Crete woke up from the bed and looked at the small alarm clock on the bedside table. It was already nine o'clock in the evening. He sighed secretly. After obtaining that unknown dark purple energy, his body has become more and more sleepy these days. He originally planned to sleep for only an hour to replenish his energy after coming back from work, but he didn't expect that three hours had passed in the blink of an eye.
He sat up and reached out to touch the small alarm clock. It had a round metal shell with two mushroom-shaped small alarm bells on top. The hands were fluorescent, emitting a tiny bit of light in the dark dormitory.
Although this clock is small, it is more exquisite than the furnishings in the homes of slave owners. If it is exchanged, it is enough to exchange for a slave like himself. This is a gift from Xiao Chen, and it is also his most precious property in this empty dormitory.
Crete got up from the bed. He did not light the oil lamp, but went to the window and looked at a mark on his left hand in the faint moonlight. The mark looked like a round tattoo, the size of a silver coin, with many crisscrossing lines inside. Upon closer inspection, these lines were composed of dense runes. The tattoo was originally dark purple, like the light of power, but in the night, it turned into a deep black. As long as you look at it for a while, you will feel fear and terror rising from your heart. Crete habitually scratched it with the thumb nail of his right hand. The nail sank deeply into the palm, but it had no effect on the mark.
Suddenly, Crete felt his palms begin to heat up and have a slight burning sensation.
He was startled. He knew it was coming again.
The tattoo emitted a faint purple light, and the lines on it actually detached from the skin and began to rotate. Soon a magic circle formed in the void. Crete quickly sat up on the bed, stretched out his hand in front of him, palm facing up.
The magic circle ran for about ten seconds, and a ball of light rose from the magic circle. The ball of light was also purple, and there was a pupil in the middle, like an eyeball made of pure light. The ball of light turned around, as if observing the surrounding situation, and then aimed at Crete.
"Teacher." Crete said respectfully.
The ball of light actually made a sound: "Krete, is this in your dormitory? Why don't you turn on the lights?"
"I'm ready to go to bed. I've been a little tired lately." Crete replied.
"Yes. I came to see if you were alright. Remember to practice the spell I gave you. It will make you stronger and better able to access the power of the seed."
"Okay, teacher."
"If there's any problem, or any danger, you know how to call me."
"Yes, sir. I know the spell well."
"Well, go ahead. Rest early and get enough rest."
"Okay. Good night, teacher."
After the light ball finished speaking, it slowly floated back to the magic circle, and then turned into strands of energy and returned to the tattoo.
Crete remained sitting still until the light on the tattoo completely dissipated. He did not relax until he was sure that the magic ritual was over, and then he leaned on the edge of the bed and panted. Although the ritual was very short, he felt that some of the strength in his body had been consumed, just like he had been jogging outside for ten minutes.
Although the "teacher" said that this was the consumption of spiritual communication and could be restored through diet and sleep, Crete was still very uneasy.
Crete sat on the bed, panting and dazed, for a full ten minutes.
Under the starlight, his handsome face showed an expression of confusion and hesitation for the last time, but in the end, when he glanced at the fluorescent little alarm clock again, he seemed to have made up his mind.
He found a linen shirt of his father, cut off the top half and the sleeves with a knife, buttoned the bottom half, made a few small holes on the top, cut a few strips of cloth from the sleeves, twisted two into ropes and passed them through the holes. Then, he put on his coat, took the half shirt and the strips of cloth, and went out.
After walking out of the dormitory building and coming to the roadside, he pulled the hem of his shirt up to his waist and tied the rope tightly, which instantly turned it into a pleated linen skirt. He then used two shorter strips of cloth to braid his hair over his neck into two small braids. Then he turned up the collar of his coat and tightened his trouser legs. Crete was not yet an adult and was not tall. On the poorly lit road, he looked like a girl.
Krete was a man dressed as a woman, so he was inevitably a little nervous. Fortunately, there were almost no pedestrians on campus at night except for the patrol team. Even if he met a few people, they would walk past him without paying any attention when they saw his dress. This made him slowly feel relieved. After walking for about ten minutes, he avoided two patrol teams and arrived at the downstairs of the girls' dormitory.
The female dormitory administrator was long gone. Only two guards were on duty in the guard room. Because there was no electricity, they just hung an oil lamp outside the guard room.
Crete touched the braid on her head, then looked at her "skirt", and felt that it would be difficult for the other person to see her clearly under the dim light, so she gritted her teeth and walked over.
