224: Chapter 224 Taking Stock of the Loot! The Shy Witch!

By the time he returned to Golden Flame Castle, it was already evening.

After settling the little witch in, Rowan returned to his study.

He took out Harrison's storage ring.

Upon seeing the contents, his breath hitched, and a flash of pleasant surprise crossed his eyes.

The interior space of this storage ring was about the same size as the silver star ring he had obtained initially.

Having previously spoken with Julian from the Purple Gold Merchant Alliance, he knew that a space ring of this size was worth about a thousand magic crystals.

Then, he began to examine the items inside the storage ring.

First, there was a pile of neatly stacked magic crystals and several bearer magic crystal notes from the Vilantia United Bank.

He did a rough count; combined with the notes, there were over 3,800 standard magic crystals in total.

As expected of a veteran Sixth-Circle Wizard, he was much better off than that penniless evil wizard from the Mist Territory last time.

This greatly eased the castle's recent financial crisis.

"Wizard Harrison is truly a good man!" he thought, then continued to inspect the other items in the ring.

Beside the magic crystals lay a pile of books and scrolls.

He took them out and flipped through them—

《Ancient Red Moon Sacrificial Text Fragments》, 《Evocation Conversion: Red Moon Rhythms and Blood Sacrifice Contracts》, 《Tracing the Origins of the Bloodline: Secrets of the Firstborn (Fragment)》, 《Analysis of Blood Essence: Hierarchical Transition of Transcendent Life》...

There were also some notebooks that looked like experimental records; they had no titles on their covers, only dates and serial numbers.

Besides these books, the rest were miscellaneous items: dozens of sealed test tubes containing liquids of various colors.

Several bags of powdery substances with labels written in symbols he couldn't understand.

And a small box of petri dishes containing some kind of dark red filamentous growth.

...

Rowan took everything out to look, but found he couldn't understand most of it.

Then he lost interest.

Thinking for a moment, he put the items back.

These professional things were better left for the little witch to handle; she was the expert in this field.

...

The next morning, the sun was shining brightly.

In the Golden Flame Castle's female official council chamber, nine female officials sat around a long table.

Rowan sat at the head.

Beside him sat Aurora.

Rowan looked at the women and introduced her: "This is Miss Aurora Winfield, a Fourth-Circle Wizard who graduated from the Moon Chant Covenant Wizard Academy in Ascalon."

"From today on, she will serve as the resident wizard consultant for the Golden Flame Territory, responsible for monitoring and handling transcendent events in the territory, as well as research in related fields."

Upon hearing this, the women's gazes all fell upon Aurora.

They looked at the little witch's delicate and beautiful face, the meaning in their eyes varied.

Aurora was also observing the women present.

She knew these must be the results of Rowan's Beauty Pageant.

Every official had impressive looks and temperament.

Some were dignified and intellectual, some lively and vivacious, some steady and reserved, others bright and generous...

She couldn't help but sigh inwardly, but her face remained calm; she simply smiled and nodded at the women, acknowledging them.

Rowan didn't pay attention to the subtle exchange of glances among the women and said directly:

"Next, Miss Aurora needs to select a site in Gino City to build a wizard tower."

"As for the City Guard, have Commander Portia assign a squad to assist with Aurora's surveying and construction work."

"If the site selection involves occupying other buildings, compensate them at market price and complete the demolition as quickly as possible; do not delay..."

The meeting ended, and Rowan stood up, looking at the little witch: "Aurora, come with me to the study."

"Mm." Aurora nodded and followed Rowan to the study.

Rowan closed the door and took out all of Wizard Harrison's books, scrolls, and experimental materials, piling them on the desk.

He smiled: "These were all found in Wizard Harrison's storage ring."

"I don't know much about wizard items, and they would be wasted on me."

"Take a look and see what these are, and if there is anything useful."

Aurora looked at the books and materials, startled at first, then a flash of unexpected surprise crossed her eyes.

She walked quickly to the desk, picked up the untitled experimental record, and carefully opened the title page.

Her gaze quickly swept over a few lines of text, and then she let out an irrepressible exclamation:

"This is... Harrison's experimental manuscript!"

She flipped through other classics: "And some precious collected literature!"

"Great, these are all extremely valuable!"

Like someone who had discovered a treasure, Aurora flipped through the books and records one by one, occasionally exclaiming, occasionally muttering to herself, completely immersed.

Rowan stood to the side, watching her excited appearance, and couldn't help but smile.

He didn't disturb her, just leaned back in his chair, quietly watching her flip through the items.

Aurora was excited for quite a while before she suddenly realized she had been a bit unseemly.

She put down the book in her hand, looked at Rowan, her cheeks slightly flushed, and smiled embarrassedly:

"Uh... was I too excited?"

Rowan looked at her slightly shy smile, his heart stirred, and he chuckled:

"It's rare to see you so happy. It seems these things were indeed a pearl cast into the darkness while with me."

Aurora: "There are some forbidden knowledge books in here that I have been looking for! I was just a little excited for a moment."

"Look at this 《Ancient Red Moon Sacrificial Text Fragments》; you can't find it on the market at all. Many Red Moon-line wizards are collecting these fragments themselves!"

As she spoke, she opened another experimental record and pointed to the dense annotations on it:

"And look here, he drew three wavy lines on the edge of the chapter on ritual energy circulation paths... This is a modified Red Moon sacrificial plan."

"And there are at least three different Red Moon sacrificial modification plans in these notes. If we can combine them with the currently recovering blood source ley line nodes, we might be able to build a brand-new energy conversion array..."

The more she spoke, the more excited she became, and her voice gradually rose.

Only halfway through did she realize that Rowan was looking at her with a smile.

She immediately stopped, her ears dyed a crimson red, and she lowered her eyes, whispering: "I... I talked too much again."

"No, I like listening to you talk about these things."

Rowan stood up, walked around the desk to her side:

"But before that, perhaps we can do something more interesting?"

"Hm?" She looked up.

Rowan reached out and gently lifted her delicate chin.

The moment his fingertips touched her skin, Aurora immediately understood.

Her mind instantly went blank.

"I, I..." Her voice stuck.

Her fair, delicate earlobes flushed a thin layer of red at a visible speed, spreading to her neck.

Rowan leaned down.

The little witch slightly stood on tiptoe.

Their breaths instantly intertwined...