The following morning, Adam met David, who handed him a letter. Inside the envelope was a list of names, detailing individuals who would follow Adam's commands. The list also thoughtfully indicated the relationship each person had with Matt and whether Matt trusted them.
Upon scanning the names, Adam noted that Macallan was absent from the list.
Clearly, the coachman had been discarded.
After getting up, Adam met with Doug, but their conversation was brief, and no further words were exchanged. After a few pleasantries, Adam departed, and Macallan was once again the one assigned to drive him.
With his head lowered, Macallan avoided looking directly at Adam, standing beside the carriage, reins in hand, listening intently to the horse's steady breaths, as though he could already hear the end of his own life approaching.
Adam climbed into the carriage, leaving the curtain open instead of drawing it shut. He began speaking to Macallan.
"I praised you to Lord Doug," Adam said, following through with his earlier words, though he added more than expected.
"Thank you, Master Adam! Thank you!" Macallan responded quickly, his voice filled with surprise and joy, his posture straightening once again.
"No need," Adam smiled. "But I might still need you to take me around for a while. It's not ideal to rely on the Rom family's carriage all the time. I may even purchase one of my own soon."
Then, with a playful tone, he added, "How about you become my coachman when that happens?"
"Master Adam!" Macallan's voice rose, but he quickly subdued it, continuing, "My family has served as the Rom family's coachmen for generations. It has been so in the past, and it will continue in the future."
"Is that so?" Adam replied, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Well, for now, it seems you'll have to follow me. I have a bit of collaboration with Lord Doug, and until I hire a new coachman, it will be you taking me around."
"Yes... of course," Macallan said, his voice tinged with panic, before falling silent.
The journey to the Central Clock Tower was short, and they arrived swiftly.
"As before, come around four or five this afternoon to pick me up," Adam instructed, handing over a gold coin before turning and entering the Reflection Tower without another word to Macallan.
Inside the dim corridor, Adam did not encounter Cyrin as expected, so he made his way directly to the tenth floor, where Anthony was already waiting.
Anthony looked healthy enough, though his expression was far from pleasant.
"Master, did anyone come by last night?" Adam asked, fully aware that, given Anthony's abilities, he could easily observe the outside world even from within the Reflection Tower. Yet, for reasons unknown, he rarely did so.
"Hmm? You know?" Anthony's face darkened slightly, though he wasn't angry at Adam.
"Recently, a noble has been pestering Master Alva. It seems he didn't get what he wanted from him, so he came to me instead," Adam explained, recounting everything, even revealing the favors he had received.
"Even the carriage I've been using these past few days was sent by Lord Doug."
Through his interactions with such powerful individuals, Adam had come to realize that lying or hiding things had no place.
Most practitioners began with heightened perception, which affected every aspect of their being. The first extraordinary attribute most practitioners developed was enhanced perception.
The stronger the practitioner, the sharper their perception. They could easily see through any lies.
"Is that so?" Anthony observed but didn't seem to notice Adam's small fib. Instead, he looked at Adam with a knowing expression. "You're curious, aren't you?"
"Indeed, as a student, I'm naturally curious about what nobles want," Adam admitted. Since Alva likely shared his situation with Anthony, it seemed better to be upfront.
"What they're after isn't something good," Anthony said, his tone tinged with nostalgia. "Alva used to be much like you—always trying to prove something, always seeking to change things. That hasn't changed since his youth."
"When his abilities were limited, it was fine. But as he grew more powerful, he couldn't hold it back anymore. He's in his forties now, not so young. Perhaps with the growing influence of nobility, especially among the younger generation within the Church, Alva started questioning why cultivators had to follow the natural cycle of life and death."
"And so, that year, we obtained the immortality elixir," Anthony continued, his gaze fixing on Adam's eyes. "We caused a great catastrophe, committing an irremediable sin."
"The side effects of the immortality elixir were far worse than any other method of achieving immortality. If you desire longevity without altering the bloodline, the cost is steep."
"Perhaps the consequences were so severe that Alva began to deeply regret it. He started reflecting on his past, even growing to despise who he had become. That's probably why he sent you to me."
"As for the immortality elixir, there was only one batch. Alva will never make another. He'd rather die than allow it to be spread again. If there is no more, tell that noble to stop seeking it the next time you see him."
Anthony's words left Adam speechless, as the information contained within them was profound.
If, as Anthony claimed, there was only one batch of the immortality elixir, then Alva had not used it to maintain his immortality. So where had Ai's "immortality elixir" come from?
Or had Anthony misjudged Alva, and had he reignited his old ambitions?
Considering the information he had obtained from Doug, Adam did not dwell on it for long, as Anthony's lesson was beginning.
The path of a mage required the study of many concepts: meditation methods, advanced meditation techniques. However, meditation was not something to be mindlessly practiced.
"The palm lines of humans are different, and so are their souls. Thus, even the same meditation method must be adapted to each individual's soul," Anthony explained.
"No one would trust another to observe their soul, and with the physical body acting as a barrier, it's difficult to examine," he continued.
"Therefore, these adjustments must be made by the practitioner themselves."
"This requires knowledge. The path of a mage is about understanding—understanding oneself, understanding nature."
"The soul is elusive. To deeply comprehend it, one must rely on a medium. That medium is mental power."
The nature of mental power, its inner control, the significance of its structure, the forces of nature it corresponds to—these were all topics to be studied.
Only by mastering these could a practitioner successfully cast a spell. With a spell, they could form a ritual; with a ritual, they could enter the return phase and further comprehend their soul.
"Originally, the concept of a 'spell' didn't exist. It was called a 'ritual' back then," Anthony said. "A ritual is a specific method of interacting with nature."
"Rituals don't have to be performed by mages; cultivators, knights, even ordinary people, if they meet the conditions, can perform rituals to manifest miracles."
"But rituals are often complex. A short ritual might take ten minutes, while others can span years."
"As mages rose in prominence, people began to study why rituals could affect natural forces. It began with mental power imitating them, then understanding the principles, and from there, creating miracles. This is how spells emerged."
"You've made fast progress. Your Netherworld has grown considerably, and you've already begun semi-solidifying your spells."
Meditation methods help maintain the operation of one's mental power. Semi-solidification refers to using special techniques to alter part of the mental power, then forging it into a model and embedding it into the operational pattern, turning a spell into an innate ability.
"Today, many spells focus on destruction, but the true purpose of spells is as tools—tools to explore the soul. If one tool isn't sufficient, then more powerful spells must be developed. If a spell can only be cast once, semi-solidification techniques are created. If one spell is not enough, chain spells are formed. If that's still not enough, rituals are forged, and mental power is refined to its peak, to explore the soul further."
"Different personal rituals exist—some succeed, some fail. Even those who succeed may not discover the same things. The successful ones pass through the return phase and reach the ascent phase."
"Those who fail find their own paths."
Anthony, who had always been clear in guiding Adam, now left him to make his own choice, after offering a few hints.