Norton stepped through the spatial rift and arrived on the outskirts of Alune’s Spring.

"I knew it was you, old fart.", he pointed at Elder Flock, "So what is it this time around?"

"A task. We need a new identity.", Elder Flock tossed out a few paryus to Norton.

"A covert mission, I see.", Norton read the contents of the paryus and creased his brows a little after digesting it into his mind, "These are a little too complicated as I would be requiring at least a formula 7 illusion magic spell to handle your needs. Also, that young man on the back. I’m not even sure if my ’concealment’ spells would even work on him.", Norton pointed at Eluard.

There was a slight aura of magical deterrence coming from him. Illusion spells were said to be formidable, but wizards who dabbled in the confusing world of illusionary magic like Norton knew that a little bit of deterrence force against magic would crumble an illusion magic master like him.

Elder Flock turned around and curiously re-assessed Eluard once again, ’No wonder he was able to last that long under the supreme elder’s barrage… But why didn’t I know of this?’

He faced Norton again and scrutinized his words, "Then is there anyway we can go around it? I don’t want to waste a bit more time that has already been."

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"I can use a formula 8 illusion magic spell, but that would be costly for you.", Norton gave him an answer he did not like.

Elder Flock slowly walked towards him and uttered in a demanding tone, "Nothing is too costly under the name of the supreme elder, Norton. Or do you have any say against his?"

Norton’s response was quite calm, "Then how about this instead? You’ll act out as three newly hired servants under my household. In that way, nobody would even notice anything at all."

Eluard was dumbfounded, "Would… that even work?"

"It’s not a problem for him.", Elder Flock glanced at Eluard as if he was an idiot, "I thought you have read all the materials that that zombie girl has given to you. Perhaps you should have recognized him as the Illusion Master and the Dream Walker, Norton Zumfiel."

"The… That Norton Zumfiel?!", Eluard’s eyes widened in surprise, though admitted on his mind that this legendary figure would be the one whom they would be meeting today, "Is it true that you can walk through somebody’s dreams?!"

Norton smirked and didn’t return an affable reply, "You will revel on my legends eventually, brat. But for now, let’s take you all somewhere safe first, shall we?"

Emilia glanced at her master once again and the latter nodded. She gathered her powers and opened another spatial rift leading to the same destination as before. Norton stood at the sides and bowed, gesturing everyone to come over to his simple abode. Eluard had to carry Emilia over and was the last to pass through the spatial rift.

The courtyard was as tranquil as the lake from earlier. Green sharp-bladed grass occupied almost the entire area. There were several trees on either side of the courtyard, bringing a darker shade especially under the shelter of Lumine.

Emilia released her magic and closed the spatial rift. She pushed herself off Eluard and dusted her clothes calmly.

[ Warning: You are currently inside an illusion magic array formation. Level is at the upper ranks. ]

Eluard guessed, ’No wonder Elder Flock didn’t disagree right away when he said we he will take us somewhere safe. I can see that Sir Norton is an extremely cautious person. I just wonder why he didn’t follow Haera and Veron into the northern glacial continent.’

’System, do you think anybody else can detect the presence if this illusion magic array formation?’, he asked subconsciously.

[ The illusion magic array formation is composed of numerous enchantments and the sophistication involved is too complex for the system to understand in a short period of time. ] _{Please visit 𝑓r𝙚ew𝚎𝚋𝐧૦ѵ𝗲𝘭. c𝘰m}

Eluard inwardly nodded at the answer. Higher level magic array formations were called such due to the increased number of enchantments that wizards would inject into the magic array formation itself, resulting in either a better performance or worse.

Moreso the fact that enchantments were illustrated as symbols, usually in circles and lines with a complete magical circuitry such that the magic array formation itself would run on its own after the creator inserted a bit of his or her own mana into the core of the formation.

’What about the coverage of the magic array formation? Can you determine it?’

[ The illusion magic array formation’s coverage is indeterminable. ]

Eluard shook his head and smiled inwardly, ’This is... not too much, right?’, and didn’t bother checking the magic array formation any longer. They stood right where they were as Norton turned around and narrowed his eyes, "Let’s do it here."

"Do what?", Eluard asked.

"Your transformation.", Norton closed his eyes and gathered his mana, "My magic array formation will cover the remnants of the energy produced by my magic spell so do not be so worried that anyone will be able to sense us."

"I will be using your bodies as a medium for a magic array formation. I will put several enchantments to conceal your identity, turn you into another person, and even change your body’s structure to a huge extent."

"There will be pain and blood might ooze out of your bodies during this process but please do not pass out. The might of my magic might just overwhelm you and your consciousness would be… erased. I don’t want that to happen to any of you."

He suddenly put his arms in front of him and clapped his hands together, then slowly turned the other hand upside down with them meeting at the slight edge of the wrist. Eight whitish-yellow magic circles appeared on both sides, brimming with intense life magic.

Norton’s hands moved quickly as he brandished several hand signs at once ending with a loud clap before pointing his wide-open palms unto the three of them, "Thousand Face Fa?ade!"

Bright sparkling lights flooded out of the eight magic circles, wildly launching themselves into the bodies of Elder Flock, Emilia, and Eluard. As the lights contacted their skin, their bodies slumped while they writhed in agony as it was forcefully reshaped.

