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"Players have now started to expand outward."

"Not only in Dragon Valley and Northwind Fortress, but traces of players have also appeared in southern cities like Kartis City and Kri Fortress."

"That's really impressive..."

Cassius browsed the player forums and Langpu's magic mirror, sighing inwardly.

Indeed, besides Langli Baitiao, some players have left Baator City and ventured into unknown territories.

This is not simple; first, they have to break through the heavy obstruction of monsters on the outskirts of Storm Highlands. Besides the Ember Nest, there are scattered resistance tribes like Frost Giants, Hill Giants, Orcs, etc. Although they have been pushed to the edge of the highlands, they still retain some strength.

Moreover, these traveling players cannot die easily; if they die, all their previous efforts will be wasted, and they'll return to Baator City.

"Hmm? What's that sound?"

Cassius's frilled, lively dragon ears twitched and rotated as they tracked the sound—the hearing of a red dragon is much keener than that of humans, possessing the ability to recognize important sounds, filter out background noise, and focus on sounds worth paying attention to.

"Ding—"

A sound came from somewhere in the corner of the cave.

He saw that the "Arcane Hermetic Society Medallion" was flashing with magical light, and a magical image appeared.

"The Anzeta Chapter cordially invites you to join!"

"Gathering Time: Three days later"

"Location: Stratholme"

"Teleport Coordinates: 1345.8375.527"

The Arcane Hermetic Society, a famous mage organization in later generations, was founded by the renowned legendary archmage Trafa Lano.

Members would hold regular gatherings to share spell knowledge, exchange research results, and sometimes take the opportunity to seek help in eradicating evil. This seems to be the first gathering of the Arcane Hermetic Society's Anzeta Chapter.

"Many famous figures in Anzeta will attend this chapter meeting."

"I should go join the fun—"

Thinking of this, Cassius summoned the magic mirror.

"Langpu, come over immediately."

Langpu's ugly face appeared on the image, but at this moment, he seemed to be obsessively counting his gold coins. It seems that the greed from the red dragon bloodline has deeply affected him.

"One hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three..."

Gold coins scattered one by one, making crisp jingling sounds.

It wasn't until he heard Cassius's impatient second call that he came to his senses and said hastily:

"Ah, sorry, Master, I'll be right there."

Shortly after, Langpu wobbled and crashed down from the sky, arriving in front of Cassius.

This ogre mage muttered: "Master, these 'Fallen Stars' you've brought are too easy to fool. I sell magic scrolls at three or four times the market price, and they still scramble to buy from me. It's a pity these guys are so poor, with hardly any gold coins in their pockets. If everyone were this foolish, I wouldn't need to rob those adventurers."

"Master, do you think I should raise the prices even more to earn you more gold coins?"

Cassius snorted a puff of white smoke from his nose: "Langpu, you need to understand the concept of 'casting a long line to catch big fish'; you can't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs."

"The prices of our goods should change with their purchasing power. Have your people regularly check their assets, and each time keep the prices just high enough that they have no money left but not so high that they can't survive. Isn't that fine?"

Langpu thought for a moment, clapped his hands, and exclaimed: "Master, your wisdom impresses me. I'll have my subordinates prepare immediately."

Cassius nodded in satisfaction.

This Langpu is getting more adept at squeezing the players; it's truly gratifying.

"But this time, I didn't call you to talk about the Fallen Stars."

"Come, look at this—"

Langpu looked toward the corner of the cave and saw the semi-transparent magical image.

"The Arcane Hermetic Society?"

"That's right. Want to go and see?" Cassius smiled.

A hint of nostalgia and gratitude appeared on Langpu's ugly and ferocious face.

"Of course, Master..."

Previously, he was ignorant and didn't understand what had happened, only feeling that he inexplicably became smarter.

Now, as the chief steward of the Ember Nest, holding a high position for years, and after years of dedicated spell research, owning his own mage tower, Langpu had long understood what happened back then. He could even further modify the 【Ring of Wisdom and Research】.

Everything seemed like a deliberate arrangement by the god of fate.

If that young and impulsive mage apprentice hadn't gone out on a trip, and if Langpu hadn't knocked him out and eaten him, the current Langpu might still be an unremarkable, muddle-headed, mediocre ogre.

—Just like all other ogres, only thinking about eating and sleeping, and such a Langpu would have no qualification to be part of the red dragon's "great blueprint."

And it was this experience that changed his life—or rather, his monster life.

"Polymorph!"

The enormous red dragon once again transformed into a black-haired, golden-eyed, noble young aristocrat, only this time without displaying any draconic features.

"Still somewhat constrained."

Feeling the vast power within him being confined by human form, Cassius flexed his wrists.

He looked at Langpu's massive body and frowned slightly: "The Arcane Hermetic Society should be a gathering of the good-aligned faction. In your current form, I'm afraid you can't appear..."

"Yes, Master."

Langpu hurriedly waved his staff, connecting to the Weave to construct a spell model, transforming into a human.

"Polymorph!"

But the human before him was over two meters tall, fat and stout, full of excess flesh, his face bloated and swollen, utterly unsightly—he looked like an ogre wearing human skin, which was indeed the case.

"Master, is this acceptable?"

Cassius looked at Langpu speechlessly:

"Can you modify it... This form doesn't look like a normal human at all."

"It might be better to bring an ogre directly."

But Cassius forgot that ogres are not 'artists' sorcerers who cast spells based on intuition and consciousness but mages who need precise construction.

Langpu scratched his head embarrassedly: "Sorry, Master, my spell model parameters aren't adjusted properly. It might take, um... seven or eight days to gradually perfect it."

"Seven or eight days?"

"The Arcane Hermetic Society gathering will be over by then."

"Well then..."

Cassius pondered for a moment.

"You can transform into an Iron Golem; that would look somewhat more normal. It's quite normal for a noble spellcaster to have a construct guardian, right?"

"Yes, Master."

Langpu cast Polymorph again. This time, there were no mistakes; he easily transformed into a three-meter-tall giant made entirely of steel.

Although still ugly in appearance, at least no one would suspect him of being some chaotic evil creature.

"Get me a cloak."

Langpu took out a long cloak with 'Anti-Detection' magic from his collection and draped it over Cassius.

Cassius played with the mithril necklace in his hand, stroking the door-shaped pendant on it.

"Dimension Door."

As the coordinates were confirmed, space gradually distorted, and a crack unfolded before Cassius.

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