Chapter 54: “Don’t Be Afraid, I’ll Protect You.” Part 1

“Exam passed.”

The Old Treeman’s voice was hoarse. Meieruita calmly took his Apprentice Credential but did not step aside. He simply made space and quietly waited.

He was the third ordinary apprentice not on the list to pass, and the first to do so after spending less than a year in the Wizard Tower. His success caused an uproar. Many people whispered among themselves. The veteran apprentices who had already passed stood to the side, frowning as they sized up Meieruita.

But Meieruita remained as steady as a mountain. Under the gaze of countless eyes, he showed no sign of being affected or uncomfortable. He stood calmly to the side, waiting.

His demeanor drew even more attention.

It was An Luo’s turn next, and he felt his scalp tingle.

He kept a straight face as he handed his Apprentice Credential to the Old Treeman. The wrinkled face of the Old Treeman broke into a smile, and then he said in a slightly gentler voice, “Exam passed.”

In an instant, all the gazes that had been focused on Meieruita converged on An Luo.

An Luo: “…”

He felt like he had drawn a massive wave of aggro.

Honestly, An Luo was starting to lose track of Meieruita’s intentions.

Clearly, Meieruita still saw him as someone to use; otherwise, he wouldn’t go to such lengths to push An Luo into the spotlight. But it wasn’t purely utilitarian either. He hadn’t resorted to extreme measures against An Luo and had even spent a lot of time discussing their relationship with him.

If Meieruita had simply viewed An Luo as a tool, there would have been no need for any of that.

A soft approach?

That didn’t quite add up.

An Luo knew this well. In the original story, even when Meieruita employed soft tactics on gods of extremely high experimental value, he hadn’t gone this far.

Thus, An Luo didn’t doubt that Meieruita had feelings for him.

But the weight of those feelings was certainly worth scrutinizing.

An Luo was Meieruita’s creator. Meieruita had occasionally called him “Father” or “Creator” before, though without much reverence.

But once he realized his feelings for An Luo, he immediately sought to take the dominant position. He couldn’t tolerate the subordinate role in a “father-son” dynamic—regardless of An Luo being male—and forcibly shoehorned him into the “mother” position.

Add in this blatant exploitation now, and it was clear: interests outweighed emotions, with feelings readily sacrificed for gain.

An Luo didn’t doubt that Meieruita would protect him when he said he would. But that was about it.

Even so, An Luo wasn’t particularly angry. Truth be told, he wouldn’t be staying with Meieruita long-term anyway. He had his own plans, and Meieruita’s behavior only solidified his existing intentions.

An Luo’s mindset was a bit like that of a lawyer from Amerika after the government shut down—dressed in a suit, tie, and black leather gloves, selling sausages on the street. He smiled every day because he knew it wasn’t forever; it was just an experience. So he had the leisure to groom himself daily and stayed cheerful.

An Luo treated his time with Meieruita as a special phase. Once the time came, that lawyer would pack up his stall and return to the office. An Luo would do the same—once Meieruita dealt with the Old Wizard, he would head somewhere a bit more normal for an ordinary life.

So he had more tolerance for Meieruita.

After all, Meieruita was truly the only protagonist of his novel so far, the one into whom An Luo had poured the most effort.

Without exaggeration, at present, Meieruita’s status in An Luo’s heart was absolutely the highest, miles ahead of everyone else.

No one could compare.

Plus, An Luo understood Meieruita’s nature intimately, so he felt no sense of betrayal or hurt from his protagonist.

Instead, it was:

See, I knew it!

Even a weird sense of triumph: Heh heh, the fox’s tail is finally out.

Like winning a bet.

The Old Treeman handed An Luo’s Wizard Apprentice Credential back to him. An Luo felt countless eyes on his every move. He stiffly accepted it and forced a smile.

Meieruita reached out to support him, as if afraid he might stumble. An Luo was briefly puzzled but soon realized the reason. With Meieruita acting this way, others would think he was the one controlling Meieruita.

That way, even if Meieruita took first place later, no one would focus on him. They’d come after An Luo, his supposed “master.”

A mind-controlled Meieruita wouldn’t be seen as an independent person anymore. No matter how strong, he’d be positioned like a “summoned beast” or “servant.”

Mind control witchcraft was usually vicious: if the master died, the controlled one died too. So they would simply target the fragile master, An Luo, and Meieruita would vanish naturally.

