This wizard only wishes to be a teacher

"Although I also don’t like you greedy wizards," the voice began, "since it’s about dealing with that bunch of riffraff from the Chaos World, we do have room for short-term cooperation."

When Lucien picked up the paper figure, its mouth opened and closed gently, and a voice that only Lucien could hear sounded in his mind.

Lucien lifted his head, only to see the judge’s calm and indifferent eyes.

"How should I address you? Still as ’judge’? Also, I would like to know about your basic abilities," Lucien carefully inquired within his mind.

"When I encounter a formidable opponent, I will act on my own. However, after the matter is over, if you can find the Chaos Altar, I want the grey eyeball at the top of it."

After finishing these words, the paper figure fell completely silent, clearly unwilling to converse further with Lucien, who could even detect a full measure of disdain in its tone.

"Why do I get the feeling this guy has a natural prejudice against wizards..." Lucien muttered to himself. Nonetheless, he didn’t say much more, instead carefully freeing up an empty storage device and placing the paper figure inside, alone.

After all, this thing was imbued with the consciousness of some powerful entity; Lucien dared not carry it on his person or stuff it into his commonly used storage ring.

However, just as he was handling this matter, Lucien could faintly hear a disdainful "tch" sound.

Lucien remained indifferent, surveying the area to make sure no one else was engaging in trade with him. He paused for a moment, then took out several witch tool-like items from his storage ring.

These were his spoils of war from hunting over the past few evenings. However, due to a different cultivation system, Lucien couldn’t use these spoils at all. He decided to bring them out and "fence" them at the gathering.

"These are some of my spoils of war, which can be traded for ink, some corpses containing magical runes, bones, or other items. Of course, other information about the Chaos Goblins is also acceptable," Lucien scanned the surroundings, "the price is half a droplet of ink or other equivalent goods."

Lucien had previously appraised these goods; he knew their worth was actually higher than half a droplet of ink. But since these items were cost-free for Lucien, and because he was eager to liquidate them, he simply offered a slightly lower price to facilitate trading.

"I’ll take this Lusseau flower and... this stone, too." A droplet of golden ink flew out, and a player with pointed ears that looked very much like the elves of legend was the first to come over and trade with Lucien.

"Do you... do you have any parts of the branches or leaves from the Tree of Life? I studied the Life Fruit recently, and I find some of the natural magical runes on it very interesting."

Lucien recognized that this player was the one who had sold the Life Fruit before. A thought flashed through his mind, and he asked.

"Branches and leaves?" The player frowned, becoming somewhat cautious.

But soon, as if having thought of something, he slightly raised his chin, his expression becoming somewhat disdainful.

"I could give them to you, but what price are you willing to pay? I’ll have you know in advance that only we noble spiritual beings can cultivate the Tree of Life. Even if I sold you a twig, you could at most turn it into an artifact..."

"That won’t be necessary," Lucien replied with a smile.

"Five droplets of ink, and I can only give you this much of the Tree of Life," said the spiritual being, glaring at Lucien malevolently, about to refuse the trade. But then he thought of another way to get back at Lucien. After shooting a sideways glance at him, he quoted an exorbitant price with a haughty expression.

At the same time, his hands gestured, outlining something the size of an adult’s palm.

Lucien narrowed his eyes slightly. Branches and leaves of this size? That was hardly a leaf, at most a fragment of a twig from the Tree of Life. This pointy-eared spiritual being, Wang Jia, clearly had no intention of trading sincerely with him.

He fell silent for a moment, then cracked a smile, "Then you’d better keep it for yourself."

The spiritual being narrowed his eyes briefly, but after a snort, turned and left.

As he walked away, Lucien could hear him seemingly mutter, "Unworldly monkey."

Lucien glanced at the spiritual being but ultimately didn’t make a sound, instead continuing to trade with other players for the remaining goods. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"After a round of trading, I’ve managed to have five droplets of ink in reserve," Lucien observed the shallow layer of golden ink in the ink bottle, exhaling softly.

His ink had already been largely used up before; now that he had five extra droplets, combined with the power of the feather pen, he also possessed a certain ability to adapt flexibly. For his forthcoming visit to the Mondok family estate, this was, at least, a margin of security.

"Miss Lurah, time to wake up! Today we have to go to the Mondok family, and also, I’ve heard that the Duke has invited quite a few nobles at the last minute, so this visit is likely to turn into a ball with more families participating..."

Maid Mier was organizing Lucien’s items while mentioning some points to note.

Lucien’s movements paused slightly, his gaze shifting downward.

He understood that this had to be the feather pen’s doing, drawing in those players who initially planned to avoid this vortex, forcibly involving them in the Mondok family’s estate through an unseen force.

After all, the majority of players couldn’t completely rid themselves of the shackles imposed on their identities!

"However, this is good news for me; after all, once their identities are forcibly dragged into the Mondok family’s estate, they also have a fatal weakness. Coupled with Lurah’s talent for ’Mind Reading,’ I may be able to take this opportunity to find them beforehand and deal with them."

Lucien was pleased, then gently patted the paper figure hidden in the spatial device.

"I hope everything goes smoothly..." Lucien took a deep breath, then followed Maid Mier onto the carriage headed for the Mondok family estate.

"Father, so many families coming here today..."

"Oh, daddy wants to talk to them about some matters, and it turns out that Uncle Mondok is also interested in this affair," Anos smiled, though not inclined to clarify the matter to Lucien.

Lucien pursed his lips, restraining his curiosity to probe Anos’s mind with the "Mind Reading" talent, and instead looked out at the streets.

As the carriage turned at an intersection, Lucien’s heart involuntarily tightened.

For this was the location of the "red line" he had previously determined.