity like this.
Faerun was not in the room and Saleen felt bored. He looked around the room and realized that there was an obvious difference between Faerun’s room and his teacher’s room. Faerun did not keep a collection of magic books. The whole laboratory was spick and span, and the tools on the table were neatly organized with the exception of the stack of gold pieces on the table.
The gold pieces remained in the same position that they had been in the other day when they were shoved around. Saleen had a sudden urge and walked towards it, beginning to observe it closely.
The more than three thousand pieces of gold possessed a kind of mysterious aura that Saleen could not put his finger on. Despite the alchemy having being destroyed by Faerun, the gold pieces had not fallen to scraps, but had kept their miraculous arrangement.
Saleen tried casting recollection magic but it did not work. The magic patterns on the gold pieces rendered him unable to complete the memory. Saleen grew even more intrigued now that the magic had not succeeded.
The Figaro formula was a phenomenally difficult puzzle in the study of magic. There were a total of over eight thousand arrangements, and each arrangement was intertwined so that a starting point could not be identified. If a mage was able to understand this formula, then he would be able to deduce the original arrangement. The original arrangement was said to contain the fundamental laws of magic.
However, the oddly amazing thing was that every single mage who had understood the Figaro formula had deduced a different original arrangement. This, in turn, had caused the study of the Figaro formula to be unable to be published into an educational book. Even if a mage shared his experiences, a person would still need to learn bit by bit from the beginning.
The individual could only digest the guidance of others slowly. It was impossible to attain all the knowledge at once. Hence, Saleen was not very passionate about the Figaro formula. He had a teacher, so he was not afraid of not receiving any pointers.
But the pile of gold pieces were obviously a challenge that Faerun posed to him, since it was an amazing arrangement.