Chapter 166: Claire’s "Seduction" (Bragging?)

"In that case, let's get started quickly. My time is limited," Claire said.

Understood, you're a rare monster with a summon duration limit!

"Alright!" Lando said with a smile.

The two found the main entrance of the secret chamber, and after a brief analysis, they opened the small door that only allowed one person to pass through at a time.

About half an hour later, the two finally confirmed that other than the core of the array used to collect the emotions of everyone in the city, there were no other devices here. Feeling slightly awkward after fighting an invisible battle against the air, they stood in the secret chamber and looked at the seed of the evil god before them.

"Bridger had his subordinates spread those evil rituals to collect resources to cultivate the seed of the evil god. Now, it seems the trail has gone cold again."

"Seeds of evil gods have many uses. Aside from serving as descent vessels, seeds of the same nature can also be used as fine medicine for healing injuries."

"Oh, I see." When it came to knowledge related to deities, Lando was indeed rather shallow in his understanding.

"According to Bridger, the few times he met the arch-prelate, the other party came to give him tasks and retrieve the seeds of the evil god. It was impossible to determine the specific location of the other party."

After a moment of thought, Claire continued, "Compared to other seeds of the evil god, it is normal to leave one designated as a descent vessel alone and let it grow freely. However, for a seed meant for healing, that arch-prelate will surely come to claim it the very moment it matures."

"And this seed of the evil god right now is already mature."

Lando couldn't tell for the life of him how the mist within the translucent ball of light in front of him could be considered mature, but he still chose to trust a professional's judgment.

"You mean that arch-prelate will come here shortly to claim the healing seed of the evil god?" Lando immediately understood the implication behind Claire's words.

"Mhm!" Claire nodded.

"But we can't just wait around like this; my time is limited," Lando frowned.

"Time is limited?" Claire chuckled. "You wouldn't happen to be heading to that famous special world laboratory in the empire, would you?"

"Yes, it should be opening soon." Lando didn't try to hide it.

"Oh, then there's going to be a good show. By then, almost all the sixth to tenth seats among the eight ancient schools will be going."

"..."

Isn't that quota insanely hard to get? Why does it sound like it's distributed to everyone when you say it? Oh right, in the ancient schools, it is basically guaranteed. Farewell!

Lando suspected that Claire was flexing, but he had no proof.

"Won't the top five seats of the ancient schools be going?"

As soon as the question left his mouth, Lando regretted it.

"They will go directly to the main continent. The environment there is much better than that of the special world laboratory."

"..."

Damn it, this conversation cannot continue. If you keep flexing like this, you're going to lose me as a little buddy!

"Hehe, envious of the perks we have in the ancient schools? Over ninety percent of all resources in the entire Arcane Empire are in the hands of the ancient schools. Don't look at how well the new schools have been developing in recent years; the resources they get are just scraps. You can easily tell just by comparing the number of great arcanists between the ancient and new schools."

"Is there really that big of a gap in the number of great arcanists between the ancient and new schools?"

"Of course. Since the founding of the empire, not a single great arcanist has died of old age. You can imagine the number of great arcanists in the ancient schools. Even if a small fraction of them support the new schools—and many new schools were indeed established by great arcanists who broke away from their original factions—the influence of the new schools in the empire is still very weak. Of course, this weakness mainly refers to top-level policy-making. At the lower levels of the empire, the new schools still hold quite a bit of momentum."

"..."

"How about it? Your abilities are very suited for our School of Necromancy. Any interest in coming to our academy?"

Lando: ? !

Are you poaching me? No wait, are you poaching the Silver Tower's talent?!

"I'm doing quite well in the Silver Tower, and my mentor, Odo, is also a great arcanist!" Lando said in a deep voice.

"With your intelligence, you should understand by now!" Claire said calmly. "The so-called new schools are merely experimental products pushed out by us ancient schools. The true essence of the Arcane Empire lies within the ancient schools."

Lando was speechless in the face of Claire's words. In fact, when he heard the latter mention that many great arcanists from the ancient schools had broken away from their original factions to establish new schools, he had already harbored such a suspicion, only choosing not to dwell on it.

Seeing Lando fall into silence, Claire didn't mind and smiled, saying, "You don't have to make a decision in a rush. I heard from Stran that the little ancestor of the School of Conjuration is recently preparing to restart the exchange student system. You'll be able to come to the ancient schools to study as an exchange student representing the Silver Tower. By then, you can experience the perks and the... cruelty of the competition in our ancient schools!"

An exchange student system? Lando vaguely recalled that when heading to the crystal world, Odo had mentioned giving him an opportunity to visit the ancient schools to witness the cruelty of the competition there and see with his own eyes the true strength of the younger generation's top geniuses.

At the time, Odo hadn't spelled it out, but thinking about it now, that must have been this exchange student system.

As for the little ancestor Claire mentioned, Lando instantly thought of Rex, whose height and personality were both completely like a child's, whom he had met after leaving the crystal world.

This exchange student system—couldn't possibly have been restarted just for me, right?!

Unaware that Lando was overthinking, Claire pulled the topic back on track. "Just waiting around indeed isn't a solution, but there are no other clues for now."

Lando recovered his composure and said, "It's not that there's no way."

"Oh, let's hear it."

"This seed of the evil god is meant for healing the deity behind the scenes. That arch-prelate must treasure it dearly, right? Since we can't find him, why don't we let him come to us?"

Claire's eyes lit up: "You mean..."

"Right, as long as we make a stir here, in order to confirm whether the matured seed of the evil god is intact, he will definitely rush over at the first possible moment. As long as we set up an inescapable net in advance, are we afraid of failing to catch this turtle in a jar?!"

"That is indeed a good idea. The only concern is that startling the snake like this might easily alert the other party in advance. After all, we are dealing with someone suspected of being a powerhouse beyond the legendary realm."

"That will depend on you!" Lando said with a smiling expression.

"Depend on me?!" Claire took a tactical step back in vigilance.

Of course it depends on you, a wealthy tycoon! Weren't you just bragging about how great the ancient school's perks are? Look, here comes the chance to prove it!

"As long as you set it up... reasonably, what does a powerhouse beyond the legendary realm even matter? It'll naturally be a piece of cake for you, Lord Claire, the tenth seat of our School of Necromancy! Right?"

Claire: ? ? ? ! ! !