Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Spring had arrived in Silvermoon City, and the white city was now dotted with hints of green.

Hill had been rather happy during this time.

Choosing to spend this problematic 73rd year in Silvermoon City was indeed a very wise decision.

By the time high summer was approaching, Hill had not only systematically learned the theoretical knowledge of various types of spells but had also learned several new alchemy recipes.

The greatest advantage of this university in Silvermoon City, in Hill's view, lay in the fact that knowledge could be bought with money—though expensive, it still left a glimmer of hope.

As long as you had money, you could achieve what those with absolutely no opportunity could not, a big difference in the passing down of a profession.

Hill's only small regret was that he hadn't made any new friends, as the worldview of Ferun World's mages differed too greatly from his own.

Moreover, they were divided into different factions, engaging fiercely in both overt and covert struggles.

Perhaps it was because those students from poor households only came to the university to study free of charge during the slack farming seasons, and they had a fairly large gap with the wealthy full-time students.

Moreover, those wealthy mage students were further divided into two groups: those from noble families and those from merchant families.

There was a small minority who knew to gather some followers, but followers bought with money would never truly be loyal to them.

Doing favors to seek returns, when applied to mages who generally had high intelligence, didn't really have much use.

The more Hill interacted with them, the more he could slightly understand why Lady Xinen Haihe acted so much like she was in a cockfight.

Although Silvermoon City provided ample resources for mages, there were more low-ranking mages; to step up and obtain sufficient resources, they had to push down their peers.

This kind of competition did not endanger their lives, so they acted somewhat recklessly.

Because older mages could also participate in some high-level magic courses at designated times by paying a certain fee, many foreign mages rented places in the south of the city.

They maintained regular contacts, with various associations springing up everywhere, and gatherings of friends debating topics were daily occurrences.

As Hill strolled around Silvermoon City, casually buying some food and crafts, he could sense that these foreign mages were somewhat dissatisfied with students from all disciplines.

They thought that the students faced too little survival pressure and tended to be somewhat frivolous.

Hill didn't even need to deal with them directly to catch the sour scent that wafted from them.

It was so evident that even the younger students could feel it.

Thus, the relationship between these old mages and students was also poor.

Then, like Hill, who also held an external card, they were excluded as well.

When he disguised himself, ordinary students simply ignored him, and he himself didn't want to deal with the old mages, who were too troublesome.

But when he was not disguised, no one dared to speak to him.

Hill had no idea when his appearance had become so widely known among the mages; bards were indeed very skilled at spreading news.

Why hadn't he seen any related news when he was in disguise?

Since becoming a professional, Hill seemed to have always been regarded as a harmless creature; he rarely encountered situations where everyone scattered upon seeing him, which he found somewhat amusing.

Especially when he went to the library to read, he could completely occupy a corner, and no one else would sit next to him.

Lady Xinen Haihe wouldn't dare approach him for a chat in the library; no mage would tolerate being polite to someone who disturbed their reading.

Even if she felt someone behind her, she wouldn't dare challenge Hill's sanity at that moment.

The only ones Hill felt he could somewhat interact with were, surprisingly, the homebody mages.

But although they didn't care much about status differences, unfortunately, they immersed themselves solely in learning spells and were unwilling to talk much.

Every day, Hill saw these guys wearing standard black robes, ordered to wait at the library entrance, awaiting the Librarian to cleanse them with a Purification Spell.

Lastly, aside from eavesdropping, Hill could only choose to attend some spell lectures of different tiers; they not only discussed new spells but also analyzed the principles of the spells and explored directions for their modification.

Generally, Apprentice Level and Adept Level lectures were led by the school's own teachers, while Master Level ones involved inviting guests from outside; Hill was fortunate to have attended a Master Level lecture once.

Though these lectures were costly and most students couldn't afford the tickets, they were extremely meaningful, and Hill learned a lot of fresh and interesting knowledge.

Each time there was a Master Level lecture, Archmages from other cities in The North would swarm in, especially those from Deepwater City.

Everyone understood, though it wasn't mentioned explicitly, that at such a crucial time, having a Legendary Mage conduct a lecture must likely target dragons.

Even if they couldn't slay dragons, they at least had to find a method to repel them.

In the past, encountering a dragon still allowed them to buy their lives with money, but now, these dragons were mad!

Hill also learned about large creature defense methods for a day. Silvermoon City must have given some benefits to this Legendary Mage, who even taught some magic arrays that could harm dragons.

It seemed that the leaders of The North were quite pessimistic about when the chaos of Dragon Madness would end, even Black Staff Kelben, the City Lord of Deepwater City, sat sternly at the front of the lecture hall.