An Luo: “…6”

Meieruita supported him as they walked into the group of those who had passed.

An Luo felt like a hapless fool walking into an enemy encirclement.

The veteran apprentices’ expressions were extremely odd. An Luo didn’t need to guess their thoughts; he could just overlay their reactions to Meieruita’s pass onto himself.

He stood on the edge, but even so, he vaguely heard that loudmouthed cannon-fodder villain from before say, “…What a schemer… Hmph…”

Sarcastic and passive-aggressive. Clearly, he was already hated.

An Luo let out a long breath.

Meieruita stood very close, half-supporting him in a stance that felt both protective and confining.

“Don’t worry.” Meieruita’s tone was calm, not like a promise or guarantee, but a simple statement of fact. “I won’t give them a chance to touch you.”

“Mm.” At this point, An Luo nodded. “Alright, I trust you.”

Meieruita caught the reluctance in An Luo’s voice. Sharp as he was, he had anticipated An Luo’s reaction when he made the suggestion.

Of course, he didn’t want An Luo to grow more guarded or think less of him. But between two evils, he chose the lesser: he absolutely could not tolerate An Luo trusting other characters.

Otherwise, if another John-like figure appeared, his position would eventually be supplanted.

He knew he wasn’t “good,” so he couldn’t tolerate a “good” one appearing.

No problem.

Short-term losses could be recouped with long-term gains.

Even if An Luo was more wary of him now, given enough time, An Luo would “discover” that outsiders weren’t trustworthy and could harm him at any moment. Only by Meieruita’s side was it safe. Naturally, he’d lower his guard bit by bit.

For lasting exclusivity, short-term sacrifices were inevitable.

“Performance does not meet the standard. Failed.”

The Old Treeman’s voice was hoarse, laced with chill.

An Luo hadn’t noticed anything special at first, since so many failed. The Old Treeman just announced it—no punishment.

But this time, things changed.

The Wizard Apprentice who should have sighed and walked away in dejection suddenly erupted. He unleashed powerful Fire Witchcraft straight at the Old Treeman.

“Die!” His voice bordered on madness.

An Luo understood immediately. He wasn’t an ordinary Wizard Apprentice.

He was a veteran one on the list.

The Old Treeman hadn’t specified the consequences of surviving the exam but failing to kill five opponents. But obviously, in this dark, brutal Wizard Tower, failing meant death.

So this veteran Wizard Apprentice refused to go down without a fight.

But his target wasn’t just the Old Treeman.

He knew death was inevitable but couldn’t accept it. The Fire Witchcraft was just to stall the Old Treeman. His real goal wasn’t survival—it was the apprentices who had passed.

Why do you get to live while I die?

He played his trump card, unleashing it madly at the passed apprentices. Fireballs rained down like meteors. Everyone scrambled to defend, but this was a trump card he had prepared long ago against rampaging Thorn Beast Hordes—its power was extraordinary.

Meieruita’s reaction was lightning-fast. Before many realized the veteran’s true intent, he had already raised a Protective Barrier. His right hand, which had been supporting An Luo, swept down, pulling him into his embrace for protection.

Others were baffled by Meieruita’s actions one second, then saw the sky full of fireballs the next and flailed to resist.

“Don’t look.”

The Protective Barrier steadily blocked the incoming fireballs. Meieruita and An Luo were unscathed, but others weren’t so lucky—especially one who had barely passed. He screamed as a fireball hit him, his Wizard Robe ablaze. He rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames.

Before it all happened, Meieruita had covered An Luo’s eyes.

His palm was cool, covering tightly with fingers pressed together, not letting in even a sliver of light.

The stench of burning, chaotic clamor, urgent voices, footsteps, and screams mixed together. But An Luo was completely isolated from it.

His eyes covered, he saw nothing. Held tightly in Meieruita’s arms, he had no worries.

The sudden incident caught everyone off guard amid the panic, but Meieruita seemed to have foreseen it, preparing the moment the attacker struck the Old Treeman.

Utterly composed.

If it was all his design, impossible—An Luo had been with him the whole exam.

Pure on-the-spot reaction.

“Not difficult.” Meieruita said softly amid the external chaos, his voice still calm. “His right hand clenched something tightly, and he’s not left-handed. People instinctively grip important things with their dominant hand.”

“When I saw him cast Fire Witchcraft at the Old Treeman with his left hand, I suspected his right held something more dangerous.”