The two guards on duty saw a little girl walking over with her head down, but they didn't pay much attention to her. One of them asked, "Girl, why are you back so late?"
"Overtime." Crete's voice has always been compared to that of a lark. At this time, he made his voice sharper and softer, which made him sound very gentle even among girls.
"Oh. Is that team so heartless? They let a little girl like you work overtime alone." The man seemed to get excited and asked another question.
"Don't bother me!" Krete said in an impatient tone. He was afraid of saying more and making more mistakes, so he interrupted the other person and walked in quickly.
"Hey, the girl has a nice voice, but a bad temper. What's wrong with chatting for a while?" The guard did not suspect anything, but complained to his companion next to him.
"With your skills in picking up girls, it's strange that anyone would pay attention to you. You've been on duty here for a few days and no one has ever paid attention to you." said the bad friend next to him.
"Hey, why haven't I found a girl with such a nice voice before?"
"That's because no one talks to you."
"Go away, I really haven't noticed this girl before. Apart from her voice, her small body is so cute. I also saw half of her face. She is a local girl with white skin and big eyes. She is definitely a beauty."
Ignoring the two people's muttering outside, Crete quickly entered the dormitory building. Then he came to a door according to the address Xiao Chen left him.
I knocked on the door and it opened.
Inside was a woman in pajamas.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Crete, and I have something important to discuss with you! Lord Luo Ling." Crete looked around and said softly.
Luo Ling's room was very bright. Not only was there an oil lamp on the table, but there were also several white crystals placed in strange lamp holders. These were lamps made of light magic crystals, which Crete had seen in the slave trader's home.
Her desk was a little messy, with all kinds of documents piled on it. Some clothes and bedding were randomly piled on the bed, and there was no time to sort them out. Some food that Crete had never seen before was unpacked and placed on the bedside table and the table. In short, everything in the room could tell you that the owner was very busy.
Luo Ling sat in a swivel chair in front of the desk by the window, leaning against the back of the chair, holding a glass of water and drinking it slowly. Krete sat on another chair a little stiffly, also holding a cup in his hand, looking at her face to face.
"I didn't expect you to come to me. And I didn't expect you to be dressed like this." Luo Ling looked at Krit. He had undone his braids, but the "skirt" was still on.
"However, since you went to such great lengths to sneak into the girls' dormitory, there must be a compelling reason. Tell me why you came to find me at this time." Luo Ling continued to ask.
"Because my teacher, Xiao Chen, said that you are the most trustworthy person in the whole school. So I came to find you. I came here because..." Krit spread out his hands, revealing the magic tattoo, "I have some secrets that I am afraid of being discovered."
"This guy Xiao Chen." Luo Ling crossed her legs, tilted her head slightly, and smiled. "Katerina is very worried about you. I'm afraid it has something to do with this tattoo. Since you are here, I will be a good listener. You can slowly start from the beginning."
Krete nodded and said, "Teacher Xiao Chen told me two things before he left. The first thing was to leave me some books and let me read them slowly by looking up the dictionary. He said that I didn't need to concentrate in a hurry, but should expand my horizons and lay a good foundation."
"Oh? What book?"
"100,000 Whys"
Luo Ling almost spit out a mouthful of water. She patted her chest and tried very hard to stop coughing.
Seeing Krit looking at her nervously, she said, "Nothing, just keep talking."
"The second thing is that he asked me to pay attention to the slaves in the resettlement camp to see if they are restless. He said that you are sitting in a high position and there are some things that you can't see."
"What a nosy guy." Luo Ling said softly.
Crete glanced at her and continued, "So, when I was delivering letters every day, I went to various camps to chat with many people. As I was chatting, I vaguely felt that some people in the camp were not right. They came from different camps, but they always got together to do something. Some old people I know warned me not to get close to them. I heard that some guards and mercenaries were their people."
Luo Ling asked: "So you thought of a way to get close to them?"
"Yes. At first they always avoided me, and I thought these people who were planning something might be wary of the magician's apprentice. So I thought of a way, which was to complain that I couldn't learn anything. You see, if a person always complains about his teacher, then it is hard to say whether he is on the same page with the teacher."
"That makes sense." Luo Ling nodded.
"Later, they really became interested in me. After all, I can go to many places they can't go and do many things they can't do." When Krit talked about this, he clenched his fists and his cheeks turned slightly red. "Later, a guy named Hawk really contacted me, and I knew that I succeeded!"