Sorcerer: I want to be an Academic Prodigy

"Saint Heir, Your Highness, you came underground to search for Centaur traces, didn't you? I have heard from Norma there are already clues to their race," Kolebas said.

"Yes, but not many," Ivan responded truthfully, before his tone shifted, "Let's wait a bit longer. I suddenly feel there's no need to rush. Here I can eat and drink well, and even have scholarly exchanges with Jenny, which is quite nice."

That was not the answer Kolebas had been hoping for.

"It seems the Saint Heir is displeased with the temple," she deduced.

"Not at all," Ivan feigned confusion, then pretended to have an epiphany, "I understand now; the High Priest is blaming me for not fulfilling the Saint Heir's duties. How about I call Norma now, and take her with me to visit other tribes?"

Kolebas was at a loss for words, deeply aware that the man before her was playing dumb.

After a pause, she felt compelled to confront the issue directly.

"Sorcerer Ivan."

"The High Priest may speak," he replied.

"Then I will be blunt. You can state all your demands at once, and as long as they are not excessive, we will do our best to accommodate them. Take what you need and continue on your journey. Please, do not stay in the Komor Empire too long."

This left Ivan speechless.

It was the first time he had been so blatantly scorned. However, seeing the High Priest's helpless demeanor, he found it somewhat amusing.

The Silver Moon Blade was indeed damaged, a fact unknown to others, who merely considered it a divine gift from the Dark Night Mother Goddess. Confronting this issue naturally left them handicapped, glaringly displeased yet unable to take any firm action.

One could only imagine how frustrating that must be!

"Does the High Priest wish for this sorcerer to leave so eagerly?" he asked.

"Yes, the Night Elf race truly cannot accommodate a male Saint Heir. Your prolonged stay here has begun to disrupt the original political order of the empire."

"The title of Saint Heir was bestowed by you, and I have already told you my demands. But you have tried to pacify me with ambiguous news, so I guess I have no choice but to wait longer."

"We were negligent before, but now we have prepared everything properly, just waiting for the Saint Heir to give the word. The materials will be delivered immediately."

Kolebas spoke with a grave voice, clearly prepared for this conversation.

Ivan gestured with his hand, signaling her to bring the items quickly. Although he was curious about the Komor Empire, they had made it clear they did not welcome him, and he was not one to overstay his welcome.

However, Kolebas did not move, seemingly having more to say yet unsure how to start.

"Jenny will remain in the Komor Empire," Ivan stated, being a clever man, he was well aware of her concerns and commented matter-of-factly.

"Please wait a moment, Saint Heir. The items will be delivered shortly," Kolebas said, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her chest.

That was the answer she wanted. As she left the grand hall, her steps were noticeably lighter, knowing that once she sent this fellow away, the business with the Holy Daughter could be cleanly resolved.

Within a couple of hours, large quantities of goods and materials were brought to a secret room in the Saint Heir's palace, various boxes both big and small delivered one after another, almost filling the entire room.

Ivan began to suspect the Night Elves had plundered the Centaur Race.

Kolebas informed him that these were all the materials related to the Centaur Race collected from various tribes, and she also had some bad news to share.

The Centaur Race had vanished without a trace.

More than fourteen hundred years ago, the Centaur Race was active in the western territory, but after some events, they were catastrophically attacked by multiple forces. After that battle, there was no confirmed news of the Centaur Race.

There was no shortage of rumors.

Some said that the Centaur Race had fled to the northern territories, some claimed that the centaurs had been kept in captivity by others, and still others were convinced they had moved deeper underground, and so on.

As for the current whereabouts of the Centaur Race, the Komor Empire really didn't know, as too much time had passed to inquire about it.

Ivan chose to believe these bits of information.

After all, the terrain of the underground world was far more complex than the surface, with many areas that could only be entered through hidden passages, and no one knew where these areas lay hidden behind which mountain walls.

At the time of the catastrophe, if the centaurs had found such a hidden place to conceal themselves, and refrained from emerging into the main continent, it would have been very difficult for others to discover them.

Over time, they were forgotten, perhaps even vanished into some corner.

In the underground world, many ancient races that once flourished met this kind of end; the centaurs were just one among them.

"Click, click."

After everyone else had left, Ivan brushed his hand across it and the chest in front of him slowly opened, revealing its contents.

The first chest contained special tomes written in the language of the Centaur Race, descended from the same lineage as the Tidal Language.

The second chest held a set of armor of rough style, similar to what Helen was wearing, but more than twice larger in size. The whole set seemed to be a noble's collection, well-maintained and gleaming, with a fragrance wafting from it.

The third chest was larger and heavier; inside was surprisingly a stone chair, styled like a throne.

"I was wondering why the material seemed so familiar; it turns out to be a magic stone, though its power to bind isn't as strong as the one Kolebas gave, Centaurs are equivalent to Knights, this magic stone won't suppress Combat Energy; such a throne is indeed fitting."

"It seems that the dark elves really did take part in the extermination of the Centaur Race. It's unclear whether they were the main force, or just kicked them when they were down."

He opened the chests one by one, finding a variety of items inside, including Knight spears, iron stone seals, black bronze candlesticks, purple gems, Crystal Stone statues, and many carvings made from horse hooves.

It seemed the centaurs liked to use their extra hoof horns as carving materials.

What bothered Ivan was that these dark elves had presumably cleaned the spoils of war countless times; anything that could be cleaned had been cleaned, and they had even sprinkled aromatic floral dew on them, making it impossible for him to discover any additional traces.

After some investigation, he focused his attention on the tomes.

With his reading speed, he finished a chest full of tomes quickly; they were miscellaneous records, poems, chronicles, notes, etc., written by the centaurs about their race, followed by the tomes in the next chest.

"Seven Gods Mountain?"

The owners of these tomes were clearly not the same person or even from the same era.

Ivan found a term frequently appearing in the texts—Seven Gods Mountain, referred to by some centaurs as 'Holy Mountain', 'Golden High Mountain', 'Mountain of Life'.

The tomes hinted at a notion that only those centaurs who ascended to the peak of Seven Gods Mountain had the potential to become Knight Kings.

"Does the Centaur Race have an ancestral land underground? Aren't centaurs a surface-dwelling species?"

"Could it be that centaurs actually originated from underground and merely migrated to the surface before returning underground again?"

Ivan's queries were soon answered in the tomes; centaurs were indeed an underground species that, during a time of prosperity, had a significant branch lose a struggle for power and were forced to seek refuge on the surface.

Years later, that branch returned to the underground world.

In fact, it wasn't that centaurs were fond of migrating but that they were always looking for pathways back underground. Discover hidden stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Three days went by in a flash, and Ivan had read all the books from cover to cover twice. Amidst the complicated information, he found clues about Seven Gods Mountain, pointing to a location in the western territories—Pan Ti Mountain.