"What is that person’s status in the Philier Clan?" Sunan asked.

"Her name is Tajana, a regular warrior of the Philier Clan, but she’s the daughter of Lady Philier." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Sunan’s expression immediately turned a bit odd.

A daughter betraying her mother?

Hmm... come to think of it, it’s not unusual. In the dark elf race, known for internal strife, many clan matriarchs ascend to power through a coup after their daughters stab them in the back; it’s almost a traditional skill for dark elves.

Moreover, if she’s the matriarch’s daughter, it’s not surprising she had a chance to get involved with matters of the Black Forest.

Sunan was rather surprised, though, that all other female dark elves had been corrupted by faith, yet this dark elf named Tajana was an exception.

Sunan immediately felt a twinge of curiosity.

"Bring that dark elf over."

"Yes, teacher."

After Sherman left, Sunan then turned his attention to a black branch placed on the table.

This was what Sherman and the others found in the Philier Clan’s temple after Tajana’s confession.

The branch was about ten centimeters long, as thick as a finger, and its surface was as wrinkled as bark, covered with tiny lines.

However, upon closer inspection, these tiny lines seemed to contain some kind of pattern, vaguely forming an enchanted rune.

In fact, this was not an ordinary branch but a magical artifact.

It was also the key to opening the Black Forest.

Once placed in the magic cube, Sunan obtained all the information about this branch.

Unfortunately, the magic cube didn’t provide a specific method of use; he still needed to research for a while to determine how to use this item to find the Black Forest.

Just thinking that he would soon find a second wizard’s legacy made Sunan feel elated.

"Now, only Fallen Star City remains."

He definitely wanted to acquire the resources of the three great wizard inheritances.

Otherwise, relying solely on the resources available in the Starlight Continent, it would take an eternity to advance to a level two wizard.

It wasn’t long before Sherman came in with a dark elf girl.

Tall and slender with delicate and exquisite features, like most dark elves, the girl in front of him was very beautiful.

Although her black jade-like skin might not fit most human aesthetics, to a minority, it might actually be a bonus.

As Sunan was scrutinizing Tajana, the latter was also secretly observing Sunan.

Just thinking that the person in front of her was the de facto ruler of the Star Alliance and a powerful wizard who had killed a divine envoy made Tajana involuntarily tense up.

This was an involuntary physiological reaction that living beings experience in the presence of higher life forms that they find hard to match.

Noticing Tajana’s nervousness, Sunan immediately cast a hypnosis skill, and the dark elf girl’s eyes instantly turned vacant and unfocused.

Given Sunan’s current spiritual power, the hypnosis skill he casted made it impossible for anyone below a Legendary Knight to struggle for even a moment.

He then walked out from behind the desk, approached Tajana, and placed his palm on the girl’s head.

Sherman, watching this scene with puzzlement, didn’t utter a word to disturb the process.

A moment later, Sunan finished his spiritual power detection and returned to his desk.

He could now confirm that Tajana hadn’t been subjected to faith corruption, and the reason was likely due to her possessing far superior spiritual power compared to her kin.

The faith corruption initiated by the Spider Goddess Queen targeting the dark elf race was wide-ranging. For individuals, as long as their spiritual power reached a certain threshold, they could resist or even become immune.

And Tajana happened to be one of those who could be immune.

"I never expected there to be individuals with such high spiritual power among the dark elf race."

"A perfect candidate for a wizard."

Sunan mused to himself.

While he was deep in thought, Tajana began to slowly recover.

The heightened spiritual power gave the dark elf girl a vague sense that something was amiss. Something seemed to have happened just now, but upon closer reflection, she couldn’t recall what.

"Why did you voluntarily provide clues?"

Sunan’s voice suddenly broke the silence, waking Tajana from her thoughts.

She hesitated for a moment, clenching her teeth and said, "Everyone has gone mad, all controlled by the Goddess Queen... by that entity. She even killed my best friend. I don’t want to obey her will. Since she wants others to hide the Black Key, I insisted on revealing it!"

Sherman shot a surprised glance at Tajana. He could detect the hatred in the girl’s tone toward the Spider Goddess Queen, and it didn’t seem to be feigned.

Sunan said calmly, "That’s because they have fallen victim to faith corruption."

"Faith corruption?" Tajana showed a confused expression.

Sherman glanced at Sunan’s expression and proceeded to explain it to Tajana in a low voice.

As a wizard apprentice, he was naturally aware of divine spirits’ faith corruption.

After Sherman’s explanation, Tajana’s face displayed shock and disbelief intertwined.

She never imagined that these so-called divine spirits relied on faith corruption to control their followers.

Simply despicable!

Tajana did not doubt that Sunan and Sherman were deceiving her; there was no need for such a thing.

For a moment, her hatred towards the Spider Goddess Queen intensified.

After a period of silence, she suddenly asked, "Wizard Lord, is there any way to save my tribe?"

Sunan slightly shook his head.

Faith corruption is not irreversible, but reversing it comes at a hefty price, and he couldn’t justify paying a huge price to save a group of dark elves.

Tajana’s face fell as she lowered her head in sorrow.

"Wizard Lord, what do you plan to do with us?"

"For your sake, I can spare your tribe. As long as they obediently work in the mines, I will not execute them."

This answer completely took Tajana by surprise. She looked up in astonishment at Sunan.

Even Sherman was taken aback.

In his view, sparing male dark elves was nothing significant, as their faith corruption wasn’t deep. However, sparing female dark elves seemed more harmful than beneficial. Based on his teacher’s past actions, he would have surely eradicated the female dark elves without hesitation.

Yet now, he offered clemency because of this dark elf girl?

Sherman couldn’t help but scrutinize Tajana a few times, his mind wandering into wild speculations.

Could it be that the teacher had taken a fancy to this dark elf girl?

But soon Sunan’s following words dispelled his errant thoughts.

"You have the aptitude to become a wizard. Would you like to give it a try?"

Upon hearing this, both Sherman and Tajana were equally stunned.

Sherman was full of disbelief.

A dark elf wizard apprentice?

Did the teacher really mean it?

But then he quickly realized that no records had ever explicitly mentioned that dark elves couldn’t become wizards. It was just that he had never seen a wizard apprentice of any species other than humans, and so he had subconsciously thought it was exclusive to humans.

Tajana was equally astounded but, after processing it, couldn’t help but feel excited.

The power of a wizard had already been demonstrated by the figure before her!

Even a divine envoy was no match for him!

Gaining even half, or just a third, of this wizard’s power would probably be enough to dominate the underworld.

Tajana was not dim; she knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her, so she readily agreed without hesitation.

Sunan nodded in satisfaction. "From today, you are a formal student of Starlight Academy. Work hard. If there’s anything you don’t understand, when I come to the Academy, you can come to seek my guidance."

"Yes, thank you, Wizard Lord," Tajana said, suppressing her overwhelming joy.

Sherman glanced at her with envy.

He had never seen any student receive such attention from the teacher.

Afterward, Sherman left with Tajana, and Sunan leaned back in his chair, adopting a contemplative expression.

Wizards are not exclusive to humans; other races have produced wizards, though the numbers have been minuscule.

And nearly all of them are sub-human races closely resembling humans.

After all, existing wizard knowledge was almost entirely created based on humans. For other races to learn and practice this knowledge would naturally lead to ’incompatibility’ and be far less effective.

To come across a dark elf with wizard potential, and a highly promising one at that, was a rare opportunity to explore the differences between sub-human and human wizards.