Chapter 1362: 120. A Figure

Reflection, sighs, reminiscing about the past.

Douglas ignored a certain person who stood there dumbfounded and turned to leave the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} special detention room. He casually closed the door behind him, completely sealing away the faint screams and curses drifting over from other parts of the prison.

And outside the door, a certain figure was leaning against the wall, seemingly having waited there for quite some time.

"Finished questioning him?" the figure asked, raising his head when Douglas appeared. Under the candlelight beside him, his face was still pale.

"Yes. I'm finished."

"And the result?"

"Probably, perhaps... he really is that person's disciple. Or rather, her successor."

"Probably, perhaps?"

The figure frowned. "With your abilities, you still couldn't confirm it?"

"How exactly am I supposed to confirm it? Suppress him on the spot and forcibly search through his memories?"

Douglas gave a cold laugh. "He is, after all, the current head of the Enhancement School, and his strength is nothing to scoff at. Even with my status as Tower Master, I couldn't shoulder the responsibility for doing something like that."

"Even if you don't search his memories, you should still find corresponding evidence!" The figure raised his voice, nearly interrogating him. "This matter is of enormous importance. How can you possibly—"

"How can I possibly what?"

Douglas's tone suddenly turned cold as well.

Expressionless, he turned his head and swept the figure with a glance.

"What difference would finding evidence make? What if he really is that person's disciple? What if the first head herself were to return to the Origin Tower? So what? She was ultimately a member of this Tower too. Don't tell me you think she would threaten the Origin Tower?"

"You... I... sigh. I'm only worried that she might resent what has become of the Enhancement School and harbor a grudge!" The figure clenched his teeth. "I'm thinking about the Tower too!"

"Spare me the hypocrisy. Jerome is your disciple. The reason he kept targeting the Enhancement School was probably because of your hints as well. So what you're worried about isn't the Origin Tower. It's yourself, isn't it?"

Douglas sneered.

"Who in this entire world would be most afraid of that first head returning? Me? Or you—the man who betrayed the Enhancement School halfway through and shoveled the final handful of dirt onto its grave?"

"..."

The figure's expression instantly changed.

Rage and humiliation surged together with a terrifying aura, nearly swallowing every living thing around him...

But in the end, he suppressed it.

He was no match for this Tower Master.

He could only yield.

"I am, in the end, a member of the Elemental School..."

"I'm also a member of the Elemental School, but right now, more importantly, I'm the Tower Master. So for the moment, I don't have time to care about your affairs."

Douglas said coldly, "That brat doesn't look like a bad person to me. At present, I don't think he poses any threat to the Tower. Letting him revive the Enhancement School a little and stir up some ripples in the stagnant pool that the Tower has become nowadays may even be a good thing."

"But what if..." the figure asked, "he really does intend to harm the Origin Tower? Would you still be able to shoulder that responsibility, Tower Master?"

"Of course!"

Douglas swept his long sleeve and declared with complete arrogance:

"That brat does have some strength. His magic feels a little strange, admittedly, but when all is said and done, he is neither a Truth-Rank mage nor a Crowned One!"

"We survived Arman's betrayal. Are you telling me we can't withstand some sixty-something-year-old youngster causing trouble?"

"..."

The figure was left speechless.

There was no way to refute Douglas's words.

The Origin Tower was still the Origin Tower in the end.

Nearly a thousand years of inheritance had given it confidence of its own.

"Relax. Even if that person really does return, you are still a member of my Elemental School. I won't simply stand by and do nothing."

Douglas's tone then became exceptionally grave.

"But regarding Arman... the situation has deteriorated again, and there are even vague indications that it may involve some enormous web laid out by an Evil God."

"Understand? That is currently the Tower's highest priority! The slightest carelessness could result in the entire Origin Tower being overturned! Compared to that, your matter is nothing more than a trivial issue!"

"I... understand."

The figure lowered his head and said no more.

