“Professor Wolf” was an illegal transcender wanted jointly by the Austere-Winter Dukedom and the Papal Kingdom.
The last name he once had was “Melvin”, which signified a famous wizard family rich in outstanding Idol Wizards.
Before the Unification War, they were the successors of the “Divine Child” and the “Divine of the Mortals” profession.
Before a child was born, they could identify the child’s aptitude through magic. Only children with “talent” survived. Before birth, the fetus would be nurtured with the soul power of the family’s senior wizard through Idol Wizardry.
After the “Divine Child” was born, the people of the Melvin Family would seal it in an absolutely pure barrier until it was seven years old. The child was not allowed to face any human beings below the Gold Rank. The only ones who could enter and exit the barrier were animals with no mortal thoughts and transcenders above Gold Rank.
The adult wizards of the family would kneel and pray outside the “Divine Son” chamber every day as if the person inside was not a child but an unawakened deity.
Other grown-up Divine Childs also used Idol Spells to impart relevant knowledge to the new [Divine Child] through dreams. During the process, the Divine Child would not hear the voices of mortals. Instead, the child would gradually gain transcended power and could listen to the voices of others without ears.
This in itself was a massive, lengthy ritual.
During the seven years of prayer and worship, the Divine Child, who had never been in contact with the mortal world, would gradually accumulate divinity in his body. When the [Divine Child] turned seven years old and the ritual ended, its soul would reach its maximum purity and attain the Silver Rank in one go.
What the [Divine Child] profession possessed was not combat power.
It was the ability to listen to others and fulfill their wishes.
In other words, it was a “limited wishing technique”.
After the “Divine of the Mortals” of the previous generation left the world, any Divine Child in the family could unconditionally advance to Gold Rank after seven years.
—Indeed, it was the “departure from this world”, not death.
The Idol School’s magics were referred to as “false deity spells” in ancient times. But at Gold Rank, the authority of the “Divine of the Mortals” was almost identical to the actual deity.
As the strength of the “Divine of the Mortals” became robust, the “Inheritance” element would also continue to grow in power. And, when the “Inheritance” element was developed to the limit, the Divine of the Mortals would be deified entirely. His consciousness would be integrated with other generations of the “Divine of the Mortals” in the past and continue to bless the development of the Melvin Family.
It had no deity name and could not leave the residence of the Melvin Family. However, it could still walk on the ground and had its consciousness.
In essence, it was the ancestor deity of the Melvin Family.
This was the “Idol School of Magic”.
Spells related to beliefs, contracts, and wishes.
Professor Wolf used to be a Divine Child. Except for Eugene Melvin, who was “born to know”, the former Frederick Melvin was the most likely Divine Child to inherit the position of the “Divine of the Mortals”.
—However, he became a traitor.
That was because he did something he must never do as an Idol Wizard.
He had entrusted his faith to others.
He indulged in many incredible “performances” directed by the Tragedy Writer and firmly believed in the not-so-good reputation of the Murder and Conspiracy Deity.
For Idol Wizard, “faith” was the most valuable currency. Idol Wizards above Silver Rank, as long as they had enough time, could adjust their “temporary” beliefs through various rituals and spells. Also, they could use order mana to use divine art in almost any field.
Although the depth of divine art was not as good as bishop-level priests and there were no passive special effects, its multi-functionality was enough to make up for everything.
Idol Wizards could also consume their faith to summon a dead person’s thought body or attach others’ souls to themselves.
Those with adequate power could alter the name of another person to change his fate. At the same time, they could let another person with their name altered to substitute themselves, even more so that it would happen without the target knowing.
However, as long as the Idol Wizard chose to believe in a certain deity, more than half of his spells would be unusable.
The “Divine of the Mortals” was even less likely to be a subordinate deity — especially if he was a believer of the notorious false deity.
For the Melvin Family to disassociate itself from Tragedy Writer, they removed Frederick from the Family.
Since then, Frederick had lost the surname “Melvin”.
But to him, it was not shame but freedom.
Without the shackles of the family, the Silver Rank Transcender acted at will and served as a cardinal bishop. Even though he was only at the Silver Rank, the Winter’s Hand could not catch Frederick.
In the current state, Professor Wolf was rumored to have advanced to Gold Rank.
People did not even know his profession.
But many homeless werewolves were brought up by him and were under his control. After all, besides the Austere-Winter Dukedom, there were also werewolves in the Underground Federation and the Papal Kingdom.
It was probably because Doreen was not an orphan, and she did not have too much affection for her “teacher”. It was just that when she did not know what to do, she chose to execute the teacher’s command first.
If the “teacher” asked her to do a life-threatening mission, she would definitely run away.
Who knows that this seemingly ordinary mission is so dangerous!?
“Doreen?”
At this moment, the door made a creaking sound as it opened.
Ghirlandaio’s gentle voice also came from outside the door, “I brought my friends over to play—”
“Hey…” Dmitri’s helpless voice followed.
I’m not your friend. — Thoughts like this could be read easily, even if unspoken.
“No, I’m not lying. This is the werewolf that attacked me. And the Frost Beast, you saw it too. You didn’t lose it.” Ghirlandaio shrugged, “It is said that she followed the ‘Teacher’s’ order and came to attack me.”
“A werewolf’s ‘teacher’…”
“You know him?”
“I won’t tell you even if I know him.” Dmitri replied in annoyance, “The rest involves the internal affairs of our Austere-Winter Dukedom. You’d better stay here until we’re sure you’re innocent. We’ll send Winter’s Hand to interrogate her.”
Then, Dmitri glanced at Doreen.
There was subconscious loathing in his tone, “Also, don’t trust any werewolves.
“They look pitiful, earnest, and trustworthy, but you won’t know what they are thinking in the dark.”
“Is this a warning?”
“No, it’s advice.” Dmitri replied calmly, “It’s also a lesson.”
Ghirlandaio frowned slightly.
He nodded thoughtfully.
Doreen looked up at the middle-aged man, who was probably a big shot, in a daze and in trepidation.
Then, there were the two people behind him.
Doreen’s pupils suddenly dilated with fear.
She knew one of them — Leona Bunyan.
The Bunyan Family were the hounds of the Austere-Winter Family. While they might not be qualified to be loyal dogs, that was because their duty was, at best, to “find the prey”.
It involved things that were inconvenient to be done through the [Winter’s Hand], like killing someone who did not break the law, getting something from someone, or going to a foreign land to find something.
These were the responsibilities of the hunters in the Bunyan Family.
Leona was a special case.
Her mission was to search for Frost Beasts — to defeat the organization that controlled the untamed Frost Beasts.
In other words, Leona was the leader of the “Austere-Winter Dukedom ‘Spirit Thief’ Incident Special Team”.
It was also Doreen’s specialty.
That being the case, then the person following her…
Doreen caught a glimpse of the wolf’s head badge on Dmitri’s collar.
This was the Austere-Winter Family Emblem.
Are you still saying you’re not a member of the Winter Family?!
Is he Prince Dmitri?
Why hide your identity in front of His Highness Dmitri?
Then, when I am interrogated, should I reveal this or not?
It feels like both saying and not saying is dangerous—
Doreen groaned, hugging her knees and curling up into a ball.
She felt that she might get into trouble like never before.
Teacher, is everything in your plan?