It was a deep autumn morning, with gentle sunlight bathing the earth, tracing a golden line where the snow-capped mountains met the blue sky.

Inside the guest room of the air-raid shelter, Yvette lowered her feather quill, gazing at the manuscript of the Tome of Fire Magic sprawled across the table, filled with elegant calligraphy. A subtle smile graced her beautiful face.

Though this was a new endeavor that had consumed considerable effort, she felt a sense of accomplishment. The Tome of Fire Magic was finally completed. Each spell contained within was a small specification running between 200 to 500 runes, optimized to the limits for that level.

Moreover, she reserved quite a few interfaces, allowing those spells to automatically connect and form powerful reactions when synchronizing with other spells within the tome.

However, regarding the learning difficulty, this Tome of Fire Magic was on par with hell-level challenges.

After all, on the Glimmering Continent, the spells utilized by mages were typically composed of just a dozen or a few dozen runes, allowing for quick memorization and practical combat practice. Conversely, the spells in the Tome of Fire Magic were akin to short essays in length. How much more difficult would it be to grasp them?

Especially for new students unfamiliar with runes, they would need someone proficient in runes to help translate them into incantations; the number of characters to memorize would potentially range in the dozens or even hundreds, requiring a period of chanting before each use. The scene was anything but beautiful.

Exiting the air-raid shelter, Yvette spotted Dugrabi curled up within its self-dug “den” on the slope opposite, using a haystack as a pillow while soundly asleep. Next to it, a finely crafted fireplace crackled with burning firewood.

After waking him, Yvette held the Tome of Fire Magic suspended before Dugrabi, providing a brief introduction before adding, “I’ll keep this manuscript for myself, but I recommend you copy it down first. That way, in case of emergencies, like when the aurora appears, you can bring the tome along with you as you leave.”

“Uh… copy it?” Dugrabi eyed his claws. “Teacher, are you serious?”

“Then you’d better memorize all the spells in this tome quickly; otherwise, when the aurora appears, you’ll need to resist the urge to go back,” Yvette stated flatly.

She had a clear intention behind her words—if she didn’t encourage Dugrabi, he would lack motivation. While he would still learn, his efficiency wouldn’t be very high.

A little pressure was necessary.

Once the teacher left, Dugrabi stared at the precious manuscript before him, falling into deep contemplation. He didn’t know when the aurora might appear, and without being able to transcribe, his only option seemed to be to work hard and memorize all the content quickly, just in case.

At that moment, he noticed Ice Rain cheerfully passing by the entrance of his den, holding a small package that seemed to contain something good she had scavenged from some ruins outside.

He immediately shouted, “Blue hair! Can you hear me? Come over here!”

“That’s so rude! I told you my name is Ice Rain, Mr. Dugrabi!” Ice Rain shot him an annoyed look but still walked over.

“Alright, alright, Ice Rain it is. I need you to help me—copy down the contents of this notebook.” Even while asking for help, Dugrabi was quite rude toward anyone other than Yvette, especially when it came to the alchemical beings.

Ice Rain, taken aback, said, “Huh? Why?”

“Don’t ask so many questions—just do it,” he commanded.

“I—no!” Ice Rain turned her head in defiance, huffing, “Just because you tell me to do it, you think I’m obliged? I’m not little Jasmine!”

Dugrabi glared at her fiercely. This mere alchemical creation dared to refuse the request of a noble dragon?

If it weren’t for the fact that little Jasmine had trouble grasping human-like fingers to hold a pen, he wouldn’t even dream of soliciting help from this insufferable woman who shot him in the rear eight years ago and had yet to apologize.

“Yikes—” Ice Rain was startled by Dugrabi’s gaze, quickly crossing her arms and stepping back. “You better not act out, or I’ll call the kind-hearted lady to deal with you!”

Tch, still a woman who likes to tattle…

Dugrabi sneered internally but had to admit he was somewhat intimidated by her reaction. After a brief pause, he suddenly shifted to a more cunning tone, “This is a rare treasure from the previous civilization! I’m asking you to copy it down for your own good. Just think, if you don’t record it, what if this precious manuscript were to get damaged?”

“What? A relic from the previous civilization?” Ice Rain perked up immediately, taking the manuscript to examine it seriously. However, her expression soon became odd. “But why does the handwriting look so fresh? Is this really from the previous civilization? Isn’t it from last week? And what’s all this writing? I can’t understand it.”

“You don’t understand? That’s the effect of top-tier magic,” Dugrabi said, trying to maintain his air of superiority.

“There’s magic like that?”

