Grace stared blankly at the young wizard who had just saved her from the brink of death, her gaze falling on his fair, flawless, and handsome face. A sense of confusion and bewilderment slowly began to form in her eyes.
"I am Ronan, don't you remember?"
Ronan looked at Grace gently, understanding that she may have long forgotten his name, but the impression he left on her should still remain.
"Ronan Damien."
He said his name voluntarily, attempting to trigger Grace's memory.
Perhaps it was the name, or maybe his voice and appearance... Grace finally began to recall him.
"It's you?!"
Grace quickly covered her mouth, but still couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.
"You... you..."
Ronan dispersed the silver metal shield wall behind him, manipulating the metal to transform into a massive crescent shape, casually knocking away the metal blade discs that were returning.
These metal blade discs, spinning at high speeds, released terrifying cutting force comparable to a third-tier spell, and their speed made it difficult to track their attack trajectories.
But Ronan's senses were sharp, his mental power far stronger than that of an average late-stage second-tier wizard, and with the assistance of **Eye of Truth**, handling them wasn't difficult.
Ronan manipulated the space-enchanted metal, shaping it into tendril-like forms, which quickly wrapped around the few blade discs that had been knocked off balance. He then pulled them into his hands.
The metal blade discs were heavier than Ronan had expected, made of some special brass alloy that had undergone alchemical processing. They were incredibly sharp and tough, and their quality surpassed the metal medium Ronan had been using, likely reaching the level of a third-tier material.
Since Ronan planned to soon upgrade his medium, he had been consciously collecting suitable metals. So far, these metal blade discs were the most satisfactory.
After just a few collisions, the medium he had made from **Moyren Tungsten Steel**, **Neiman Alloy**, and various other metals had suffered noticeable wear, indicating the sharpness and strength of the blade discs.
Ronan used **Spatial Stasis** and in a few breaths, captured all the blade discs and stored them in his spatial ring.
Turning around, he saw Grace still staring at him, clearly still in shock from recognizing him.
Years of separation had left Grace surprised by his sudden appearance and the changes in him, and Ronan was no less surprised by her transformation.
Ronan still clearly remembered the time in the **Hoddam Academy**'s mentor area, when he had sought help from everyone to advance to a full-fledged wizard but had repeatedly failed.
Then, in the worst of times, Grace appeared, providing him with the resources and guidance he needed for his promotion.
He would never forget the small house with the blue roof, and the short-haired girl sitting on the second floor, reading books and pretending to be experienced while guiding him.
But in Ronan's mind, Grace was just the only daughter of a first-tier formal wizard. Though her talent was good, her background wasn't particularly noble; otherwise, she wouldn't have stayed in the small and insignificant **Hoddam Academy**.
But now…
Grace was being protected by three powerful third-tier wizards, and was even being called "Princess."
Could it be...
Is she a lost descendant of some wizard royal family?
This story was getting too dramatic.
Ronan was still thinking when an anxious, hurried voice approached.
"Princess!"
He turned toward the voice and saw the two silver-haired female wizards who had been with Grace earlier, finally breaking free from the entanglement of the puppet swarm, rushing toward them.
And there was someone even faster than them.
With a flash of white light, a tall and handsome young wizard appeared right in front of Ronan.
"Princess Grace, are you alright?"
The young wizard immediately asked Grace with concern, and after receiving her nod, he turned his gaze toward Ronan.
His expression was far from friendly, a mix of gloom and undisguised suspicion and hostility, completely unlike the attitude one would expect from someone who had been helped.
The two silver-haired female wizards quickly arrived and checked on Grace. Upon finding that she was just slightly frightened and not seriously harmed, they sighed in relief, though they also wore expressions of mild guilt.
Their gazes turned to Ronan, the stranger who had appeared suddenly, but their looks were much softer than the young wizard's.
"May I ask who you are?"
One of the silver-haired wizards took a step forward and asked Ronan, her eyes scanning his robe and the silver metal surrounding him, trying to deduce his origin.
Ronan was considering whether to introduce himself as a member of **Silver Circle** when Grace suddenly broke free from the protection of the three and quickly ran to him.
"You are that... that..."
She looked at Ronan with a mix of excitement and disbelief, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
Clearly, she had now fully remembered who Ronan was.
It was a sunny autumn afternoon. A young man, disappointed and dejected after being unable to enter the **Fog Door**, walked along the grey stone road lined with chestnut trees, and there, by a house with a beautiful blue roof, he met a young girl who was bored in a small attic. That was when their first encounter began.
