Crystal Beast

These books are the foundation of the Seven Empire. If the royal family trains another wizard apprentice in the future, they will be able to rely on these books to restore the former glory.

Philip spoke hesitantly. "Lord Matthew... this, this is a relic left by our ancestors."

"It is the foundation of my royal family... Please, please..."

Matthew knew what he wanted to say, and waved his hand, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I do not intend to monopolize the notebook; it's just that breaking the seal on it will take some time."

I will definitely return it after I have finished borrowing it.

Upon hearing the other party's words, Philip breathed a sigh of relief, a sense of anticipation rising in his heart.

If the other party removes the restriction, wouldn't he also be able to browse the contents?

Matthew refined all the remaining books using the system.

A flood of knowledge about energy suddenly filled his brain.

He rubbed his throbbing head. Although he hadn't extracted the contents of the notes, he speculated based on these books related to energy.

This notebook appears to be a research notebook on witchcraft.

These books appear to be some preliminary knowledge for the study of this witchcraft.

Thinking about this, Matthew became even more curious about the contents of the notebook, which was the sorcery notebook of a formal wizard!

Suppressing his thoughts, he said calmly to Philip beside him, "Since you have accepted your ancestor's collection of books, I will help you keep an eye out for clues about Prince Evan."

After saying that, Matthew left the underground chamber on his own.

……

The next day, early in the morning...

As night faded, the sky gradually brightened.

Matthew arrived at the Moon Tear Crystal Mine on the outskirts of the capital early in the morning.

"My lord, the entrance to the mine is just ahead," said an envoy named Eric, leading the way.

Matthew could already hear the clanging of metal coming from inside the cave while he was standing at the entrance.

He followed Eric inside and found the miners working hard to extract Moon Tear Crystals.

The miners all had blank expressions and did not stop what they were doing when Matthew entered.

Despite the recent attacks on the Moontear Crystal Mine by Crystal Beasts, the King will not be merciful enough to stop mining operations.

As Matthew ventured deeper into the mine, rune nodes began to appear in the tunnels.

These rune nodes reinforce the underground passages, and when activated, they emit a faint blue light, providing illumination in the dark mine tunnels.

Because Crystal Beasts live underground year-round, they are particularly sensitive to light sources, which is why they actively gnaw on rune nodes.

As Matthew moved forward, his gaze swept over the various rune nodes, stopping from time to time to examine them, and he found that many nodes had been gnawed on.

There are dozens of them, and it will take some time to repair them.

The two then came to a crossroads blocked by a fence, where a burly knight stood guard, watching the passage behind the fence with intense vigilance.

Seemingly sensing someone approaching from behind, the knight turned around abruptly and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Eric.

"Kaman, my wizard apprentice."

Upon hearing that the other party was a wizard apprentice, Kaman dared not be negligent. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and bowed respectfully.

"My lord, my name is Kaman, and I am the commander of the Royal Knights."

Matthew remained noncommittal. He could sense that the other person's physique was far superior to that of an ordinary person, but it was much inferior to Draven's. He should be a Great Knight.

"Hmm, what's going on up ahead?" He looked towards the mine tunnel behind the railing and noticed several bottomless holes leading up to it.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the area ahead is where the Crystal Beasts roam, and those large holes are the tunnels they dug."

Upon hearing this, Matthew fell into deep thought.

One of the requirements of the school's mission is to completely eliminate these crystal beasts.

However, these magical beasts have an extremely high reproductive rate, so I need to find a way to locate their lair in order to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

At this moment, Matthew asked Kaman again.

"Besides that, has anything else unusual happened recently?"

"Abnormal..." Kaman raised his chin as if in thought, then suddenly realized something.

"Yes, sir."

"During this period, we lost many people in our efforts to eradicate the Crystal Beasts. A few days ago, when I ordered people to bury these corpses, I discovered that many bodies were missing."

"According to the list, those who disappeared were all knights."

"In other words, those that disappeared were all corpses with some physical value..." Matthew silently noted down this information.

"Kaman, why didn't you inform His Majesty the King sooner if it was so important?"

"I've already sent someone..."

Matthew wasn't interested in listening to their bickering. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, something's about to come out."

Kaman was startled and turned around abruptly, only to find a massive crystalline beast suddenly bursting out of the ground.

The next moment, more than a dozen crystal beasts darted out of the cave.

Kaman broke out in a cold sweat. This was the first time he had ever seen so many crystal beasts together. He drew his longsword and glanced at Matthew instinctively.

The other person remained calm, showing no emotion whatsoever.

Eric had already shrunk behind Matthew. His strength was only at the level of a knight's squire. If it weren't for the presence of a wizard apprentice, he would have run away long ago.

The Crystal Beast's back is covered with hard blue crystals. When it attacks, it coils its body into a circle and uses the crystals on its back to smash the enemy.

At this moment, the enormous crystal beast had already leaped into the air, its body curled up with dozens of crystals bulging out, and it crashed down towards where Matthew was.

Kaman knew he wouldn't dare take a direct hit from a crystal beast of that size. As it was about to strike Matthew, he couldn't help but feel a chill for Matthew.

Eric was so frightened that he took more than a dozen steps back, fearing that he would be hit by the shockwave from the crystal beast.

However, the next moment, Matthew threw a punch, which collided with the incoming crystal beast.

"Bang!!!" With a loud bang, the crystal beast was sent flying backward and crashed heavily to the ground, where it lay motionless.

"So powerful!" Kaman exclaimed inwardly.

Matthew flashed in front of another crystal beast and threw another punch.

"Bang!!!" The poor crystal beast was thrown far away, crashing into the wall, and the crystal on its back was deeply embedded in the wall.

In the blink of an eye, Kaman couldn't even see Matthew's movements.

In no time, all of the dozen or so crystal beasts were on the verge of death, leaving only one still able to move.

The crystal beast stared in terror at Matthew, this terrifying human, and instinctively tried to turn around and flee back into the burrow.

Kaman gripped his longsword tightly and took a step behind it, intending to thrust out his sword to show off in front of Matthew.

But just as he was about to make a move, Matthew interrupted him, "Wait..."

Kaman looked at the other person with a puzzled expression.

Matthew offered no explanation, letting the crystal beast burrow into the hole, before he himself slipped into the hole in a flash.