Aunt Sofia fell silent.
Others who spoke for Lin Dong also looked shocked.
The sheriff Raymond's voice was raised to a level just shy of cracking: "Nonsense! Kid, do you know what you're saying? Mr. Humboldt, don't worry, I'll take this kid away and lock him up, awaiting your and the Guild's disposal!"
"No, no need for that." The old mage finally spoke again.
When he was using the "Heart Fire Eyes" to gaze at Andrew earlier, he seemed to be able to see straight through to the depths of Andrew's eyes and heart, but suddenly encountered some kind of obstacle.
This slightly surprised the old mage.
Although the "Heart Fire Eyes" was not his specialty, Humboldt never thought it would fail against a magic apprentice who was indistinguishable from ordinary people.
Just as he was surprised, Lin Dong retorted with "I have no obligation to answer your questions."
For a moment, Humboldt really thought he had gone deaf in his old age.
Because in his memory, it had been so long... so long since anyone had been so rude to him.
Compared to others, Humboldt, who was directly offended by Lin Dong, was the most surprised!
But now, Humboldt actually calmed down and even showed a slightly grim smile.
He slowly stood up, looking down at Lin Dong from above: "I know you, you're an apprentice in my laboratory, right?
It seems that tonight I not only need to re-plan the next step of the experiment but also need to change the steward for recruiting hands, he can't recruit a fool into my magic laboratory."
——He completely regarded Lin Dong's repeated retorts as sheer stupidity and madness.
Simply put, he thought Lin Dong had lost his mind.
Indeed, if not a fool, he wouldn't be unresponsive to the "Heart Fire Eyes." That explains it, hmm! The old mage thought.
"But Mr. Humboldt..." Raymond hesitated.
"No buts."
Humboldt waved his hand, "In the face of sacred flames, that piece of cloth (he pointed to that rag) isn't even as good as an ant; taking it seriously is rather a disgrace. As for this brat..."
The old mage cast one last glance at Lin Dong, "I should have killed you immediately, but you've inhaled the smoke from my magic flames, causing irreversible lung damage, you'll die within seven days, and it will be an excruciating death. That is the best punishment for you. Now, be on your way!"
With a grand sweep of his sleeve, he truly left this time.
With the departure of the old mage, Sheriff Raymond also left, giving Lin Dong one last vicious look before departing in silence.
A large number of city defense troops and mid-level and advanced apprentices of the laboratory busied themselves at the scene—starting to repair the magic laboratory.
When civilian houses catch fire, they are not allowed to extinguish with water, having to wait for the fire to burn itself out at the firebreak naturally.
The magic laboratory, however, was equipped with the rare "Flame of Extinguishing," so this source of the fire disaster didn't suffer much damage.
Lin Dong sat dazed on the ground, looked to his left at the raging, unattended burning houses, and then to his right at the already-being-repaired magic laboratory.
This scene, to Lin Dong, seemed almost absurd!
Beside him, Aunt Sofia seemed to be continuously thanking him, eventually crying as she did.
Many other residents looked at Lin Dong with sympathetic eyes, unsure what words could comfort him.
Everyone had heard the old mage's assertion just now: Andrew is doomed to die within seven days.
Lin Dong, however, felt a surreal dream-like unreality.
His eyes swept over the street's residents, seeing not anger, but worry, and numbness in their eyes.
"This world has problems," Lin Dong thought, "Not just problems, it's... sick!"
Suddenly, he bent over and coughed violently.
The "Water Spirit Technique" may be miraculous, but it can't immediately heal the lung damage.
A few days of recuperation are still needed for full recovery.
In the eyes of outsiders, this precisely confirmed the old mage's earlier assertion of "doomed to die in seven days"!
Exhausted from escaping the sea of flames, Lin Dong could no longer hold on and passed out.
Before losing consciousness, that melodious female voice seemed to echo in his mind again: "Now you are our only hope, Andrew."
...
...
When he woke up, it was already late at night.
According to Andrew's memories, Wildfire Town is located in the heartland of the "Inner Sea Desert."
Although the Inner Sea Desert is located in the continent's center, it's a place where even thieves seldom bother to visit.
Desert nights are exceedingly cold.
After waking, Lin Dong found himself sleeping in a tent, although simple, he was covered with what seemed to be a blanket made of some kind of beast's leather, very warm indeed.
He lay quietly in the warm blanket.
Only now did he fully accept the reality of having become a transmigrator.
The previous entrapment in a sea of flames, and the absurd scene after escaping weren't a dream!
It's just that...
Raging flames, desert, a pathological magic guild, blind flame worship—what kind of world have I come to? Lin Dong had a headache.
Fortunately, there was also some good news.
Lin Dong raised his hand and fished out the teardrop-shaped pendant from his chest.
At the moment, this grayish pendant seemed entirely unremarkable.
But this should be what the melodious voice in his mind referred to as the "Tear of the Water God."
Previously, when invoking the "Water Spirit Technique" to heal his lung damage and utilize the Water Spirit Technique to resist the seemingly magical eyes of old mage Humboldt, Lin Dong felt the power emanating from this pendant on his chest.
"But the focus now isn't the 'Water Spirit Technique,'" Lin Dong thought.
The voice in his mind had said a lot earlier.
The sentence Lin Dong cared most about was not "You've gained the initial basic ability Water Spirit Technique," nor "Now you are our only hope."
It was the first sentence: "The Tear of the Water God, has activated!"
Yes, that was the sentence Lin Dong cared about most.
What had he done to activate this "Tear of the Water God"?
Lin Dong had no intent to become anyone's sole hope, only to survive well in this flame realm.
And to achieve this, mere "Water Spirit Technique" with no combat power, only some protective and healing effects, is certainly not enough.
Further development of this "Tear of the Water God" is needed to gain more powerful powers!
"I must have activated the 'Tear of the Water God' when saving little Sophie from the fire."
Lin Dong pondered seriously, "So the activation and further unlocking conditions are 'saving people'? No, no, no, it shouldn't be that simple..."
If he remembered correctly, Lin Dong recalled that when he sassed back at the old mage Humboldt and said, "Aren't you going to save this fire," the pendant on his chest, "the Tear of the Water God," also vibrated and reacted!
Recalling the voice before he lost consciousness, "Now you are our only hope," Lin Dong drew in a breath of cold air:
Could it be that the way to unlock all abilities of this "Tear of the Water God" doesn't lie in "saving people."
But in... "extinguishing fire"?
Putting out fires is temporarily satisfying, but continuously extinguishing them is perpetually satisfying?
Just by extinguishing fires, you become stronger?
The problem is, daring to use water to extinguish fire in this world means you'd probably be cremated by the Magic Guild in minutes!
Lin Dong couldn't help but ponder deeply.
At least one thing was certain: From now on, he would no longer be Lin Dong, but Andrew.