Chapter Twenty-Six: Today Is for Enjoyment

The next morning, Louis woke up feeling refreshed, as if all his unpleasant memories had been wiped away—apparently, the effect of forgetting everything worked wonders. Thinking back, he remembered that after chatting with Stuart about storybooks last night, he had simply gone home and fallen asleep, without hearing any fairy tales.

Later, he even had a rather special dream—he brought Stuart into his dream and let him display his powers. It was truly exhilarating and entertaining. Many people fear nightmares, but with sufficient knowledge of the occult and a few clever tricks, one can enjoy the thrill while keeping a clear mind. This immersive horror movie not only provided excitement and pleasure but also gave Louis deeper insight into fear and evil spirits.

If he could find a suitable fear-type spell now, he was sure he could master it quickly. He checked his personal status:

[Louis lv5 (35/100)]
[Strength: 6.28 Dexterity: 4.1 Magic Power: 10.93]
[Storybook Energy: 1]

Louis noticed his magic power had increased by 0.04. This was the reward for defeating the nightmare in his dream last night and absorbing its strength—a piece of demonology knowledge he’d learned from Stuart. Additionally, after Stuart devoured Louis’s dream, he himself regained a bit of magic power, which also reflected back on Louis.

A perfect cycle. Unfortunately, the effect is best only the first time someone has a nightmare.

Louis planned to find some “food” for Stuart that evening. If they wandered into a black sorcerer’s dream, both of their magic powers would increase. Besides, feeding Stuart souls would also make him stronger. Though both methods yielded only modest gains, slow and steady progress adds up.

Moreover, Louis had noticed that every time he exhausted all his magic power, it would increase by one percent, and his recovery rate would improve significantly.

I’ll save the storybook energy for now, Louis thought. Later, he would choose a pure attack spell to comprehend up to tier four, then use his energy to reach tier five.

Dressing himself, he glanced at the spell section of his personal status in the storybook while washing up.

[Forbidden: Nightmare Spell lv2 (8/30)]

This was a strengthened fear + sleep curse he’d learned from Stuart—a kind of curse that drags people into a cycle of dreams and kills invisibly. What he’d experienced in his dream last night was precisely this. During that dream, Louis experimented with the spell in various ways, and it seemed the night’s results were excellent. Not only did it deepen his understanding of the spell, but also of nightmares and fear.

Now Louis could cast the spell on others without a sound, and as his understanding of fear and dreams grew, his mastery of it would only deepen.

[Forbidden: Puppet Strings lv2 (66/100)] This spell, after relentless practice last night, had reached tier two.

Unlike other spells, mastering this one depended not on the number of uses, but on the time spent playing with puppets. Roughly one point of progress per minute, and controlling a person consumed about one magic point per minute as well.

No matter the tier, the minimum mana cost for any spell was one. The tier of the spell indicated the degree of “using minimal effort for maximum effect” and the overall impact. Thus, a first-tier spell pumped with ten mana might not be as powerful or uncanny as a fifth-tier spell with only one mana.

After washing up, Louis made his way to the living room, where he found breakfast and a small note. Evidently, Helen had left early for Osikris’s laboratory to prepare some Stone Fairy Water, in case she encountered the fearsome evil spirit recently sighted in the West District.

Louis simply ignored the note.

He apparated to his office, disguised himself to look like “Keanu Reeves,” and used the alias “Leavis.”

Then, following the information Stuart had provided, he headed to the “Sichuan Pepper Bar” in the southern district. Behind this bar was a mysterious little alley—rumored to be quite interesting.

Louis first went to the bar’s restroom. In the mirror, he recited an incantation. The reflection of Louis suddenly turned its head, took off its hat, and made a nobleman’s bow to the Louis standing outside the mirror.

This mirror image was identical to Louis, except for one small difference: the reflection had a beautiful little purse at its waist—payment from a little errand Stuart had run the night before.

