"Bofiel?! Could that be the Wings of Sacred Light—and 'Your Excellency'? Was that an ancient-era title of reverence for Morning Stars? And His Highness the Sky Throne? Oh! Heavens! Could this wizard actually be a Morning Star as well?"
The witch wearing thick glasses sneaked a glance at Leilin, only to find him as profound and unfathomable as towering mountains and vast oceans. She involuntarily lowered her head, ashamed of her earlier speculation.
Bofiel didn't even spare her a glance. Although the prohibition against using force in the library also limited the use of his Morning Star domain—and she had overheard a bit of their conversation—these were all matters conducted openly, with nothing to conceal.
"Oh! My apologies! The knowledge here is simply too abundant—I lost all track of time!"
Leilin stood up, a hint of apology surfacing on his face.
"Whoever disturbs a wizard swimming through the ocean of knowledge shall have his soul roasted over the flames of the Ninefold Hell! Why would I mind?" Bofiel spoke with great wit, earning considerable goodwill from Leilin.
Moreover, Bofiel showed no surprise at Leilin spending all day in the library. Many scholar-type wizards, upon arriving at
"Very well, I'll set off right away!"
Leilin returned the books to their original places. His harvest this time had been considerable, and the Great Library no longer held anything particularly useful for him. Moreover, being summoned by His Highness the Sky Throne—at the very least, he needed to go out and tidy himself up first. This was basic etiquette.
"And you too! The studious young lady!"
Leilin glanced at the witch beside him who looked like she wanted to hide her entire body behind her book.
"Lord Bofiel, and this... Excellency! Please forgive my offense!" Cold sweat had already broken out on the witch's forehead.
Although Sky City was a peaceful place governed by law, Morning Stars always enjoyed privileges. If Leilin or Bofiel took a dislike to her—even without laying a finger on her themselves—her fate would be just as wretched.
"Haha... No need to be afraid! I should actually thank you for keeping me company while I read for the past month or so! Consider this a gift!"
Leilin smiled, and his Library Card flew out, swiping across the witch's card and transferring his remaining Exchange Points to her.
The Great Library no longer held any significance for Leilin, so keeping the Exchange Points was pointless.
"This is..." Although in Leilin's eyes the remaining Exchange Points were negligible—essentially zero—to the witch, this was a massive sum! She immediately let out a cry of astonishment.
By the time she recovered from her excitement and wanted to thank Leilin, she found the group had already walked far away.
"Lord Leilin's act of funding another wizard is truly admirable!" Bofiel, however, seemed somewhat puzzled by Leilin's gesture—after all, according to his records, this wasn't the kind of person Leilin was.
"Heh heh... I was simply in a good mood!" Leilin smiled.
This explanation immediately put Bofiel at ease. Warlocks really were all emotional wizards. The man had found gains in the library and was in excellent spirits, so he had casually tipped a low-ranked wizard. Such behavior would be very unusual for a regular wizard, but among warlocks it was a common sight.
Bofiel didn't dwell on Leilin's momentary generosity; instead, he offered some cautionary advice about the other matters to observe during an audience with the Sky Throne.
"I have a question..." Leilin raised his concern directly with Bofiel. "I'm merely a small Morning Star. Why would His Highness the Sky Throne wish to see me?"
The other party was a Dawn Sun-level wizard. His influence spanned the entire Central Continent, he had complete control over the airship network, and he even possessed a fully conquered otherworld, with Morning Star and Brilliant Moon wizards emerging endlessly under his command.
Such a figure should be looking down from the heights. Why would he suddenly want to see Leilin?
Although Leilin himself had considered meeting the other party to trade the Lava World's coordinates, he had never given any hint of this.
"So, there's something suspicious here..."
Leilin stroked his chin. The first thing he thought of was Jupiter's Thunder. He couldn't help it—his enemies in the Central Continent were few, and the only force that could exert some influence on Sky City was clearly just Jesiah.
"But I was actually worried you wouldn't come!"
A cold smile appeared at the corner of Leilin's lips.
The very center of Sky City was a massive floating garden, forming a floating island landscape within the floating city.
This garden was the power center of all Sky City—the Hanging Gardens! It also served as one of the residences of His Highness the Sky Throne.
"I am Bofiel! Stand aside!"
Bofiel led Leilin, who had been cleaned up and dressed in formal attire, all the way to the Hanging Gardens.
