Immediately Alec got the answer he wanted, he waited a moment to see if the old man had anything else he wanted to add as he didn’t want to walk out of him while he was still talking which would make him look snubbish, but when it became clear there was nothing more, he turned and headed for his room.

“No one should disturb me tonight. I’ll see you all in the morning,” Alec said as he walked away, the moment he locked the door behind him, Terran turned to old man Alderic.

“I’m sure you know, just like I do, that he’ll try to slip out tonight,” Terran said.

However Old man Alderic only shrugged before replying, “No matter what happens, we can’t allow Alec to go back to Estonia City until things settle down. And if his clan falls because of this battle... then we must keep him in the academy grounds for as long as possible, until he grows strong enough to protect himself.”

“So while you’re busy worrying,” Alderic added,

“I’ll be watching him tonight and making sure he can’t leave. The only painful part is that we can’t expect him—or any of his clansmen—to keep participating after what they just heard. Hell, the team’s morale already dropped by seventy percent, as their captain is not in the right headspace.”

Alderic grimaced, but he clearly felt like if he didn’t say it now and kept it to himself, this would later come back and bite him in the ass.

Around Alec’s door, the Gordon mages couldn’t help sharing the same fear as Alderic and Terran. They knew Alec too well, and they believed there was no chance he would let this slide.

But the moment they remembered the Grand Dean’s warning, that the strongest attackers were Tier 8 mages, their stomachs tightened, though they wanted strength, but this was beyond them. And then Alec’s words echoed again in their minds: No one is to disturb me tonight.

And they started to feel it was an encrypted message, like Alec was telling them to stay out of it, and not to do anything foolish like whatever he was about to do.

Somehow, that realization hurt more than they wanted to admit.

That was how the four of them ended up in Agnes’ room, with Sophia and Endrick tagging along too, already seeing themselves as family, after spending time with the clan, and seeing how everyone treated them—they’d come to love the Gordons as their own.

_ _ _

While everyone was overthinking about what Alec wanted to do, because they were convinced that he was planning to escape in the night, Alec wasn’t actually focused on slipping out at all, he was thinking about something dangerous—just not the thing they expected.

The only “lucky” part was that no matter how badly it went, he wouldn’t be truly dead, he would end up waking again.

Yes—Alec was planning a risky raid inside the amulet world once night fell. He’d already confirmed something important: he could kill a low Tier 7 demonic beast in the Beast Forest, meaning those creatures carried the battle prowess of a low Tier 8 human mage.

So now, he was trying to push one of his golems into the Tier 7 realm before he disappeared, he already had two golems that already felt close to breaking through, and if there was anything he could do to force the breakthrough, he believed his answer—his redemption—was in the Beast Forest.

He wasn’t delusional, he didn’t think he could rush back to Estonia City in his current state and magically flip a high-rank war in his clan’s favor.

He was still far from influencing the high ranks on that kind of stage, but he was confident he could change one piece of the board—if he prepared properly first.

And while the others were fidgeting and spiraling over the clan’s situation, Alec looked strangely calm for one reason: and that wa because he was the one responsible for the reconstructed array formation in the outer region.

And from what they’d explained, Alec had every reason to believe his random spell cards were one of the main reasons the City Hall forces still hadn’t managed to invade, he was simply waiting for the moment they finally stepped into the surprise he’d buried for them.

Back then, Alec had a handful of Tier 6 random spell cards, since he didn’t really have any use for them, he’d planted them around the auction house in the outer region.

In his mind, if the clan was ever attacked, the enemy would naturally make for the auction grounds—expecting to seize generous spoils and hidden stockpiles, not knowing they wouldn’t get a single thing as the place was empty.

And because Alec understood how greed worked, he also knew they’d convince themselves there had to be treasures there. So he’d layered the area with far more spell-card traps than necessary.

Thinking about it now, he couldn’t help but smile, as he lay back on his bed, ready to sleep even though it was still early, proof of just how eager he was to return to the amulet world.