Chapter 65

Chapter 65

The black cat froze instantly.

He was effortlessly picked up, his vision whirling.

"Cat?" The owner of that hand gave him a shake, and the next moment, Pelan found himself face-to-face with a looming visage.

The man looked to be in his thirties, with sharp features and a stern expression. He wore a black coat and matching trousers, his deep brown eyes serious.

Just then, Pelan suddenly felt the air around him seemed to grow still. A few crimson threads appeared before his eyes, looking eerie and dangerous. Instinctively, he grew alert, gathering his mental strength to resist the dark magic's invasion.

There was actually a black wizard lurking near Boren!

Was he from the Secret Cult?

Just as the threads were about to touch his fur, a voice came from not far away.

"Who's there?!"

The crimson threads paused for a moment before vanishing.

Just as Pelan thought the man would produce him as a suspect, he was stuffed into the man's coat pocket.

The hand gripping his scruff loosened, but before he could regain his mobility, the black cat's limbs involuntarily curled up. His entire body was restrained by an invisible force. Pelan lay stiffly in the pocket, unable to even make a sound.

"Captain, it's me."

The man turned around, replied in his usual tone, "Just a routine patrol. No unusual activity detected."

"Really? I thought I heard something else..." The guard outside seemed somewhat suspicious.

"Must be your imagination," the man chuckled, very naturally joking with the other, "Or maybe it was someone's stomach growling from hunger?"

His words successfully diverted the other's attention. The guard captain laughed and swore before his footsteps gradually faded away.

After the surroundings grew quiet again, the man did not take the black cat out.

Pelan was somewhat surprised that the man hadn't exposed him. But upon careful thought, he concluded the man was likely afraid this unexpected incident would disrupt their plans. A Secret Cult member appearing near Boren—no matter how you looked at it, their motives couldn't be pure!

The man, however, showed no intention of explaining. He silently entered an empty room before finally pulling the cat out of his coat pocket.

"Who sent you? The royal family? The merchant guild? Or... are you just an ordinary little stray?"

Pelan's swaying tail paused. He immediately tilted his head, adopting a look of innocent confusion.

The man let out a soft scoff, and the crimson threads suddenly darted into the kitten's round head.

Pelan: !

Why would he act without asking clearly! Pelan inwardly complained, though he wasn't flustered by the man's sudden attack.

A vast, refined surge of psychic energy burst forth from the kitten's body, blocking the invasion of the crimson threads.

Trying to control a necromancer? His mental strength was something even Yi Lao had praised!

Pelan gave a light flick of his tail, staring back at him unflinchingly, his little form looking quite proud.

The man's movement paused. His brown eyes gazed deeply at the black cat in his arms.

His lips moved slightly, then suddenly curled at the corner, seeming both regretful and excited as he murmured to himself, "So it's not an ordinary stray after all. To possess such powerful mental energy... could it be a powerful magical beast? I wonder where its master is. Without enough money, I won't be returning this cat..."

The black cat's tail swayed less vigorously. The man hadn't realized he'd turned into a cat by drinking a potion, instead suspecting he was a summoned beast?

Well, Shadow Cats were themselves a rare type of high-tier magical beast.

The man's hold changed from lifting to cradling, encircling him in the crook of his arm, with one hand resting on his back to prevent him from jumping away.

Holding him, the man didn't follow the regular patrol route. Instead, he turned and headed towards the more central areas of the estate.

Reaching the corridor outside the third-floor bedroom, two guards stopped him.

"Gerrard, this isn't your patrol area."

Gerrard helplessly raised the well-behaved black cat in his arms. "Mr. Boren just gave me instructions. His precious new pet might have wandered near here, and he tasked me with finding it and returning it to his room."

The guards looked at the cat in his hands, then at Gerrard's completely unperturbed expression. Hesitating for a moment, one said, "But Mr. Boren didn't bring any spirit pet when he traveled."

"Mr. Boren found this little kitten during his afternoon walk in the garden. He took quite a liking to it and has already accepted it as his spirit pet. You've been on duty here without leaving your post, so it's normal you wouldn't know." Gerrard said without batting an eye.

After brief consideration, the guard still shook his head. "No, Gerrard, we can't let you in. How about you leave the cat here? We'll watch it until Mr. Boren returns."

"Alright." Gerrard didn't insist. Under the guards' watchful eyes, he set Pelan down, then reached out and patted both their shoulders. "You've worked hard."

"N-not... at all..." The guards' expressions suddenly changed. Both quickly lowered their heads, respectfully stepping aside to clear the path ahead.

Such powerful Dark Magic! They were controlled in just the blink of an eye?

Pelan widened his eyes in shock. He looked at the guards, then turned back to gaze at Gerrard, meeting eyes filled with amusement.

It was eerie.

The fur on the black cat's back instantly bristled. This exceptionally cold and stern man suddenly smiling—it was far too unsettling!

And he had just tried to control the kitten using the same method!

The next moment, the man retracted his smile, shooting him a cold glance as he said in a low voice, "What are you standing there dumbfounded for?"

With that, he pushed open the bedroom door and stepped inside.

This felt more like it... The black cat flicked its tail and followed the man into the room.

The room was pitch-dark. Gerrard chose not to turn on the lights. Instead, he sat by the ornately patterned window, gazing out at the road outside the house by moonlight.

He bent slightly, picking up the black cat from the floor. Pelan had just begun to struggle when the man pressed down on both his front paws.