The deeper one went into Sky City, the more detection and patrols one encountered—some so intense that Leilin's expression shifted slightly. Had Bofiel not been leading him this time, infiltrating the Hanging Gardens undetected would have been quite troublesome.
Looking down from the edge of the Hanging Gardens, the entire panorama of Sky City was laid out before them, filling the heart with delight.
Walking inward, there was a cobblestone path. On both sides, Purple Yam Spirit Fungi, Intoxicating Fairy Flower Honey, and countless rare plants that Leilin couldn't even name bloomed as though they cost nothing. If not for the Chip detecting powerful containment runes, Leilin would have been tempted to grab a handful.
"After passing through here, you'll be at His Highness the Sky Throne's private quarters. I can only accompany you this far!" Bofiel said with a smile. "His Highness is a very easygoing person. He will certainly—"
"Bofiel! It seems you've brought someone new? That's somewhat against the rules!"
At that moment, another voice suddenly rang out. Leilin, in particular, felt his entire body tense up, as though he were being watched by a venomous snake.
"He's here!" He raised his head to see an old wizard with a sinister face approaching.
"Lord Stewart! This is Duke Leilin Farell of the Ring of the Ouroboros! He has come to pay his respects to His Highness!"
Bofiel bowed respectfully, while simultaneously whispering a rapid introduction: "This is Lord Stewart! A Fifth-level Brilliant Moon wizard. His Highness is often absent, and in practice, Lord Stewart manages all of Sky City..."
"So it's Lord Stewart." Leilin bowed, his manner neither warm nor cold.
His keen spiritual senses immediately detected a trace of hostility from the other party. Given that, there was no need for him to be overly courteous.
"Hmm?!" This lukewarm attitude immediately intensified the dislike already harbored in Stewart's heart.
"Truly a little brat who doesn't know the first thing about manners! Is it really all right to let someone like this meet His Highness?"
He criticized openly without any tact.
"Lord Stewart, Leilin is an honored guest of our Sky City!" Stewart's attitude clearly had a particular slant to it, and Bofiel immediately found it hard to stand by.
He coughed lightly, offering a word of caution.
"Whether I know my manners or not hardly seems to be something for Lord Stewart to comment on!" Leilin retorted without hesitation.
This attitude immediately silenced Bofiel, who was standing nearby. The other man was a Brilliant Moon wizard! A Fifth-level Great
In truth, if Stewart had merely been a bit arrogant, Leilin could have lowered himself and handled things the way he had with Wells. But this Stewart had clearly come to make trouble—he had taken a dislike to Leilin before even meeting him. No matter how much Leilin endured, it would only lead to being humiliated for nothing, so of course he wouldn't be polite.
"Good, good, good! I'll teach you some manners right now!" After hearing Leilin's words, Stewart was visibly furious. He could never have expected that Leilin, a mere Morning Star, would dare speak to him this way!
BOOM! Invisible spiritual power surged toward Leilin like towering waves.
Stewart had deliberately controlled the spell's power, confining it to this small area. With his level of control, he was confident he could keep the battle contained within this zone without alerting those outside.
Bofiel smiled bitterly, but Stewart was ultimately one of his own. Although he felt the man was going a bit too far, he still stepped aside.
"Hmph! Is Fifth-level really that impressive?" Leilin sneered. Spiritual power reaching the Fifth Star surged forth from within him.
The massive phantom of a Kemoin Giant Serpent, bearing crimson stripes, rose from behind Leilin and hissed at Stewart.
"Hssss!" The ferocious spiritual current, taking the form of a colossal black serpent, crashed head-on against Stewart's spiritual power.
"What?!" Stewart's eyes went wide, clearly not expecting Leilin to be this difficult to handle. "Fifth-Star spiritual power? The intelligence said Fourth-Star!"
CRACK! CRACK!
Two streams of spiritual power collided and offset each other in the void, the overflow producing fine bursts of concussive sound.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! From the air came the sounds of countless rune chains breaking. The concealment magical array that Stewart had previously set up had been completely breached!
"Urgh!" Leilin stumbled back several steps, his face flushed crimson.
Stewart, on the other hand, stood rooted in place, staring at Leilin with an expressionless face—but he didn't press the attack any further.
The strength of this Morning Star before him had clearly exceeded his expectations, and he was a Fifth-Star warlock at that! Even taking him down would require considerable time and effort!
What was even worse was that there was no way to hide this from His Highness the Sky Throne. Stewart's expression immediately turned dark and uncertain.