Qin Lun carefully examined the Horned Eagle beneath him. The feathers of this large bird were dark green, with two branched gray sheep horns and sharp claws on its head. The adult horned eagle has a wingspan of up to five meters and a wide back. It can fit a saddle and can ride up to two people.

The horned eagle is known as an aerial carriage. Its body is strong and its speed and strength are sufficient to carry all kinds of goods and passengers. Some races would also train them to become combat aerial cavalry, and their combat power was slightly inferior to that of griffins.

These specially trained Horned Eagles were very smart and could fly back and forth on their own. Their saddles were tied with strong leather ropes, allowing them to completely secure their occupants. As long as there was no fear of heights, any adventurer could ride a Horned Eagle.

Because Qin Lun and his group were in a hurry, they didn’t take the two of them together. Instead, they took one person and one horned eagle to get to Candlekeep as soon as possible.

Qin Lun looked down from the sky and saw that most of the creatures on the ground were the size of ants. The river was like a sparkling waterline, shining with silver light under the sunlight. Along with the breeze, he felt refreshed for a moment.

It was a pity that this journey of novelty ended in just over three hours. Soon, a blue color appeared on the distant horizon. That was the color of the seawater. They finally returned to the coast of Sword Bay.

“Archipelago?” As the horned eagle neared the coastline, more than 30 islands of various shapes appeared on the surface of the sea.

Most of these islands are steep cliffs covered with dense vegetation and trees. Beneath the cliff were dark and ferocious reef plates, and dark red coral bushes could be seen underwater.

This was probably not a place that fishing boats could reach, because there was no place to dock and land. The irregular distribution of the reefs was enough to sink any boat that dared to take risks and feed the fish. Only flying mounts could land on these cliff islands.

The island closest to the continental coast was the largest of them. Although it was surrounded by steep cliffs, the top of the cliff was very flat. There was a huge hexagonal castle. This should be the famous Candlekeep.

In fact, apart from the islands that stood in Candlekeep, there were also many lighthouse-like towers of mages on the other islands. Although their heights were different, they could sometimes see flickering halos of magic. This was a shield commonly used by mages’ towers.

On the way to Candlekeep, Linda introduced the towers to everyone.

The six towers on Candlekeep’s Hexagonal Wall belonged exclusively to Candlekeep’s Mage Tower, while only part of the ownership of the Mage Towers on the islands around Candlekeep belonged to Candlekeep, while the other part belonged to some Grand Magi who cooperated with Candlekeep.

For various reasons, these mages did not intend to stay in Candlekeep for a long time, so they only signed an ordinary cooperation contract with Candlekeep. They provide varying degrees of service to Candlekeep in exchange for the knowledge they need.

Some of these services are for defence purposes, while others are purely for the provision of property and research results.

With Linda as the lead, the seven horned eagles lined up neatly and circled around the archipelago before landing on the island where Candlekeep was located.

Because there was a certain range of forbidden spell formations above Candlekeep, other than some flying mounts that wore special markings, the other Horned Eagles were unable to enter. They could only land at the foot of the cliff of the island, where there were more than a dozen large eagle stables and visitor registries.

The difference between Candlekeep’s island and other islands may be that it has a man-made gravel road. The stone path circled around the cliff of the island and ended at the main entrance to Candlekeep.

The stone road did not appear wide, and could only accommodate three people. Moreover, no mounts were allowed here, and they could only walk up the mountain. According to Linda, it was a tribute to the Temple of Knowledge.

Apart from Linda, everyone else began to climb the mountain with curiosity. The stone road wasn’t long, and after about half an hour, everyone saw the giant prismatic castle at the end of the road.

Unlike what was seen in the sky, when everyone stood at the front door of this stone castle called Candlekeep, they discovered that it was so huge and magnificent.

The walls of Prism Castle were made of large white jade-like stones. They were seamless and smooth like mirrors. Because the entire fortress was covered with a compound defensive spell, there was no living environment for fungi or insects on the city walls. It was similar to the Eternal Cleansing Technique, and there was no need for manual cleaning.

The city wall was more than 50 meters tall and was about 10 meters thick. There were square colored crystal windows in the middle and upper part of the wall. On the top was a conical dome covered with glazed tiles. There was no female wall in the usual sense.

According to Linda’s private introduction, not only did the walls around Candlekeep serve as walls, there were two opposite rows of private rooms in the middle, mainly for research scholars and guards. After all, it was impossible for the central library, as the main library, to house so many people.