"Keep squirming, and I'll toss you downstairs," Gerrard said in a tone devoid of emotion.

With his "weapons" confiscated, Pelan couldn't bring himself to attack the other with his teeth. He could only let the man confine him in the crook of his arm, his large amber eyes darting around.

Gerrard occasionally stroked the black cat's stiff head and back, suddenly asking in a low voice, "You... what did your master send you here to do? To be Boren Witt's pet?"

The man's words carried a clear note of disdain. Pelan tightly shut his mouth, one small paw, seemingly by accident yet with a hint of anger, leaving a white scratch on Gerrard's hand.

Gerrard wasn't angry at all. Instead, he chuckled. "Such a fierce little stray."

"Meow!"

A soft, delicate meow was abruptly cut short in the room. The black cat's body stiffened. He tightly shut his mouth, turning his head away to avoid looking at him.

Out of Pelan's sight, a brief smile touched Gerald's lips, vanishing in an instant.

He placed the black cat on the desk and stood up to open the window.

"Stay here quietly. I still have important matters to attend to."

With those words, the man slipped out the window and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Pelan jumped onto the windowsill and peered outside, but he couldn't spot Gerald anywhere.

Pelan was baffled. Did he really just leave like that? Or was this a trick?

Hold on, the two guards outside had already been controlled by the man. If he were truly just a cat, there was no way he could escape the room now.

However, Gerald had brought him into Boren's bedroom, which, by coincidence, was a huge break for his own plans.

Pelan's mission in infiltrating Boren's residence was simple: to seize control of him and force him to publicly admit during the next day's speech that he had once plagiarized Wallis Williams' research on spatial theory!

With a flick of his paw, a stack of parchment instantly appeared on the desk.

This was all the "evidence" he had prepared in advance for Boren—including his Teacher's original manuscripts and notes, as well as comparative diagrams between Boren's manuscripts and the research on dimensional rings.

Boren was indeed a talented alchemist. On his own, he might have gone far in the field of alchemy. But he had plagiarized his teacher's research and continued to use his spatial theories and models, passing them off as his own.

Tomorrow, at the symposium, he would completely expose Boren's shameful true colors.

Pelan hid in the shadows, his amber eyes watching calmly on the bedroom door.

After what felt like an eternity, the faint scuffle of footsteps finally sounded in the hallway.

"Mr. Boren."

The door swung open immediately, and Boren entered the room. He raised a hand, dismissing the guard who had been following him closely to the adjacent room.

"Go rest. There's no need to watch me every moment. This is Hoplar, the royal capital—one of the safest cities in Yakalanst."

Soon after, the door closed. Pelan retreated further into the shadows. Boren walked over to the desk, seemingly puzzled by the sudden appearance of a stack of papers.

He picked up the top sheet and, upon recognizing the handwriting, his fingers began to tremble.

He was all too familiar with this handwriting—it was Wallis Williams' notes!

Who? Who had placed these things on his desk?!

Was it Wallis Williams? Impossible! That magic apprentice—one who wasn't even a novice mage—couldn't possibly have lived this long!

The parchment in his hand was already crumpled from his grip. This was a threat! Boren slowly exhaled. The next moment, his entire body froze in place.

Pelan had been waiting for this precise moment of shock and bewilderment. Suddenly, a magic circle flared to life in the room, filling the space with a dark glow that illuminated the fear and anger in Boren's eyes. Before he could react, a wisp of gray, mist-like spirit swiftly emerged from the center of the magic circle and vanished into Boren's body in the blink of an eye.

Pelan had already set up a barrier in the bedroom beforehand, so not a trace of the dark magic aura leaked out. The guards next door remained completely unaware. They were only Grand Mages, after all, and it was difficult for them to detect such subtle, almost imperceptible magical fluctuations.

Boren's hand, which had been halfway raised, went limp and dropped.

"...Who... is it?" he managed to utter with difficulty, his eyes fixed intently ahead.

Pelan darted out from under the desk, allowing the summoned spirit to take control of Boren's body and soul. A torrent of immense mental power poured down, ignoring his struggles, and with an unstoppable force, imprinted his own spiritual mark onto Boren's soul.

The light in Boren's eyes gradually dimmed. In just over ten seconds, the soul of this Grand Mage had been completely manipulated by Pelan.

Pelan let out a sigh of relief. He flicked his tail and jumped onto the soft bed.

The whole process had gone smoothly and easily—it wasn't as difficult as he had imagined!

Having stayed in the forest for too long, he often forgot that he was a Magic Saint, no longer just a magic apprentice who only knew simple binding spells.

The effects of the transformation potion would last a while longer. He didn't dispel the barrier magic. After all, it wouldn't be strange for a Grand Alchemist concerned about his safety to set up such a defensive spell in his room.

Pelan directed Boren to the sofa, then curled up his tail and buried his head in the soft goose-down quilt.

The bedroom fell silent once more. Above the window, a figure watched everything that had happened inside, unnoticed and for who knows how long.

"How can your guard be so low even when you're up to no good..."

The voice carried a hint of helplessness, quickly fading away in the howling cold wind.

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Author's Note: Lou Guanyue: Teacher is so adorable~

Pelan (the confused cat): His smile is so eerie! It feels like he's acting out of character!

It's a puppet, not the real person. If it were the real one, Pelan would have noticed immediately.