CHAPTER 58: THREE MONTHS LATER

Isabella didn’t stay in Enrod for long, bidding Wayne farewell one morning. As she had said, combat personnel only handled combat and not the cleanup work. The town’s mess had nothing to do with her. Whatever happened, happened. Even if everything fell apart, she didn’t care. She was returning to Palis to report for duty.

Wayne politely gave her a farewell hug. Since she had been recovering her weight quite well, he couldn’t even bring his fingertips together when he hugged her.

Before parting, she exchanged some pleasantries with him and said that if he ever found himself in the Republic of Franc, he was welcome to visit Palis, and she would fulfill her duties as a host by treating him to a great feast.

Yeah, right. In a couple of years, you’ll all be raising your hands to welcome the royal army of another nation into the capital. Going to you for dinner will be like entering enemy territory. Better if you come to Windsor to defect instead.

Wayne smiled and nodded in agreement, but inwardly swore to never visit Franc, much less Palis. With the looming war and chaos, he would have to be mad to travel far from home. If he ever broke his oath, he would be a damn fool.

Wesley and Hood also left. Before departing, Wesley gave Wayne a business card. If Wayne ever returned to Londan and continued his detective agency business, he would be willing to join as an employee.

After seeing Isabella off, Wayne devoted all his energy to meditation and study. With the spatial gateway stabilized, the four elements constantly flowed into him, filling up the progress bar of his life essence. It wasn’t fast, but it was steady like a gentle stream, saving him time that would have been spent on capturing the four elements.

Praise the Lord of the Void! He delivers!

In comparison, the goddess was only prettier, with slightly longer legs, a slimmer waist, and more pronounced curves...

Hah, that’s all? Turn off the filters and put her next to the Lord of the Void. Who knows who’d look better?

For his hexagram, Wayne didn’t need to worry about the earth, fire, water, wind, or self. It was only a matter of time before he lit them up—two to three months at most. The remaining void wouldn’t be a problem, either, as long as he kept reading and studying basic theory.

He only needed time!

With no more worries, he focused on his goal of automating meditation. The elemental space was an external help, and it would eventually be exhausted. Only by becoming stronger himself could he respond to any situation. He wanted to improve his arsenal to give himself more options when danger arose.

How would one go about building their arsenal? The answer was simple: train while everyone else was sleeping. Grinding was the only answer to everything.

It’s grind or be outground!

***

Three months passed. It was the fifth of July, and Wayne was in the grove bordering the manor. With his eyes closed, he breathed steadily and sensed the changes in the natural environment around him. The earth had wisdom, the wind had memory, and nature was a living, breathing entity. Every change was a breath. By calming the mind and connecting with nature to sense its pulse, a mage’s life essence would become harmonious and balanced.

He followed the teachings of the books and calmed his mind to speak with nature. As his earth, fire, water, and wind reached a balance, his mind would become increasingly resilient and refined.

If the book could talk, it would tell him to reconsider. The description was only a metaphor!

Indeed, he had not succeeded in conversing with nature yet, but he was certain that the book was right. Nature was not a passive entity. He was unable to communicate with it only because his thoughts weren't strong enough. He needed to keep training.

After mastering the trick of multitasking, he could now go into a meditative state automatically. Unwilling to go complacent, He gave himself another short-term goal: to learn to converse with nature and familiarize his mind with nature, making his magic more powerful when he used mana to alter reality.

He noticed that nature had a strong desire to confide in him—it was a real chatterbox. Every time he settled down, nature seemed urgent to tell him something. However, he could not hear nature’s voice yet.

“Patience. Let me grind a bit longer, then we’ll sit down and have a proper chat.”

He took a deep breath, ending the morning cultivation session of the day. He strolled through the shaded path across the forest and made it back to the manor house.

Summer followed the departing spring closely, and the forest was lush green. He snapped his fingers. A broken flower rose slowly to dance in the wind.

“You’re welcome. Though I was the one who stepped on you earlier.”

Over the past three months, Wayne had thoroughly studied the basic magic theory, and with his photographic memory, he could skim the content of the books and remember everything perfectly.

He had asked his master to send him more magical textbooks from Londan to make up for his lack of education. Seeing how studious, hardworking, talented, and able to endure solitude he was made Silvia appreciate him even more. Every time they were on the phone, Silvia would shower him with praises, but he could only smile wryly in response. It had been three months, and he still hadn’t filled up his life essence.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t capable, but that he was too capable.