"Good. Go make preparations. We'll hold a meeting five days from now. It's time we reached a conclusion regarding Arman."

After saying this, Douglas left without looking back.

Only the figure remained where he was, his expression constantly changing.

However, at an angle Douglas could no longer see, within the gradually deepening darkness, the changing expression on the figure's face finally settled into an indescribably sinister look.

"Tower Master, you're right."

He murmured softly to himself:

"That brat isn't a Crowned One after all, nor is he Truth Rank. He... is merely a young little brat."

He shouldn't have come to ask.

A truly good student always valued practice...

More than theory.

And before he ever joined the Elemental School, his practical lessons had always earned perfect marks.

...

...

"Sigh... in the end, these old bones of mine still couldn't escape prison, huh?"

Inside the cell, Muen lay on the cold iron bed with both hands behind his head.

Thinking back to yesterday, he had been so resistant to the idea of going to prison.

But once he had actually been arrested, he discovered it wasn't really that bad.

This was probably the change in mentality that came after realizing he was actually kind of ridiculously powerful.

"Still... I should keep a lower profile. That old man is already suspicious of my magic. I can't let that suspicion keep fermenting, or things will become troublesome later."

Muen murmured to himself.

In the end, the rotating Tower Master hadn't made things especially difficult for him, but correspondingly, Muen also had to obediently serve out these three days of confinement.

He understood perfectly.

Sometimes, once you reached a certain position, there were all kinds of considerations you had to take into account.

For example, back when Celicia was still a princess, she could openly use black stockings of all kinds of sheen and smoothness to tempt him...

Cough.

To punish him.

Use black stockings to punish him.

But after becoming Empress of the Empire, most of the time she could only hide those black stockings beneath complicated court dresses.

If he wanted to be punished now, he first had to work hard for it.

There was no helping it.

Some appearances had to be maintained, or some minister would probably impeach him again for "seducing the sovereign with his charms and corrupting the Imperial harem."

Troublesome.

Muen sighed inwardly and rolled over on the iron bed.

"Actually, looking at it from another angle, now that I've confirmed the Enhancement School won't be abolished, getting locked up here might not necessarily be a bad thing."

Thinking back to what had happened earlier, Muen immediately felt a powerful wave of embarrassment.

He nearly clawed a three-bedroom apartment into the iron bed.

Fortunately, his skin was thick enough that he quickly suppressed the feeling of shame.

"I beat Jerome right in front of everyone, yet all I got was three days of confinement. That means that purely in terms of identity, no one in the Origin Tower is going to suspect me anymore.

"That old Tower Master didn't seem interested in making things difficult for me either. Which means I can still use my status as the head of the school to continue gaining deeper access to the Origin Tower's core intelligence."

If that old Tower Master hadn't trusted him with access to the Tower's core affairs, he could simply have confiscated his emblem.

The fact that he hadn't done so meant he was, at the very least, tacitly permitting it.

With that thought, Muen finally felt completely reassured.

For now, his only priority was investigating matters related to that cheap senior brother of his.

Everything else was unimportant.

He had also asked the old man to pass a message to Ariel.

There shouldn't be any problems on her side.

In short, aside from the fact that he still hadn't managed to recruit even a single student, everything was proceeding quite smoothly.

"In that case, I'll use this opportunity to rest properly and prepare myself for what comes next."

Muen calmed his mind and began looking inward into his mental space.

But just as he was about to begin his usual training...

"Thump!"

"Hngh... hah..."

"Thump!"

"Huff... huff..."

"Thump!"

"Mm!"

The iron bed suddenly began vibrating with an extremely regular rhythm.

It was accompanied by some kind of heavy panting.

Muen abruptly opened his eyes, rolled over, and pressed his ear closer to listen.

Gradually, his expression became extremely strange.

"No way... people get this wild even in prison?"

What kind of prison is this?!

Is this place even legitimate?!