Chapter 1295
"Just now, Toulse Rodney from the Rodney Family came looking for trouble. You missed it—the Gilded Rose had one of its alchemical golem guards step out, and with a single blow, it instantly wiped out Toulse's four Sky Rank undead. Toulse himself was seriously injured, but unfortunately, he managed to escape...
Alright, I won't talk to you anymore. I guess we have Toulse Rodney to thank for this—today everything at the Gilded Rose is 20% off! The Gilded Rose is so generous, way better than the Rodney Family. I need to hurry and grab some stuff before it's all bought up..."
As Leon walked down from upstairs, he could hear plenty of people discussing the recent fight. But the rumors were getting more and more outrageous—within a few minutes, someone was even boasting that an alchemical golem had appeared and Toulse was so scared he wet his pants...
Leaving the street where the Gilded Rose was located, Leon suddenly stopped and looked into the distance. There, he saw Dean Gandalf standing with a gentle, warm smile on his face. Strangely, none of the people around him seemed to notice his presence...
"Archmage Leon, do you have time today? I'd like to take you to meet that esteemed figure."
Leon nodded. Having just driven off Toulse Rodney from the Rodney Family, he figured that anyone from that family with half a brain wouldn’t try to attack the Gilded Rose again anytime soon.
As for the 'esteemed figure' Gandalf mentioned, Leon already had a guess, but he wasn’t entirely sure. In this era, there were only a handful of people that Dean Gandalf would address so respectfully.
Dean Gandalf led him out of the city, continuing to fly toward the distance. Leon was surprised—could the person really be somewhere else? Not in Neverwinter City?
Neverwinter City was enormous, and at least half of it was occupied by Astral Academy.
After flying with Dean Gandalf for an hour, they finally landed in a seemingly ordinary forest. The surrounding peaks weren't tall, just average hills. The area was so unremarkable—within dozens of kilometers, there wasn't a single mountain over a thousand meters. The magic here wasn't abundant either, and most of the nearby creatures were just low-level magical beasts and wild animals.
Once Leon touched down, he immediately began to investigate the surroundings. No matter how he looked, everything seemed completely ordinary—nothing special at all.
Dean Gandalf watched Leon's reaction but didn't explain, simply leading the way. After a few minutes, he brought Leon to the foot of a mountain. Ahead, there was a faint path leading to the summit, but it was overgrown with weeds and looked rarely used.
Dean Gandalf pointed at the narrow trail.
"This is as far as I can take you. You'll have to go up on your own. The person you're supposed to meet is at the top of this mountain. Without an invitation, I'm not allowed up there."
With that, Dean Gandalf flew away. Leon opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, Gandalf had already turned into a tiny black dot and vanished into the sky.
Staring at the overgrown trail—or rather, the abandoned path—Leon thought it was even less maintained than the routes hunters made when climbing mountains.
From the foot of the mountain, Leon could see the summit directly. The tallest trees here were only a dozen meters high, and the vegetation was sparse. There was nothing about this ordinary mountain that suggested someone worthy of Dean Gandalf's respect lived at its peak.
Could his earlier guess have been wrong? Maybe this person wasn't particularly strong, but held a special status—or perhaps possessed some unique ability?
It was possible, after all. Astral Academy wasn't a purely mage-oriented force—it was mainly focused on alchemy. There, status wasn't determined by strength alone. Some mages at Astral Academy had terrifying theoretical knowledge, but lacked the power to actually put it into practice...
After thinking for a while, Leon still couldn't figure out who was on the mountain. Suddenly, he shook his head and smiled.
"Whatever, I'll just go up and see for myself. No point guessing..."
Leon stepped onto the path, walking at a leisurely pace. But after ten minutes, he suddenly stopped and glanced back, frowning.
He hadn't been walking fast, but after ten minutes, he should've been close to the top. Yet when he looked up, the summit was still far away. Looking back, the foot of the mountain was now a distant speck—he'd covered a distance far greater than the mountain's actual height!
Under normal circumstances, he should've reached the summit by now, but it remained exactly where he'd seen it from the base.
A glint flashed in Leon's eyes. He turned and walked back, keeping his original pace. In just a dozen seconds, he was back at the foot of the mountain, as if every step brought the base closer, and it all felt perfectly normal—like it was supposed to be that way.
But to cover a thousand-meter distance at a normal walking speed in just seconds—that was anything but normal...
Yet in his perception, nothing seemed out of place. That was the strangest part of all.
Leon looked up at the summit, still in the same spot. A faint smile appeared on his face.
"It seems the person up there must be a terrifyingly skilled Saint Alchemist—at least at the Saint rank. The spatial barrier here is flawless. It almost tricked me."