Draining the elemental space of all its stock had led to its collapse. His life essence was stuck at ninety-five percent, and meditating and capturing elements twenty-four seven barely led to any progress. The bar wouldn’t go up or down, which was torture for someone with obsessive tendencies.

He told Silvia about his situation. She nodded and told him not to worry. Everything was within her expectations. The three-month limit was too harsh. He was extraordinary enough.

He rolled his eyes. Silvia didn’t know about the elemental space, so her misjudgment was understandable. He agonized over where he would find more troves of elements.

“Goddess, please lead me to another Lord of the Void!”

He had lit up three points of the hexagram: void for knowledge, self for thought, and his loyal fan, fire.

Earth, water, and wind weren’t filled, let alone lit up. He couldn’t even see the end in sight.

He was doing great with fire, progressing way ahead compared to the other three elements. Any other mage apprentice would have become neurotic due to an imbalance of the four elements and overly intense desires.

Wayne suffered in silence. He wasn’t joking when he prayed for another villain. And it couldn’t just be any ordinary villain. They had to at least be at the Legendary rank, and they had to be mentally unsound and own an elemental space.

Such a villain wasn’t easy to come by. Wayne prepared himself for a long wait. Looking on the bright side, Londan was crawling with mages, so there would be a much bigger reserve of the four elements than Enrod. Maybe once he was back, he could have a good night’s sleep and wake up to find his life essence filled.

At this point, his mana and thought had reached Silvia’s standard—far exceeded it, even. The grounding magic was no longer effective. He could return to Londan any time. But Veronica kept dropping the ball. Father-in-law’s influence wasn’t working. Three months had passed, and the responses he got were still 'soon', 'almost', and 'let’s wait and see'.

That made his evaluation of Mr. Lando plummet. He thought the man was influential, but he couldn’t even handle one small matter after all this time.

“Hmph, small fry,” he grumbled under his breath, not daring to speak too loudly.

Just then, the phone rang. Veryl took the call and delivered him the good news: his master said that she had dealt with the big shot targeting him, and that he could return to Londan as soon as he wanted. However, he was not to contact her, and he should enter the city without telling anyone, not even his acquaintances.

Wayne was overjoyed. He wrapped his arms around Veryl and spun him around. Then he sought out the maids and gave each of them an enthusiastic hug like a man being released from prison.

Veryl smoothed out Wayne’s slightly disheveled clothes with a smile, reminding him to maintain his composure and advising him not to let external matters dictate his mood.

Wayne hugged Veryl again and patted his shoulder, thanking him for his care over the past three months. Although the butler masked his melancholy well, Wayne noticed and knew that Veryl was wasted here. Without a master to serve, the butler was quite lonely.

Mr. Lando rarely came for vacation, maybe once every two or three months. Veryl couldn’t showcase his competence, which had to be a source of frustration.

Wayne squeezed his shoulder. “When I return to Londan, if I get a chance to meet Mr. Lando, I’ll put in a good word for you. You’re an excellent butler. Your talents shouldn’t be wasted here.”

Veryl looked moved, but he shook his head after a moment. “Young Master Wayne, I’m honored by your recognition, but Miss Megan is far more talented than I am. She’s the best butler for the Lando family.”

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Wayne didn’t believe it. Veryl was the one and only butler in his heart, the best of the best. That woman called Megan had to be a busty seductress who only managed to push Veryl aside by sucking... up to Mr. Lando.

Bah! Where did Veronica find this father of hers? He’s absolutely thinking with his lower head!

That night, Veryl prepared a farewell feast for Wayne and accepted his invitation to dine together. The four maids were in attendance, too.

Early the next morning, the five of them saw Wayne off at the Enrod train station, again arranging a luxury train that would take him to Londan by the evening.

After returning to the manor, Veryl picked up a call and said respectfully, “Young Master Wayne is an outstanding young man—upright, modest, prudent, studious, hardworking, and never takes anything for granted...”

“He has a strong moral code and standards for conduct. He treats servants courteously and respects his master. And he’s willing to offer help to the innocent who cannot defend themselves...”

“Among all the young people I’ve met, he is undoubtedly one of the very best.”

“Master Auston, I know what I’m saying. I have not been brainwashed. He is outstanding.”

“Other good qualities...”

“He’s vengeful toward outsiders, magnanimous but only slightly so, depending on the situation. When he’s shameless, he really has no shame.”

Veryl smiled and praised, “Yes, sometimes even I feel embarrassed watching him.”

“Also, he’s extremely greedy!”