Eluard gritted his teeth until it almost broke into pieces. He could feel his bones cracking and then reforming at the next microsecond. His muscles twitched, snapped, and reconnected again. The pain stabbed him and went away quickly as if nothing had happened. He could not understand what was happening anymore and subconsciously ignored the barrage of messages the system was throwing at him.

Meanwhile, the trees and grasses on the side of the courtyard withered quickly in the blink of an eye. Wrinkles formed in Norton’s face as his countenance fell greatly.

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The process lasted for a while before Norton released his magic spell and staggered backwards. His butt landed at the edge of the elevated wooden floor while holding tightly on the beam which cracked under the strength of his grip.

A transparent barrier collapsed at the same time as Norton did. Hurried footsteps resounded from the adjacent halls, bringing in a chaotic rhythm to the silent night.

Veron with several elven guards rushed to the scene.

"Brother! What have you done to yourself?!", he knelt and slid to Norton’s side.

"Fool! I’m fine. Go check our guests over there.", Norton patted Veron and pointed at the three convulsing bodies on the courtyard who were covered in blood.

Veron stood up and slowly approached, "They are?!"

"Some help from the upper. They were ambushed by the enemy but thankfully, I saved them on time. Go make a room for them to stay in. They’ll be here for a while.", Norton struggled as he made way back to his room. His breathing was rough, and he almost fell again after turning to a corner.

Veron glanced at Norton’s back, muttering to himself, "Why are they in such a sorry state? Didn’t brother just go out for a few minutes? Was the enemy too formidable for him to battle against?!"

He would never guess that Norton lied to him and that one of the three was as powerful as his brother. Veron shook his head and ordered the guards to carry them safely out of the courtyard.

Meanwhile, an unnoticed eye watched as the three now unconscious bodies were being carried away. The person’s soft hands slowly touched the edge of the wooden sliding door. There was an aura of frost emanating from the person’s body, chilling the frame to a visible degree.

A rasp feminine voice spoke out, "But I just felt something remarkably familiar earlier, and now it is gone… This feeling… I have felt it before. Just who was it, and when did I felt it…?", closing the wooden sliding door once more.

Veron heard the mutter and turned his head to the room opposite of where he was, ’Is Haera still not yet asleep? Did she see what happened earlier?’

He shook his head and let it go. Why would he dare to listen to whatever his niece was doing?

’Damn it. If this goes on for long, I wouldn’t dare say that Haera would remain alive. I hope that this help that my brother said is useful.’

His mind trailed off into the depth of the dark night.

…

Bang!

A forceful explosion opened the locked door back in the Tower where Eluard stayed a few hours ago. Several wizards barged in and searched every corner of the room.

"Where is he?! Where is that damned wizard from earlier?!", a bald old man angrily shouted in the middle of the empty room, "Chief Lumina, I didn’t think that you are this type of person to help some traitor escape in the nick of time!"

Chief Lumina leaned over at the wall, glancing at the foolish bald old man sideways, "Oh, I didn’t think that a lowly magister like you would dare to talk to their superior like this. Elrick Benzene, it seems that that hard ’shiny’ head of yours requires some softening and further polishing...", smirking at the end of her mockery.

Magister Elrick’s eyes widened, "You bitch da-!"

His countenance immediately fell as he felt his soul almost leave his body.

"You dare talk to me like that again, I’m going to make you a mindless puppet that knows how to obey their superior.", Chief Lumina snorted and walked back to her office followed by Magister Urrell. She was indifferent as to what Eluard was up to. After all, his backer was an Elder which most of the people in the League did not know yet. Magister Elrick’s response was understandable, but he should’ve known to whom he was talking to just a little bit earlier.

"Auntie, are we letting them cause some issue just like that?", Magister Urrell was speechless and powerless about the chaos that was about to happen.

Chief Lumina rolled her eyes, "Let them do whatever they want. Even if I am to be pushed out of my position right now, it doesn’t really matter to me anyway.", yawning in the middle of her uncaring response.

Magister Urrell’s eyes twitched, ’You do not care, but I do!’, he yelled in his mind then whispered upon her, "Then what about that young brat, Kai?"

"What do you think? We don’t even know what happened back there…", Chief Lumina waved her hands and flew back to her office, "Anyway, if they want to investigate, just tell them what you know. They can waste their ’truth’ magic spells or whatever. They won’t get anything from us in the long run."

Meanwhile, back on Magister Elrick’s unfavorable situation…

"Magister Elrick, there is no sign that that young wizard used magic to escape earlier. We can only see traces of crumpled bedsheets where he was supposed to be sleeping from.", a pontiff wizard apologetically reported.

Magister Elrick crushed the cup he was holding and spouted, "Doesn’t matter! He won’t hide for long! I knew there was something wrong with him the moment that incident happened in the academy earlier in the morning!"

"The rest of you, go out and investigate everyone and everything surrounding that damned young wizard! I don’t care what you will do, I want results!", Magister Elrick ordered.

One of the wizard teams quickly set off and exited the tower. They went deep into the nearby forest when one of them raised his sleeves, showing the mark of a crow on the wrist of his right hand.

After gathering his mana into the wrist, the crow’s eyes lit up in red and he whispered something into it.

"Tell the lord that they have escaped…"

The once inanimate crow turned into a living being, flapping its wings out of the man’s wrists and flew into the nearby capital city.

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