"It's me."
Ronan smiled at Grace and nodded.
In fact, this was the first truly formal meeting between the two. The last time they had met was during the disaster at **Hoddam Academy**, when Grace had been hurriedly dragged away by her mother, and they had only exchanged a brief glance.
"Whoosh—Whoosh—"
Grace was so excited, perhaps even she didn't know why she was so happy to see Ronan again.
She paced quickly in front of him, her expression almost one of sheer joy.
"Princess, this person..."
"Friend!"
The silver-haired wizard walked up behind them in confusion, but before she could finish speaking, Grace quickly answered.
"An old friend I haven't seen in a long time."
Grace emphasized seriously, then shyly glanced at Ronan.
She wasn't sure if Ronan considered her a friend as well, but judging by his actions in saving her, she probably did.
Ronan looked at Grace, who was as pure and innocent as he remembered, and for some reason, his mood lightened.
He smiled and nodded, then calmly spoke to the silver-haired wizard, "I'm from the **Silver Circle**. And you..."
His gaze drifted to the white ring with the crown of green leaves symbol on the silver-haired wizard's chest, and the meaning was clear.
"**Silver Circle**?"
The silver-haired wizard thought for a moment before bowing respectfully to Ronan. "We come from the **Court of Life**. Regardless, thank you for saving our princess."
"The **Court of Life**..."
Hearing the silver-haired wizard's introduction, Ronan's eyes flickered.
He had never heard of this organization before.
Before leaving **Silver Circle**, Kosty had given him a list of major wizard factions in the southern region. The **Court of Life** wasn't mentioned there.
But seeing that they could send three third-tier wizards to act as guards, and all of them were young, this force was clearly strong and well-established.
'Could it be a wizard faction from outside the south?'
Ronan thought to himself, while outwardly showing the same courtesy to the silver-haired wizard.
"I just did what I should have done. Grace is a good friend of mine, and she has helped me a lot."
"By the way, have you switched to metal-type magic?"
After exchanging pleasantries with the silver-haired wizard, Grace immediately approached Ronan, eager to speak.
Her eyes were filled with curiosity about him. For a girl who had spent most of her life meditating in an attic, Ronan was indeed one of the few "old friends" she had.
"I've collected many powerful energy-type runes and energy-type spells from levels one to three. I was thinking that one day, when I saw you again, I could give them to you..."
Grace looked at the flowing silver-white metal around Ronan's body and sighed, "Now it seems you don't need them anymore."
Ronan was about to respond when a cold, hard voice cut in.
"Princess, I think we should leave now."
The first young wizard to arrive walked in front of them, coldly throwing a few items that appeared to be magical equipment at Ronan. He spoke in a chilling tone, "As for this person... thank you for everything you've done for the princess. Whatever your intentions are, this is where it ends. Please leave now."
Ronan scanned the magical equipment thrown at him and furrowed his brows. He narrowed his eyes at the young wizard, who had been hostile towards him ever since his appearance.
The young wizard didn't seem to care, maintaining eye contact with Ronan. His cold gaze was filled with a sense of superiority that Ronan hadn't encountered in a long time.
"Donnie!"
The silver-haired wizard next to him voiced her dissatisfaction, "Aren't you being too much?"
Grace, too, was clearly angered by the young wizard's attitude. Her chest heaved with emotion as she gritted her teeth and said, "Donnie, you... you must apologize to Ronan!"
"Apologize? What did I do wrong?"
The young wizard swept his eyes over the silver-haired wizard and then looked at Grace. He said calmly, "You've just become a princess, and your power is still weak. At this moment, people who try to get close to you under any pretense and with ill intentions could appear. Even Princess Selena would support my actions if she knew about this."
"I said, Ronan is my friend!"
"Yes, before this, we've encountered at least eight people who claimed to be your friends without you knowing. In the end, under the True Words spell... Heh."
Donnie didn't finish his sentence, only sneering and giving Ronan a glance.
"You!"
Grace was so furious she couldn't speak.
At this moment, "Boom!"
A huge rumbling sound came from the distance, attracting everyone's attention.
Ronan turned his head and saw the massive magic box that had been chasing him earlier.
Its two golden, thick short legs were crushing one abandoned building after another, as if they were made of building blocks.
Before rescuing Grace, Ronan had already stored **Dolter** into his spatial ring, but it seemed that the magic box monster had still followed him here.
However, judging by its aimless destruction, it no longer seemed to be targeting Ronan—it was just instinctively wandering around, clearly drawn to **Dolter**'s presence.
