Even though he had decided to leave, Chen Heng could not just immediately leave.
After all, he had many things to consider now.
In the academy, he had various business ventures that he needed to look after; now that he had to leave, he would have to sacrifice them.
As for Charlie, he would have to give him some notice.
After all, as Chen Heng had grown, he had officially begun to help Charlie with his experiments, and he was an irreplaceable helper to him.
As such, he had to let Charlie know in advance if he was going to leave.
Otherwise, it would not be too good.
Dealing with these matters took Chen Heng some time and effort.
It was not too bad on Charlie's side.
Because of how much he valued Chen Heng, he did not act high and mighty in front of Chen Heng. He was quite calm towards Chen Heng's request and was very agreeable to it.
"It's good for you to leave for some time," Charlie said as he smiled and looked at Chen Heng, "It has indeed been quite chaotic here, so leaving now is not a bad idea.
"Come to think of it, even if you didn't want to leave, you would have to leave after some time."
"Hm? Why is that?" Chen Heng felt quite surprised.
Charlie replied, "It is because of the academy. Because of the war, many students have left the academy.
"Because of the lack of students, many things in the academy have stopped.
"As such, Ariel suggested for the remainder of the students in the academy to be sent home and to temporarily close the academy.
"In other words, even if you did not leave now, you would have to leave once the academy closed."
"So it's like that…"
Hearing this, Chen Heng nodded and understood.
Even though the war had not come close yet, the effects it brought were quite obvious.
Many students had run away from this region out of fear, and this had affected the operation of the academy.
After all, many things in the academy required students to help operate.
Perhaps it was because of this that Ariel decided to temporarily close the academy for a while until everything could return to normal.
After all, with much fewer Third Rank Apprentices, the new recruitment round would also be affected.
Even if they recruited new students, there would not be enough Apprentices to teach these students.
Perhaps this was one way of avoiding the war.
After all, even though the war had not affected the south side yet, this would not necessarily be the case in the future.
In order to avoid the Hunter's House being dragged in, closing the academy now was not a bad idea.
Chen Heng immediately understood their thinking and also realized some other things.
As the academy closed, many things that could be easily obtained at the academy would be quite hard to obtain in the future.
After all, without a place for trading, many Sorcerers would not be able to obtain the things they needed.
Chen Heng thought of many things as he looked at Charlie.
"After a month, the academy will announce this, and all students will have to quickly leave," Charlie nodded as he looked at Chen Heng and smiled, "Ed, if you need to prepare anything, quickly prepare.
"If there is anything you need help with, just ask me."
Chen Heng nodded and said, "I understand."
Chen Heng and Charlie talked for a while in Charlie's laboratory before Chen Heng left.
After walking out, Chen Heng did not hesitate and once again walked to the marketplace.
The marketplace for students was still there. It was just that as many students left, it became somewhat desolate and no longer as lively.
However, it was not too bad.
News of the academy closing had not spread yet, so there were still quite a few students. That was why this place had not become completely abandoned.
Some students were walking very hastily through this area.
Because he had taught many people over the past two years, Chen Heng recognized many people.
This included the middle-aged man with a stall not too far away.
The middle-aged man wore gray leather armor and was very tall and big. He looked quite valiant and seemed more like a Knight.
He had a bitter look on his face as he sat in front of his stall, waiting for business.
This was Jarman, the materials peddler of this area.
Back then, Chen Heng had bought Magic Iron Metals from him to make magic items.
Two years had passed in the blink of an eye, but this person was still here. It seemed that business had become much worse for him.
This was not strange.
After all, with news of the war drawing closer, there were fewer students, and materials' value had greatly plummeted.
As a materials peddler, it was normal that things would become quite rough for him.
Chen Heng walked over to him.
"Long time no see."
Seeing Chen Heng, Jarman's eyes lit up as a smile appeared on his face, "Beloved Ed, how have you been?"
"Not too bad," Chen Heng smiled as he asked softly, "What do you have?"
"The same as usual, some Magic Iron Metals and similar things," Jarman said, "But some have already been imbued with magic."
Chen Heng nodded, "Not bad."
Chen Heng had bought from Jarman many times over the years, and Jarman was familiar with Chen Heng's habits.
Chen Heng did not like to imbue materials with magic himself; he instead preferred to hire other Apprentices to help him do this.
As time went on, Jarman decided to do it himself and prepare the materials before selling them to Chen Heng.
This was the case this time as well.
However, it seemed that business was not very good for him right now.
Chen Heng had a look at his stock—there were not too many things, but the basic things were all there.
"What do you need?" Jarman asked, "We can be flexible with the price."
"Have there not been Apprentices buying things lately?" Chen Heng looked around as he asked.
"No," Jarman shook his head and did not try to hide anything, "these things are almost impossible to sell now. Many Apprentices have left, so no one wants some of these materials. After all, not everyone is like you, Ed, having the ability to make magic items."
He spoke with a trace of admiration in his voice.
Indeed, even among Sorcerers, there were very few people who could create magic tools and magic items.
Even if most Sorcerers used Magic Iron Metals and the like, they would not be able to create magic items, and they could only be called pseudo-magic items.
"So it's like that." Chen Heng nodded and sighed, and he did not say much else.
Because of the large number of Sorcerers leaving, Jarman's items had greatly fallen in value.
Chen Heng picked out some things before leaving and going elsewhere.
