Chapter 374: City of a Thousand Stars

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Passing through the gloomy corridors, the dim magic lamps overhead flickered erratically.

Angelu led Ansu to a mottled wooden door. He raised his hand and pushed it open, a piercing creak echoing down the corridor.

The office was thick with dust. Cobwebs hung from the rafters, where large, dark brown spiders crawled slowly across their webs. The place was so filthy it looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in centuries.

Huddled behind the desk was a bloated shadow. Beneath its obese body coiled several black tentacles. Hearing their approach, the tentacles suddenly retracted, and three pairs of spider-like compound eyes snapped toward them in unison.

This bloated sack of flesh looked even more twisted and abominable than the magic professors they had encountered on their way here.

According to Angelu's brief introduction, this was the academy's acting principal.

Angelu explained their purpose. Upon hearing "advanced to a high-tier mage in six months," the acting principal's compound eyes merely twitched. But the moment the words "creator of safe magic" were uttered, he slammed his hand onto the desk, instantly filling the room with filthy mana.

“Damn you! You deserve to die!”

He glared at Ansu, his shrill voice piercing their eardrums. “You sinner! You are digging up the very foundations of magic! This is a blasphemy against the God of Magic!”

Barcas glanced sideways at Ansu, noting his calm expression.

Angelu quickly stepped in to smooth things over. “But he is willing to join the academy now and become one of us.”

The acting principal fell silent.

Angelu shot Ansu a look.

Ansu calmly explained, “Since I was able to create the 【Ring of Pure Protection】, I can naturally destroy it as well. After all, from the very beginning, I only researched this magic out of self-interest.”

“Oh?” The acting principal let out a low, nasal grunt.

Ansu immediately manifested the magic formula. As the intricate runes swirled in his palm, both the acting principal and Angelu instantly showed expressions of disgust.

“I secretly slipped in some 'personal modifications' during the design phase, which basically acts as a backdoor to this formula. Therefore, just as I could create it, I can also destroy it. I believe you all understand this logic, right?”

Barcas raised an eyebrow. “Is it just that my level of understanding is too low? I've never heard of anyone being able to erase an entire magic system just with a backdoor.”

“That's just because you haven't seen enough,” Ansu smiled, tapping his finger on the depths of the glowing patterns. “If you don't believe me, you can analyze it carefully. My signature is hidden inside, along with many other things—”

He paused. “It's equivalent to me holding the only secret key. Through this formula, I can wield immense power in the future.”

Ansu knew that if he claimed he truly wanted to save the world, no one would believe him. But if he said he was brewing a grand conspiracy... his credibility in their eyes would skyrocket.

“Magic Safety Standardization Committee?” Angelu squinted as he read the signature. “Your ambition is quite something. How dare you overstep your bounds and try to usurp the authority of our City of a Thousand Stars to define magic?”

Ansu chuckled sheepishly. “I was young and impetuous back then, just messing around.”

Barcas suddenly chuckled. “A fine plan indeed. I didn't expect you to have started positioning your pieces so early. You want to establish an organization that rules over all mages, don't you?”

Ansu nodded. “I've even thought of the name. It'll be called the Continental Magic Association—an official institution that can truly regulate and manage the entire magic world.”

Barcas stroked his chin. “If it weren't for what happened today, your ambition might have actually succeeded. However... you have indeed inspired me.”

“You can't do it,” Ansu shook his head. “Just your identity as a demon alone prevents you from integrating into the human magic system. Most of your demon magic talent is innate, unlike us humans who rely on learning and study.”

“That's true.” Barcas pondered silently, looking slightly vexed.

“Don't get sidetracked,” Angelu shot them both a glance.

The acting principal's three pairs of insect-like compound eyes glared intently at Ansu, his tone dark. “I will give you one week. I want to see results.”

“No problem,” Ansu agreed readily.

Soon, he was assigned a private workshop with an alchemy table, with Angelu taking full responsibility for monitoring him.

“All the equipment and materials you need are here. Focus on your research. If you can't deliver what you promised...” Angelu sneered, “then don't even think about leaving this place alive.”

Ansu nodded solemnly, making a great show of fiddling with his manuscripts at the alchemy table.

