Chapter Nineteen: The Blessing of the Sacred Oak

Not long after, Louis arrived at the western district’s main gate. The goblin guards stationed there were dozing off, but when they saw Louis approaching, they greeted him with a nod and let him pass.

Having often substituted for the night watch, Louis was already well acquainted with the gatekeepers. Normally, the western district was off-limits to students—not because the Sacred Oak was located there, but due to the abundance of strange and unusual things that might startle the students, or perhaps even do away with a few would-be thieves.

Especially in recent days, there had been reports of something from the Dark Domain having slipped out, making the western district a primary focus for patrols. During his recent shifts covering for Mr. Clore, Louis’s main responsibility had been patrolling this area.

After signing in, Louis exchanged a few words with the captain. When it became known that he’d brought along several bottles of fine whiskey, his colleagues couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anticipation. His late arrival was quickly forgotten.

Grouped together, Louis and the others began their patrol. During the first half of the night, the watchmen performed their duties diligently, but as the second half wore on, they all started to slack off, preferring to lounge in the office, drinking and chatting, only venturing out when it was time to make their rounds. Most of these rounds were delegated to “the likable Louis.”

Standing in the vast plaza where the Sacred Oak stood, surrounded by towering spires, Louis lifted his head and gazed at the sky. Against the backdrop of the dazzling starry river, a gigantic moon occupied a fifth of the heavens—clearly a gas giant, looming above like a colossal behemoth. Anyone with a fear of massive objects would surely find themselves paralyzed at the sight.

This gas giant kept the world’s nights from ever being truly dark.

The plaza, encircled by wooded groves, was filled with bizarre fungi and ferns. Some resembled shrubs, others blossomed like gigantic stamens. A few stood tall as trees, their bodies suffused with a peculiar alkaloid that caused them to glow with bioluminescence, casting a sparkling, multicolored spectacle across the night.

A breeze drifted through, shaking the spores loose from the branches, causing them to shimmer and drift in the air like little spirits from a fairyland.

Besides these fungi, ferns, and magical herbs, the plaza was also bordered by ancient trees, towering so high they seemed to defy belief. Yet, in truth, each was a “aerial root”—hanging down from the Sacred Oak’s immense crown. These roots formed columns, supporting the canopy, each like a tree in its own right. Branches and leaves interlocked, creating a forest from a single tree.

The enormous Sacred Oak stretched vertically into the sky, its canopy covering hundreds of meters. Countless small faeries flitted through the boughs. Around the crown, chunks of stone—even small floating islands—hovered in mid-air.

Standing beneath the Sacred Oak, Louis closed his eyes. In the “Wonders” checklist of his storybook, he marked off another entry after “Under Osiclis’s Bed”: the “White Sacred Oak.”

[The Traveler, guided by fate, has discovered the second wonder of this world.]

At the same moment, a surge of magic from the Sacred Oak’s surroundings poured into Louis, filling him with a rush of delight and exhilaration.

[After three thousand years, the Sacred Oak once again senses the presence of a traveler from the Astral Realm. It bestows upon you a blessing: +1 Dexterity, +2 Strength, +3 Magic, +50 Experience.]

[Louis hears the Sacred Oak’s pain—those little pests have been lodged inside its trunk for many years, causing it great discomfort. Perhaps the Astral Traveler can help remove them.]

[Completion Rewards:
1. From now on, each day you visit, the Sacred Oak will grant you a random blessing—choose one of three.
2. Whenever you are within the Sacred Oak’s sphere of influence (the Academy City), +200 to magic regeneration speed.
3. +100 Experience.]

Following the Sacred Oak’s subtle guidance, Louis sensed the location deep within the trunk. Whatever was inside had grown together with the wood, buried deep. The Sacred Oak’s magic was vast and potent—ordinary spells were useless against it.

It took all of Louis’s strength, sweat pouring down his face, and nearly exhausting his magic before he managed to use the “Four-Dimensional Inversion Spell” to extract the object from the trunk.

To his surprise, it was a small pouch wedged amid a wooden burl.

[+100 Experience]

After cleaning it off, Louis discovered the pouch contained seventeen or eighteen ancient gold coins and a pocket watch.

