At that moment, tens of young men and women also noticed Louise's presence and ran towards her.
"Teacher, what happened to Miss. Vivian?" A slim woman around 30-years old in a blue robe appeared behind Louise and asked in an anxious tone.
"Go and inform Lady Marissa to meet me at Layer 4. Tell her it's an urgent matter." Saying so, Louise waved her hand and continued to walk.
A few minutes later, she reached layer 4, walked past many halls like necromancy laboratories, prison cages, and portrait gallery room, a wunderkammer filled with skulls, bones, and weird kinds of stuff, and soon appeared in front of a metal door.
She then recited an incantation, opened the door using [Windy Hand] spell, and walked in.
'This must be Vivian's personal experimental room for curse magic and dark arts experimentation.' Charles muttered inwardly and patiently waited.
Unlike other rooms, Vivian's room was inscribed in a strange language and was occupied with tables, alembics, retorts, strange and rare ingredients in vials and jars.
On the other hand, Louise moved deep into the large hall-like room and soon stopped in front of a soft bed.
After that, she placed 'Vivian' on the soft bed and removed her coat and shirt.
"Are you still awake, Vivian?" She asked in a concerned tone.
Meanwhile, Charles let out a small groan, opened his eyes a little, and nodded his head.
At that moment, a look of hesitation appeared on Louise's face.
After some internal struggle, she let out a deep sigh and spoke.
"Good. Turn around a bit and drink this potion."
While speaking, she took out a blue vial from her space ring, opened the cap, and moved the vial towards her mouth.
Although Charles was confused a little, he didn't say anything and opened his mouth.
At the same time, he also cast [Cryptic Analysis] skill on the vial and soon widened his eyes.
'Sunset Potion of vitality?' He was stunned inside.
'T-This… This potion could increase a Rank-4 Mage's Constitution at a great level! She is even willing to give such precious treasure to save her disciple?' He calmed down his heart and drank the potion.
Simultaneously, a bunch of notifications appeared in front of his eyes.
…
[You consumed a Sunset Potion of Vitality!]
[3 points have been added to your Constitution!]
[0.2 points have been added to your Strength!]
[0.4 points have been added to your Dexterity!]
…
A drastic change appeared in his body, causing his muscle to strengthen.
He felt that his internal wounds also began to heal at a fast speed!
Still, the black marks on his backside remained, which caused Louise's expression to go pale.
"Don't worry about those black marks, Vivian. I think Lady Marissa must have a way to dispel them permanently,"
She consoled her in an anxious tone and soon turned around.
At that moment, an emerald green-robed woman in her thirties entered the experimental laboratory and soon waved her hand towards Louise.
She had long red hair, copper eyes with sweeping eyelashes, trim eyebrows, ivory skin, a big chest, and an oblong face.
She stepped on the smooth floor, appeared near the bed, and asked in a soft voice.
"Why did you call me all of a sudden?"
Although she appeared so much younger than Louise, Charles knew of this woman's actual age.
'If I'm not wrong, this woman actually walks on the path of Warlocks and her actual age is more than 1,000 years. Her bloodlines spells are unknown to anyone in this tower and have some mysterious background. During the past few years, she hadn't revealed her power and always remained in this tower. Among the six Rank-4 Mystics, Louise and Marissa are at peak level.'
While he was in muse, Marissa appeared beside Louise and soon frowned as she saw the black marks.
"Hmm? I feel a faint smell of Hell Flame in these marks… It's really surprising to see such a thing here." She muttered inwardly, touched those marks with her fingers, and hurriedly took out a knife from her space ring.
Then, she skillfully made a few cuts on Charles's back, took a piece of black marked flesh, and stored it in a separate glass tube.
"I need a few hours to study this curse mark. As long as I find a way to nullify the infection, I will have an easier time creating an antidote. After all, this flame is not the real Hell Flame anyway." She said casually and then added.
"Till then, stay here in this room and do not touch anything, girl. This black mark might transmit to others via air or physical contact. Louise, you too isolate yourself in your room for the next few hours."
Saying so, she turned around and started walking towards the exit.
"I told you, right?" Louise caressed Vivian's head with a forced smile on her face and soon added.
"I will go and wait in my own room. You also get some rest before Lady Marissa return from her laboratory."
Then, she covered Charles's body with a large quilt and started walking towards the exit.
As Charles saw her disappearing from his sight, he breathed out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.
A moment later, he entered the Inner World and asked the clone Charles took over his body.
After that, he reappeared in front of the System Cube and started practicing the present 'Time' ability.
…
Inside the Ring of Frost,
Rhea stood on the plain ground filled with rocks and snow and looked at the dead snow wolves under her feet.
Meanwhile, a total of hundreds of mutated snow wolves encircled her from every direction and were growling at her angrily.
But there was no panic expression on her face at all!
Rhea calmly held a crystalline ice sword in her right hand and suddenly thrust it forward.
Hundreds of ice spikes came out from the snowy ground a moment later and pierced into the surrounding wolves.
But she didn't end there, though. She pulled her sword and thrust it forward again.
Wailing cries of wolves echoed in the snowy plain as she knelt on the ground and asked in a cold tone.
"Did I pass the exam?"
Just as she finished her words, a white owl flew from the sky and soon landed on her shoulder.
"You passed the test." A cold old man's voice came out of the owl's mouth, causing Rhea's lips to twitch.
Rhea hurriedly changed her face into a serious one and asked.
"What's next? How many days have passed in the outside world?"
"Not even a day has passed. But you already spend more than two weeks inside this pocket dimension." The owl responded in the same old man's voice.
Meanwhile, Rhea let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky.
Unlike outside, there was no sun, nor did any moons appear in the sky.
It appeared dark as void, but the stars remained.
She then looked around and saw only a few snowy mountains, forests, and snowy plain areas everywhere.
"Can I go now?" She asked.
"Yes, you can. But before you go, you should spend some time and increase your water affinity." The owl pecked on her shoulder and said.
For a moment, a strange silence appeared.
The next instant, Rhea widened her eyes in surprise and glared at the damned owl.
"Why didn't you say it earlier?" She was dissatisfied by this bird's behavior and got furious a little.
"I forgot." The owl responded casually and then added.
"If you use your thought, you can come and go wherever you want. As for how to increase your affinity, kill 5,000 wolves and then look for me."
Saying so, the owl suddenly turned into pure snow and fell.
A moment later, Rhea heard howling sounds from the opposite forest and went pale.
'I will go back to the mansion and clear this mission slowly.' Muttering inwardly, she closed her eyes and soon felt a pulling sensation from somewhere.
She opened her eyes in the darkroom a moment later and soon breathed out a sigh of relief.