He wasn't worried in the slightest about being exposed, at least not for a few days. The complexity of the 【Ring of Pure Protection】 far exceeded this era's level; Angelu couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

Having settled Ansu, Angelu and Barcas met privately.

“Will Celia track him all the way here?” Barcas looked worried. “Her perception of mana is extremely sharp. Since she could hunt Ansu down to Lenaya, she might very well find the Radial Mountains.”

“Rest assured,” Angelu said with a laugh. “You've seen the scale of the Radial Mountains. She won't even be able to find the outermost entrance. As long as she can't find the specific spatial coordinates, she poses absolutely no threat to us. And that's just our first layer of security.”

Hearing this, Barcas fell into a brief silence.

...

Ansu spent more than a day putting on this act.

That afternoon, Ansu put down his quill and looked at Angelu, who was flipping through the manuscripts. He spoke in a seemingly casual tone:

“By the way, I noticed earlier that my research team and I have been afflicted with a magic curse of unknown origin.”

“Given your immense hostility toward safe magic, I assume this curse must be your doing?”

Angelu raised his head, glanced at him, and did not answer.

Ansu continued, “Look, once I actually get this done, it'll be a huge help to the academy. Could you lift the curse on us as well while you're at it?”

“Focus on your research first.” Angelu suddenly put down the manuscript. “Don't worry, if you prove to be truly useful, I naturally won't let you die.”

Ansu feigned surprise. “You can actually lift the curse on me?”

“Lift it?” Angelu sneered. “It seems you still don't understand anything. To call it a curse is inaccurate; it is more like a mark—a brand bestowed by a god.”

“By creating safe magic, you attempted to dismantle the authority of the gods. Naturally, you became His number one enemy.”

“Then what should I do?” Ansu asked, feigning lingering fear.

“If you join the City of a Thousand Stars, you will be one of us,” Angelu said indifferently. “Once you are completely assimilated, becoming a divine dependent just like us—an extension of His will—the curse will naturally cease to exist.”

A divine dependent... an extension of His will...

No wonder almost every single one of them was at the Saint Tier and could live for thousands of years. These people could no longer be considered human.

Ansu silently noted this down, then added:

“Then wouldn't I end up looking like... the acting principal and those professors?”

“It's already a blessing just to be alive, yet you care about appearances?” Angelu's face was full of disdain. “At our level, we can exist alongside the gods. What form can we not maintain? They've just stayed here for so many years that they're too lazy to keep up a human appearance.”

“So, because you frequently go out to contact various factions, you specifically maintain a human form?” Ansu glanced at his shiny bald head.

Angelu ignored his teasing, tapped the manuscript, and sneered, “Your progress is far too slow! You haven't even finished deconstructing the core rune structure. If this continues, I don't think you're far from your doom.”

Ansu shook his head helplessly. “I can't help it. The deadline you gave me is already incredibly tight.”

He glanced down at the time.

October 18th, 5:00 PM.

If he could just hold out for a dozen more hours, he could start the simulation in the early hours of the morning.

If nothing unexpected happened...

Victory was in sight.

But just as Ansu managed to hold out until nightfall, the unexpected occurred.

A terrifying, tearing sound suddenly echoed from outside. Immediately after, the entire City of a Thousand Stars began to shatter and shudder violently.

Ansu quickly stabilized himself. All the magic lamps inside and outside the room flickered frantically. Under the erratic light, fine cracks began to spiderweb across the walls.

“Damn it, how can there be an earthquake here?” Angelu rushed to the window, only to see fractures spreading across the dark sky, as if the entire space was about to shatter.

Moreover, wisps of Black Flame were seeping through the rifts. Any person or object brushed by the flames was instantly annihilated in the next moment, leaving behind not even a trace of ash.

His face darkened instantly.

No way...

Could it be... her?

Outside, amidst the howling wind and snow of the Radial Mountains.

Celia hovered high in the sky, expressionless, as Black Flame surged around her like towering waves.

It was the most primal form of assault—an endless torrent of mana, crashing like a surging tsunami again and again against an invisible node in midair.

That very spot was the spatial coordinate of the City of a Thousand Stars.

The freezing wind whipped snowflakes against her face, but she felt nothing. In her blood-red eyes, only a single, maniacally obsessive thought remained.

Ansu...

Ansu...

Catch Ansu!

Even if it kills her, she must catch him!!

...

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