They seemed certain that it was not possible to kill Samast, the Dragon Lich leader of the Dragon Worship Church, any time soon, and they all appeared particularly tense.

Hill soon learned what had happened, the Gold Dragon King had met a foolish end. He had intended to gather all the Gold Dragons to enter a magical slumber, but suddenly, he was influenced by Dragon Madness and began yelling to kill any dragon that did not obey his orders.

In the end, an Ancient Gold Dragon, whose status was second only to his, killed him and though he made the kill, he had no intention of becoming the next Gold Dragon King and simply fled.

The other Gold Dragons were left to haphazardly find places to sleep or simply left Toril for the Universe.

People finally realized that even Metal Dragons couldn't be trusted now, as they themselves didn't know what they were doing.

Most of the Chromatic Dragons simply followed their inner madness, even those Ancient Dragons that could control themselves somewhat.

They instead seized the opportunity to attack various cities to plunder wealth.

The whole world of Toril had turned into a complete mess, not just the Ferun Great Land.

Though the air was filled with a tense atmosphere, it was only among the higher echelons.

Most low-level professionals and ordinary people still lacked that sense of imminent danger, the Puzzle Lock and the formidable Elaströ of Silvermoon City gave them enough confidence.

Black Staff Kelben appeared several times later, seeming to want to ask the High Mages something; whenever he passed by, his brow was always deeply furrowed, weighed down with heavy thoughts.

Hill, who knew much about the situation, had no plans to get involved in his grand scheme. He attended classes routinely, and whenever he had free time, he went to the lecturers at the Hall of Sages and the Tower of Balance to learn new spells.

Although every spell started at a cost of 100 gold pieces, the pricing was clear upfront, whether one was to pay 100 or 2000 gold pieces.

This was a spell you could learn with money!

Hill, even if not interested in using them, went and recorded each one.

This side of Ferun had many lifestyle-oriented spells and Alchemy Products that Hill truly loved.

For example, there was a type of spice bag that you could reach into and retrieve spices 10 times a day, just by thinking about what you wanted, though you had to add the desired spices during its creation.

Those without money could opt for basic spices, and those with money could add several varieties, with a very flexible production method.

Although many mages chose to live ascetically, the vast number of mages still allowed the few pleasure-seeking ones to invent quite a few nice things.

Days of attending classes by day, and practicing at night were genuinely fulfilling, except for the lack of sleep.

The snoring of Terry had made Hill give up the idea of working in the study.

He truly hadn't expected there to be snoring that even a Soundproof Array couldn't block.

Initially, Hill thought it was highly unfair for the Silvermoon Dragon Queen not to advocate for Terry, but now he somewhat understood.

This Little Dragon was already hundreds of years old, and had he lived near the Dragon Queen, it would have been enough to make any parent cry!

The first day Terry snored, Hill had nearly jumped up in fright; Terry had been very quiet in his sleep until then!

Upon closer investigation, Hill discovered that it was because Terry's spiritual injuries had fully healed, and he had now truly entered a deep slumber.

Hill had no choice but to choose to work in a more soundproof Alchemy Laboratory.

He decided to make a spice bag first.

Hill finally understood why the mage teaching this tool had stated that it was best to complete this bag with no more than 10 spices, as adding an eleventh spice tripled the cost of production materials.

Even for Hill, 30 spices seemed a limit.

This was an item only he himself could use. Giving it as a gift would only make others think his mind was unsound.

He then crafted a little bell out of Pearl Quartz, with a pendant made of gold. Hill hung it beside Terry's Dragon Nest. The biggest use of this item was to absorb sound powerful enough and subsequently produce an equivalent sound when struck.

Hill intended to place a bell in Agleya's future Temple to signal to nearby people that it was almost time to close the doors; he felt Terry's snores were definitely powerful enough to use.

He also placed a chessboard made of Mother of Pearl and Obsidian by Terry's bed, arranging the chess pieces neatly.

Hill had always wanted a beautiful set of chess, hoping that the chessboard and all the pieces could be imbued with the breath of a Gold Dragon, incorporating golden dragon-shaped patterns.

Hill glanced at Terry again, feeling it was almost time to wake him up.

The peak of summer was nearly past, and while the damage caused by Dragon Madness was indeed terrifying, it was also nearing an end.

Just yesterday, he had seen a report about the Blue Dragon Cave in the Naish Mountains.

The young Little Dragon had madly attacked the fortress of his Great Fairy underlings and died there.

And increasingly, more giant dragons driven to madness until death were being reported.

The heroes of Toril should already be preparing to take action.