Before leaving, he had asked about Jarman's plans for the future.
"I'm going to stay in the academy for a few more days," Jarman said directly, "After I sell everything, I'll leave the academy and go elsewhere to live."
Just like the others, he was planning to leave the academy and go to a more remote area.
"Let's keep in contact." Chen Heng nodded and did not say much else, only exchanging details with Jarman before leaving.
This world's communication infrastructure was quite lacking, but as Sorcerers, they naturally had special methods to keep in touch; it was just a bit troublesome.
After selling his magic items, Chen Heng had quite a lot of magic stones.
If he just kept them as magic stones, they would not be of much use to Chen Heng; he would only be able to use them to set up Sorcerer Formations.
It was a good time to use them all and buy large quantities of materials.
After all, there were many things that the Hunter's House had that he would not be able to find elsewhere.
Otherwise, after he left the academy, it would be quite difficult for him to obtain many things.
As such, Chen Heng swept his gaze across the marketplace.
Apart from large quantities of materials, Chen Heng also headed to the library and exchanged magic stones for many magic skill frameworks.
Chen Heng was not lacking in magic skills—after all, having a true Sorcerer teacher like Charlie, and the Legacy Stone from Yana, he already had many magic skills.
Just the ones that Charlie had given him, as well as the contents in the Legacy Stone, would keep him busy for a while.
After walking around and spending around half of his magic stones, Chen Heng left this place.
In the coming few days, he did not do much and just stayed in his room.
He had already done what had to be done.
He had notified Charlie and wrapped up his lessons.
As for the ship he was going to leave on, Charlie had already scheduled this for him.
A few days later, Chen Heng packed his bags and left the academy.
When he left, Charlie came out of his laboratory and personally escorted him outside the academy.
"Who would have thought Lord Charlie would care about someone so much."
Looking at Charlie's departing figure, then looking at Chen Heng, Langor had a look of admiration on his face.
"For Lord Charlie to treat you like this, I really admire you, Ed."
Hearing this, Chen Heng smiled and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"
"Not much."
Langor shook his head as he looked at the direction that Charlie had left in and lowered his voice, "Even though the academy is going to close, it still needs to be watched over.
"During that time, I will stay here and look after the academy's gates."
"You're staying?"
Looking at Langor, Chen Heng nodded and thought to himself.
"That's right," Langor smiled as he said, "In actuality, it's not just me. Ordo and Michael will also stay behind with me."
Even though the academy was going to close, it still needed people to look after it.
Even though there were many Sorcerer Formations within the Hunter's House, without any Sorcerers to look after them, it would still not be very safe.
Without any Sorcerers staying behind and just relying on the Sorcerer Formations, there could be many problems.
This was one of the reasons why Langor and the others were staying behind.
"I wish you all the best," Chen Heng nodded before leaving.
Langor smiled and waved.
After walking out of the academy, there was a carriage waiting there.
On the way, Chen Heng had seen some other students walk out, preparing to leave like him.
"In the end, it still came to this."
The once-lively academy had become much quieter.
Once the announcement that the academy was going to close was given, things would become even worse.
Sensing these changes, Chen Heng's expression was calm, but he inwardly sighed.
However, it was not too bad.
The academy was only temporarily closing; once the war ended and this region returned to peace, they would gather the students again.
As such, this was only temporary.
As Chen Heng walked, another Apprentice recognized him.
It was a First Rank Apprentice who had come to listen to his classes before.
He recognized Chen Heng and passionately invited him to head to the port together.
Chen Heng agreed and got on his carriage, and they headed to the port.
After arriving at the port, the ship was already waiting.
"We will be leaving tomorrow."
After getting on the ship and putting his luggage down, Chen Heng asked a crewmate and received this answer.
He did not ask much and silently returned to his room before resting and doing some Meditation.
Most of the people on this ship were Apprentices or the Apprentices' family and friends.
Many of them were Apprentices of the Hunter's House, and they were people Chen Heng was familiar with.
This included Zana.
Zana was also returning to her hometown and also on this ship.
After two years, she was a First Rank Apprentice and had magic power; she had done quite well.
Even though this could not compare to Chen Heng, compared to ordinary students, it was already very fast.
Chen Heng could sense that her magic power was not weak, and it was not something an ordinary First Rank Apprentice could compare to.
After meeting on the ship, they were quite surprised and chatted for a while.
At that moment, some sounds came from outside.
"Victory belongs to us!" a shout came from outside.
Standing at the deck, Chen Heng turned and looked over, and he sensed some magic power ripples from that direction.
Large amounts of magic power ripples came from that direction, and not just one or two waves.
There were some Third Rank Apprentices fighting, and they had even used magic skills.
Sensing this, many peoples' expressions became grim.
After a while, the magic power ripples subsided and everything became peaceful again.
At that moment, a black-robed middle-aged Apprentice walked onto the ship and explained, "It was the people from the Moke Sect; they suddenly attacked for no apparent reason."
"The Moke Sect is just a small organization…"
Standing on the deck, Chen Heng fell into his thoughts, "Are they also going to act this time?"
It seemed that as the war developed, more and more Sorcerer organisations were being pulled in.
No one could tell what the final outcome would be.
However, this did not matter to Chen Heng.
The next day, the ship set sail.
Looking at the port becoming smaller and smaller, Chen Heng's expression was calm as he turned and left.
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