"This is..."
The magic box monster had been drawn by Ronan, so he wasn't surprised. However, for Grace and her group, who were seeing this bizarre and oversized creature for the first time, their faces were filled with shock.
Especially Grace, who had almost forgotten her anger from a second ago, now fully captivated by the monster.
"Is there really such a large **Sibierter's Wonder Box**?"
Grace covered her mouth, murmuring as she gazed at the magic box monster causing chaos in the distance.
"Princess, we should leave."
After a brief shock, the silver-haired wizard snapped back to her senses and looked around, her expression firm as she quickly said, "Who knows what else might appear. We came in too hastily. Next time, we can bring more people to assist you in exploring."
"Oh, okay..."
Grace, half-guided by the silver-haired wizard, nodded absentmindedly. Then, she quickly turned to look at Ronan.
"Ronan!"
She hadn't even had a chance to properly catch up with him, yet she was being pulled away, clearly unwilling to leave.
The young wizard named Donnie coldly blocked the path between them and gave Ronan a warning glance.
"Are you coming with us?"
The silver-haired wizard called to Ronan, while Donnie frowned, clearly displeased. Grace, however, eagerly waved at Ronan.
Ronan, deep in thought, hadn't yet decided whether to follow when the position of the giant magic box monster changed again.
"Boom!"
The giant magic box monster, crashing through the ruins like a rampaging bull, unintentionally stepped on something, and suddenly, a swarm of black objects shot out from the collapsed buildings.
It was similar to the puppet swarm that had attacked the silver-haired wizard and the others earlier.
However, this time, there was a significant difference.
These strange, puppet-like creatures were all square-shaped, almost identical to the magic boxes Ronan had found earlier. But each one had two pairs of gray wings like dragonfly wings.
"Whoosh—"
Almost the instant these winged magic boxes appeared, Ronan's figure vanished in front of the group, turning into a blur of silver light and swiftly charging toward the giant magic box monster.
At this moment, Ronan had completely forgotten about Grace, the **Court of Life**, and everything else.
His eyes were locked onto the mass of magic boxes, and he focused sharply, piercing through the layers of magic boxes to pinpoint one among them—
It was a different magic box.
Its size and shape were almost identical to an ordinary magic box, but—
It was golden, shining like pure gold, incredibly beautiful.
Amidst the dark swarm of magic boxes, it stood out, clearly visible, so striking.
Ronan focused intently on the golden magic box, his mind consumed by a single thought—**Obtain it!**
**I must get it!**
"Golden Wonder Box?!"
The moment Ronan dashed forward, the silver-haired wizard and her team also noticed the golden magic box.
Standing at the front of their group, Donnie's eyes instantly shone with intense light.
Without hesitation, he activated a ring on his finger, and in the blink of an eye, two gigantic pure white wings sprouted from his back. In the next second, he turned into a flash of white light and sped ahead, surpassing Ronan, who had set off first, and reached the front of the pack.
Ronan felt the sharp rush of Donnie's aura and instinctively wanted to use short-range spatial teleportation to catch up.
But after a few blinks, he forcibly stopped himself, letting Donnie pull ahead and continue closing in on the golden magic box.
At this moment, Ronan had completely calmed down from the initial excitement caused by the appearance of the golden magic box.
He realized something wasn't right.
The true purpose of the dwarven **Mechanical Heart** in creating magic boxes was to better hide the **Thunder and Flame Hammer** they had forged.
But both the giant magic box monster and the winged golden magic box... their targets were far too obvious.
It was almost like they were shouting, "I have something precious hidden inside, come catch me!"
Wasn't this completely against the dwarven intention?
"The likelihood that the **Thunder and Flame Hammer** is hidden inside the giant magic box monster or the golden magic box is very low. The dwarves wouldn't have had such a genius idea of 'the most dangerous place is the safest'..."
Moreover, huge opportunities often came with great risks.
With this in mind, Ronan's speed began to slow down.
He shifted his gaze, focusing on the young wizard Donnie, who was about to dive into the magic box swarm.
This guy was way too eager.
The brilliance of the **Court of Life**'s young wizard completely burst forth, and among all the third-tier wizards Ronan had encountered so far, Donnie's flight speed was unrivaled.
Just as Donnie was about to plunge into the swarm of magic boxes, Ronan keenly noticed that the giant magic box monster, which had been idle for a moment, had begun to show signs of attacking Donnie.
Without hesitation, Ronan stopped, standing still and calmly watching Donnie's next move.
--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!