“Of course! If you don’t want it, I can just take it back. I won’t let you study it later,” Dugrabi said slyly. Newest update provided by novelFɪre.net

“Hey, don’t do that, Mr. Dugrabi…” Embracing the pure and innocent nature of alchemical beings and their love for human civilization, Ice Rain quickly yielded, “If you let me copy it, I’ll return it as soon as I’m done!”

“Copy two copies.”

“Huh?”

“The second copy is your payment,” Dugrabi replied leisurely.

“Okay,” Ice Rain said, feeling somewhat taken in but unable to pinpoint what went wrong; she pouted, slightly unhappy.

…

The completion of the Tome of Fire Magic granted Yvette a fleeting sense of satisfaction. She decided to take a temporary break and start working on her next tome, focusing on wind magic, aptly named the Tome of Gale Magic — of course, also written in Glimmering language.

However, just as she settled down to rest and digest the learnings from the Tome of Fire Magic…

In the city of Kux, the Spider Woman was also on the verge of her own personal milestone.

After serving under the King of the Sky and Sea for quite some time, she had finally accumulated enough “evolution factors” through the monthly rewards of flesh and blood, akin to salary, and she decided to apply to the Commander for permission to use the Mother Nest.

Kux’s Mother Nest was a six-stage aberration creature, known as the “Pale Mother Nest.” Its special ability, compared to other Mother Nests, was to allow a “Godkin” to gain extraordinary enhancements, capable of surpassing two stages but not exceeding the fifth stage, the “Lord.”

Indeed, the term “Godkin” referred to the highly intelligent aberrations of their species. Interestingly, in their view, aberrations below the third stage were not considered Godkin; they were merely aberrations or tools. Only those who reached the third stage, the “Elites,” counted as members of the Godkin.

Of course, over the years of harassment, the Spider Woman had disclosed all this information to Yvette.

Arriving at the city center of Kux, she gazed down at the gigantic hole in the ground resembling a white intestine leading to the depths below and made her descent.

Upon reaching the bottom, she met with the nest’s ruler and her direct superior, “Lloyd,” respectfully referred to as the “Purple Commander.”

The name Lloyd was one given to itself by the Purple Commander, derived from a fragment of a past memory where it had seen that name, so it used it for convenience. However, under normal circumstances, it was addressed as “Purple Commander” or “Lord Purple.” Only one of the four ocean lords, the King of the Sky and Sea, could call it by its name directly.

Its appearance was that of a grotesque figure covered in purple chitin, distinctly resembling a crab with many sharp protrusions. However, its facial features were strikingly human-like, with a lower jaw adorned by writhing white squid-like tendrils drooping down like an old man’s beard.

Seeing the Spider Woman approach, the Purple Commander, sitting behind a desk, said, expressionless, “Abella, what brings you here?”

“Lord Purple, I wish to apply for promotion,” the Spider Woman replied respectfully, kneeling halfway.

Abella was the name she had taken to humanize herself, while her title was “Spider Sorceress.” However, due to her actual rank being only at the fourth stage, the title of Spider Sorceress had never been acknowledged—only the elites beneath her rank would call her so, and they mostly didn’t speak.

If this promotion were to happen, the other two guardians, the Mountain Whale and the Fish Man, would have to honor her with the title “Lord Spider Sorceress” whenever they encountered her.

“The Mother Nest will have an opening soon, and since your achievements are sufficient, prepare yourself,” the Purple Commander said blandly.

“Wonderful! Thank you, Lord Purple!” the Spider Woman exclaimed, filled with excitement.

“Have you faced any attacks from that mysterious invading lord during this time?” the Purple Commander inquired.

“Yes, she still comes,” the Spider Woman reported, then added, “But I’m now stronger than before. Once I’ve been promoted, I will go personally to hunt her down and eliminate that threat. Rest assured, my lord.”

In reality, for the Spider Woman, the transition from a fourth-stage leader to a fifth-stage lord wouldn’t drastically change her combat strength; after all, she had already received enhancements from the Pale Mother Nest, giving her the power equivalent to a fifth-stage being; her promotion would provide only a slight boost.

However, she felt confident because previously, she gained strength with each battle and could suppress the silver-haired girl; now, as a bona fide lord, victory was practically assured!

If she could successfully devour that silver-haired girl, it would yield an enormous influx of evolution factors, possibly allowing her to strive toward the sixth stage!

“That’s good.” The Purple Commander nodded slightly, showing little concern for the matter, as the mysterious lord had meandered nearby for many years. Even the elite Abella couldn’t break past that threshold; there was little reason to think it needed further attention.

What remained uncertain was which faction that lord belonged to; if they truly had no affiliation, perhaps it wouldn’t be impossible to have Abella spare her life and then control her through the Mother Nest, turning her into an additional asset under their command.