The Shadow Domain was a sub-plane sealed by the Holy Oak wizards, almost like a dream world, yet connected to every region of this world. When the arbiters of Holy Oak went about their business, they often communicated with the Shadow Domain through mirrors, requesting help from the wardens there.

Ordinarily, such operations required approval and a special “key” to proceed. But now, Stuart no longer needed such keys. As long as someone who had seen him in a dream was near a mirror, he could ignore the Shadow Domain’s seal and appear in that mirror. He could also be summoned by Louis at any time.

The spell Louis had just cast was, in essence, a summoning spell—a magic he had seen within Stuart’s body. With some modifications, it could even summon demons.

[Master.] The mirror image bowed respectfully. [Miss Lilith has already accepted my apology; her troubles are gone.]

Louis nodded with satisfaction and glanced at the prompt before him:

[Quest Complete: It Takes Evil to Punish Evil]
[Magic Power +1]
[Experience +50]

This little mission had been triggered when Louis read the complaint letter. Compared to Mr. Baeliff’s assignment, this was much more entertaining.

Stuart continued, [You know, recently, the Ministry’s agents haven’t been working much. The Black Prison hasn’t seen any newcomers for a long time, which makes life rather dull. So whenever I run into interesting people out here, I always feel like chatting with them. Hehehehe.]

“Stuart, you’ll have plenty more chances to chat up new people in the future—don’t look at me like that, I have no interest in idle chit-chat with you. I mean with other people,” Louis replied.

Stuart grinned—that confirmed his suspicion: this master was not one to stay idle, and following him would never be dull.

[My lord, to be your shadow is the greatest honor of my life—I know a young lady named Osikris, unmarried, perhaps you…]

Louis waved his hand, and the mirror image instantly returned to normal—Stuart was dismissed.

Clearly, Stuart still pined for his former master and believed Louis admired her as well. Unfortunately, his flattery was misplaced. Having finally used “Obliviate” to erase all the messy business with the Witch Queen and Osikris from his mind, Louis had no desire to listen to it all over again.

Today was meant for amusement.

With that thought, Louis smiled and reached for his waist. Previously, his reflection in the mirror had an extra pouch. After the mirror ritual, the purse now hung at Louis’s own waist.

It was clearly a girl’s purse—delicate, pretty, and faintly scented with pleasant perfume. Inside were twenty gold galrons—a generous reward indeed.

There was also a thank-you letter. Although Miss Lilith didn’t know who had helped her, it seemed the “mysterious figure” was quite formidable, having given a severe lesson to that dreadful demon.

[…A wizard feared by all monstrous fiends and evil spirits—truly unimaginable…]
[Thank heavens, the Ministry has finally sent someone to deal with that dreadful demon! You must be a senior Ministry employee, or perhaps a mighty “Yordle” wizard? I’ve heard even evil spirits fear them… In any case, thank you…]
[…I know you probably don’t care for this money, and it can’t possibly express my gratitude, but it’s a token of my appreciation. I’m deeply thankful for all you’ve done…]

“Twenty-six gold galrons now,” Louis counted the coins. “Adding the ancient coins, that’s quite a sum.”

Thanks to Stuart, Louis now understood much about Holy Oak Academy City. He’d learned of an intriguing place—Blackhorn Alley.

It was a famous wizard’s market; gamblers, or even professors of Defense Against the Dark Arts, would spend their spare cash there to pick up curious items unavailable elsewhere. People called it the “Tax-Free Shopping Alley,” but what you found inside was far more than just contraband or black-market goods.

Sometimes, people even shopped there for free.

Besides objects, “people” were also traded there. Most of the missing foreigners every year from various countries could be found in that place.

Louis planned to spend his money there. He knew of a great spot—the Red Fox Cottage. There, anything could be found.

The thought made his heart race. He strode out, ordered a special cocktail at the bar, and, after a brief chat with the bartender, spoke the password.

Moments later, the bartender, satisfied that Louis was neither a student nor a Ministry officer, led him to a fireplace in a room upstairs. Using a spell and Floo Powder, the bartender sent his guest straight to Blackhorn Alley.

…