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"Miss Claudia is looking for me?"

Elfie nodded. "She is waiting in her mansion right now."

Tom sighed. He actually did not want to become Claudia's student, but now he used that excuses to avoid performing a blood ritual with an Adamantite Rank, so he had to act like he was the student of miss Claudia.

What could a high Diamond Rank like her offer him anyway? Aldred had killed a high Diamond Rank, and he was the former Count. Corduul had extracted a lot of valuable information out of him, so Tom did not expect he could receive much from miss Claudia.

As Elfie escorted Tom towards the mansion, she looked at the boy's lack of enthusiasm.

"You don't look very excited to meet her, master."

"Yeah, well, not really."

Elfie looked forward and stayed in silent for a few second before she opened her lips: "There's something you need to know, master."

"About what?"

"About miss Claudia. I want you to act careful around her."

"Why? is she a strict teacher?"

"Not that. It's her background that you need to be concerned with."

"Her background?"

Elfie nodded. "Miss Claudia come from a mysterious family called the Axbrid family. No one know much information about them, but a few thousand years ago, they suddenly appear out of nowhere and was given a large fief and the title of a Duke. Their territory was so big and profitable that even ancient noble families are jealous of them. The nobles could not accept that a random family got this large fief without merit, so they asked the past king for the reason, but he refused to give one."

"They still don't know even after thousands of years?"

"Every time the king changed, the nobles gathered and asked, but the reaction is always the same. The king would shake his head and refuse to give any reason. Even the current king, who is known to be reasonable and easy to communicate, even friendly with every nobles, and yet still refuse to give the reason."

"Has this cause any conflict?"

"Many times. Neighboring noble families that cannot admit their fief would sometimes challenge them to a war, but every time that happened, their armies would be decimated at a large numbers."

"The Axbrid family have a powerful army?"

"No, master. The nobles that challenge them, a few days before they could march to battle, their army suddenly die on the spot. No wounds."

"No wounds? Perhaps Adamantite Rank attack?"

"They thought of that, but they detected nothing. Also, the members of the Axbrid family refuse to meet anyone. They are not interested in partnership of any kind. And no one has meet any of them, except for miss Claudia. She was the first to ever come out of the Axbrid territory. And as you know, she is cold to everyone, and barely speak to anyone."

"Everyone must be so curios of miss Claudia and stalk her," Tom said.

"That's true." Elfie nodded. "But all of her stalker died. Even high Diamond Rank magicians could not spy on her. I am not sure about Adamantite Ranks."

"They probably can, considering their god-like power." Tom had experienced first hand what an Adamantite Rank could do. Spying on a single high Diamond Rank magician should be easy.

"If that was true, then the information about the Axbrid family would have spread far and wide. There are only two possibilities. The Axbrid family had a powerful treasure that can even prevent Adamantite Rank from spying on their family, or second, the Axbrid family had a powerhouse that even Adamantite Ranks could not handle.

Tom could hardly believe the second possibilities. The first one still make sense. In a world of magic, a treasure like that might be extremely rare, and possibly one-of-a-kind item, but it might be the reason why no one could spy on the Axbrid family all these years.

"Actually, before serving you, I was assigned to be miss Claudia's maid."

"Ohh, really?"

"I shouldn't be telling you this, but I think she's a--"

Elfie suddenly stopped in her track, body trembling and eyes widened as her neck looked like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand. She gagged and couldn't breathe.

She fell to her knees.

"Shit." Tom activated his godly eyes and saw a strand of red rope wrapping around Elfie's neck. He summoned his Phantom Doomblade and cut off the rope, releasing the pressure from Elfie's neck.

"Cough! Cough!" Elfie gasped for air desperately.

"What just happened?" Tom asked.

"I don't know."

Tom frowned. "Is this why no one is able to get any information about the Axbrid family? For now, let's stop talking about her and her family."

Tom activated the internal chip inside his head, accessing the Mechanicum's database. He searched for any information about the Axbrid family and there was nothing in there. There was no rumor, no unconfirmed information, nothing at all, blank.

That should not be possible at all. Axbrid family was a noble family with a large fief. That should be enough for people to know their existence. There should be at least rumors in people's head.

'How could there is no information regarding them at all?'

Tom was deep in thought. 'Who is miss Claudia? Why does she want me to be her student?'

Tom thought the teacher was interested of him because of his handsome face, but he now thought differently.

"Follow me, master. The mansion is near."

Tom followed Elfie. After a few minutes, they entered a garden. Their feet stepped onto the smooth stone pathway, perfectly trimmed grass sided the pathway as if welcoming the guest.

Beautiful tall trees decorated the garden with their shining fruits hanging down. The whole scene was a very similar depiction of Eve's garden.

As they were walking in the garden, they did not know that a bunch of high Diamond Rank teachers were secretly watching them.

"What is that kid doing in Claudia's garden?"

"We have been watching her movement for years. No one except that head maid has entered her garden before."

"Isn't that Tom?"

"Tom? You mean the son of that person?"

"Yes, he is the son of the person that killed Count Heled."

"Humph! The kid is as arrogant as his father. Just because the king spared them, he think he can mess with the Axbrid family?"

"Hmmm, I forgot to tell you this, but miss Claudia actually invited him here."

The man frowned. "She invited him?"

'That's a rare case. She barely speak to anybody, and suddenly she invited this kid to her garden? What is the chance of that?"

"She do something unusual this time. Let's keep a close watch."

"Careful. Remember what happen last time when we get too close."

They all rubbed their neck right after hearing that. The Axbrid family was a complete mystery. No one knows a thing about them. That was why any information about them could be sell at a high price. These teachers had been watching Claudia ever since she arrive in this university. They watched her every move for decades, but failed to find anything significant.

But today, they might find something useful.

As Elfie and Tom were walking, Elfie stopped and looked around.

"That's weird. The mansion should be visible by now."

Tom looked around as well. The garden was as big as a small town, so he wondered how would the mansion look like. He then sensed something in the air.

Suddenly, the earth shook and a loud explosion rumbled their ears. They looked into the distance and saw a grand tower protruding out of the ground before it became taller and taller, piercing through the clouds.

"What is that?" The teacher that secretly spying on them frowned.

The tower looked like very similar to eastern Chinese style, except this one looked devil-ish and strongly reeked the smell of blood.

Tom saw the silhouette of a woman with her scarf waving around in the air. She glared at him with a pair of red eyes. He was about to activate his godly eyes but the woman vanished.

Suddenly, the tower trembled which shook the ground, creating a wave-like earthquake that flung both Elfie and Tom into the air.

As they were about to use magic to levitate, a powerful invisible pressure slammed them down to the ground.

Tom looked to the side and saw Elfie struggled to stand up only for the pressure to push her face to the ground.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Master, this is miss Claudia's Spiritbound Tower."

"Haa? What does that even mean? Spiritbound Tower is used to test students if they have the will and spirit to become a teacher. Not just any students can become a teacher. Their mind and spirit will be tested."

"So what do I need to do?" Tom asked.

"You need to stand up and approach the tower."

Tom could barely able to speak in this situation, how could he even approach the tower?

Suddenly, a notification appeared.

[Ding!]

[You received 3,500 points for World Refined Physique]