The main entrance of the castle looked very grand. It was about ten meters wide and was made up of two 10,000 jin gates. It could only be opened with a huge winch and chains. It has four side doors on each side. The main entrance was closed for most of the time. Whether it was visitors or insiders, they needed to enter and exit through the side entrance.

There were two five-meter-tall steel statues on both sides of the door. These statues were driven by magic crystals and were given artificial intelligence by runemasters. The demon statue didn’t have any facial features. It was only embedded with an image crystal that flickered with green light, which was equivalent to the function of an eye.

At the left and right ends of the city wall, two mage towers connected to the lower half of the city wall towered into the clouds. Their heights were close to a hundred meters, completely different from what everyone saw on the horned eagle’s back.

Seeing the arrival of the strangers, one of the four statues walked towards them with heavy steps. Linda hurriedly stepped forward and took out the nameplate she had just obtained from the registration office at the foot of the mountain and handed it over to the demon statue for scanning.

Although the little girl was also considered an insider of Candlekeep, these steel creatures did not interact with each other. They did not have nameplates and would launch an expulsion attack after three warnings.

After the statue inspected the visitor’s nameplate, Candlekeep’s side door automatically opened. As they passed through the side door, everyone looked around curiously.

After entering the interior, they found that Linda was right. The walls of Candlekeep were indeed different from ordinary walls. Behind the side door was a wide porch. There were rooms with closed doors on both sides. It didn’t look like the interior of the wall at all.

“Linda, you’re back!” Not far away from Linda, a surprised shout came from the other side.

It was a female mage wearing a black robe and a pair of glasses. Her hair was as messy as a chicken nest, and she was carrying a large stack of books in her arms. Although the robes on her body weren’t dirty, they were wrinkled to the point of being extremely ugly. The thick lenses on the bottom of a beer bottle made her look like she was wearing a brown eyepatch. That image was really dirty and sloppy.

“Respected Lady Lenny, I’m back!”

To everyone’s surprise, Linda, who looked like she didn’t care about anything, bowed respectfully and waved her small hand behind her, signaling for everyone to bow with her.

Qin Lun and the others weren’t idiots, so they immediately bowed in understanding.

“Alright, Linda, since you’re back, hurry up and see your teacher. He seems to be a little angry.”

Lenny waved her hand and continued to walk forward with the book in her arms. Because the books in her arms were stacked too high, blocking her line of sight, she would occasionally see garlic bickering under her feet, but every time she staggered, she would be able to stand firmly again, causing people to feel extremely worried.

“Linda, that Lady Lenny is …” Mastasia asked tentatively.

“Ms. Lenny is one of Candlekeep’s eight great readers, second only to the Guardian of History and First Reader. She is the 17th prophet and sage in Candlekeep’s history!” Linda’s mouth twitched and she said expressionlessly.

Everyone’s faces twitched when they heard Linda’s words, and they felt a great image of kindness and humility collapse in their minds …

However, as Linda walked along, everyone noticed that the scholars who passed by didn’t seem to pay much attention to their appearances. Some of them even wore a patched robe.

Most of the scholars in Candlekeep were magicians, so they naturally didn’t lack money. Instead, they were too lazy to go shopping in mainland cities. All of their time was devoted to their favorite careers.

Of course, it was rare to see someone as sloppy as Ms. Lenny. A nerd wasn’t that bad, but a nerd with an otaku attribute would become one of the most terrifying creatures in the world.

“Where are we going next?” After walking for a while, Qin Lun was the first to break the silence.

‘”I need to see my teacher first. Do you see the magic gate ahead? That’s Candlekeep’s toll booth. If you want to borrow the teleportation portal from the underground maze, you have to pay a large fee.” Linda pointed at an oval magic door a hundred meters in front of her, which was like a water mirror.

“Pay the fee? We came with you, do you need to pay?” Mastasia asked curiously.

“Of course, the rules of Candlekeep are no exception, even the Guardians of the Scrolls. I have no right to waive your fees!” Linda blinked her eyes craftily, “Alright, I’ll go first!”

The little girl ran away like a gust of wind, leaving behind a group of people who looked at each other, feeling that something was wrong.

“Cough cough, Mastasia, this operation is mainly conducted by your Harpsichord Alliance. You should be rich, right?” Qin Lun looked expectantly at the high ground of Elves.

“Ah? Don’t tell me you don’t have any money?” ‘”Don’t lie to me. When you left the troll’s claw, I saw you give Rick and Seaver a bunch of gold coins!” Mastasia’s eyes widened as she stared at Qin Lun innocently.

“Hahaha, this is troublesome!” Qin Lun turned to look at Hill and Rand, and the three of them smiled bitterly.