He glanced at his own attributes:

[Louis lv4 (85/100)]
[Strength: 5.9 Dexterity: 2.3 Magic: 10.1]
[Storybook Energy: 2]
[Spellcraft:
...
Exorcism Spell lv2 (0/30)
Banish Evil Spirit Spell lv1 (0/1)
Demon-Subduing Spell (Experimental) (??)
Forbidden: Four-Dimensional Inversion lv4 (172/1000)
...
...]

Louis had always suspected problems with the Exorcism and Banish Evil Spirit spells. Lately, he’d been researching both extensively, poring over volumes in the library.

With growing comprehension, the difficulty of upgrading the two spells had dropped dramatically. Recently, he speculated that the two spells might have originally been one, and was now attempting to merge them. He’d already gained considerable inspiration, devising a new incantation he named the Demon-Subduing Spell.

Whether it would work remained to be seen.

For now, Louis put the matter aside and closed his eyes, sensing the magic within him.

Just now, he had experienced a unique sensation—something he’d never felt before, seemingly a transformation upon reaching 10 points in magic.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at a nearby patch of shrubs. Suddenly, the brush caught fire.

He hadn’t recited any spell; he merely thought of that spot burning, and it burned.

“I must have crossed from an ordinary wizard to a special class of wizard,” Louis mused, stroking his chin. He remembered stories in which legendary witches, in moments of emotional outburst, displayed terrifying magical power—though these witches seemed not to truly understand magic.

Since arriving here, Louis had read many books, but found that the great wizards in the Sacred Oak’s history had only ever discussed fourth-tier magic; fifth-tier spells were rare. Professors who mastered several third-tier spells were already considered exceptional.

After some thought, Louis used a portion of storybook energy to further comprehend the Four-Dimensional Inversion.

As fragments of the starry sky flitted before his eyes, his grasp of the fourth dimension deepened.

[Forbidden: Four-Dimensional Inversion lv5 (MAX)]

“Is this ultimate spell really not level 999? But I could reach level 999, couldn’t I?” Louis pondered the “+” sign after the level, feeling there must be greater heights—like twisting a Rubik’s Cube, but with space itself.

He tapped the storybook, and swirling nebulae filled his vision as understanding surged within.

[You have comprehended ‘Forbidden: Four-Dimensional Inversion lv6 (MAX)’]

Louis closed his eyes, sensing that this spell was now only a step away from the ideal. He should now be able to apply it in far more ways.

A beautiful little Beegway bug, with wings sprouting from its head, a shimmering blue body glowing like polished jade, fluttered before Louis. Suddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred.

The little sprite kept flying toward a nearby flower, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t reach it. Each time it drew close, it would abruptly appear somewhere behind itself.

It was as if the space around it had become a Möbius strip.

Louis watched the curious creature with fascination. Had Director Triff been here, he would have stared in astonishment, for only wizards or witches stung by this bug could ever see it!

After a while, Louis tapped the insect with his finger, and instantly, the Beegway bug split into countless slices. Strangely, the pieces continued to fly about, as if entirely unharmed.

With a gesture, Louis stretched the bug’s slices into a string, like skewered bread twists, able to see, within the fragments, the bug’s heart still beating—and suddenly speeding up, as if the insect had grown nervous at the wizard’s mischief.

This indicated that its vision remained intact.

Even more wondrous, Louis could clearly see the bug’s blood vessels flowing, yet the blood did not spill out—instead, it crossed the air from one slice to another.

Only when Louis crooked his finger did a few drops of blood fly from the bug into a test tube in his hand.

“Four-dimensional—now this spell truly lives up to its name.”

Louis nodded, then suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw that his wizard’s robe had caught fire! If not for his abnormally robust constitution, he might have been badly burned.

The fire he’d ignited earlier had now spread, threatening to engulf the surrounding bushes. The smoke stung his eyes, bringing tears.

“Too absorbed—I forgot to put out the fire.” Louis hurriedly waved his sleeve. “Gather, rain!”

At once the wind howled, clouds swirled, and a mighty water dragon descended from the sky, dousing the flames completely and leaving a small pond and a stream in its wake.