I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Hearing Helena's words, Roland breathed a huge sigh of relief—great, my junior understood what I meant!

After exchanging a few more words, Roland hung up the phone. Turning around, he saw his mentor sitting behind his desk, absentmindedly fiddling with a laptop.

Roland thought to himself, 'The castle here is so old-fashioned; I thought they didn't have this kind of thing here!'

In fact, Roland didn't see many muskets in Vermec either—but there were actually quite a lot of muskets there.

Because firearms and cannons originated from and were mostly used by civilians. They are not used on this side of the Vermeer Church.

The weapons they used were similar to the 'light spears' of the Inquisition, but in peacetime, knights didn't have access to real firearms. Therefore, Roland had seen the light spears of the 'Solar Order' paladins in Malrod, but not the light spears of the Vilmik Templars.

The Church's attitude towards the Dracula family has always been subtle, and they haven't distributed such valuable items to them. But since the Dracula family dared to rebel, they must have something in their hands; at least judging from what the mentors possessed, they had certainly privately manufactured a considerable number of muskets and cannons.

Roland used to not take these things seriously at all; he even dared to catch a light spear with his bare hands.

But after playing with the demonic insects, he learned the principle that quantitative change can lead to qualitative change.

Leaving aside light spears, even firearms and cannons, if equipped with special ammunition, could be deadly to wizards if their numbers increased.

For some reason, Roland thought of that female revolutionary cadre. She wasn't carrying any weapons, nor did she show any signs of cultivation. Yet, she gave Roland a feeling of being a 'warrior' or 'soldier'.

The mentor suddenly asked, "Edward, tell me, why does the church oppose something that is clearly beneficial to all mankind?"

The wizards know this all too well. But Roland didn't want to speak in a wizard's tone.

But he could guess what kind of answer Edward would give.

Roland recalled the tone of the female cadre's voice and said, "Because the church is not on the side of the people."

The tutor asked, "Why? Aren't the bishops human? Isn't Olivia human? Isn't the Pope human?"

Roland said, "They are human beings."

The mentor said, "Is it because we have deprived God of his rights?"

Roland shook his head and said, "Yes and no."

The mentor's face was filled with confusion and bewilderment. He looked at Edward with longing eyes, hoping to get the answers he wanted from this revolutionary.

Roland sighed inwardly. He knew that if Edward were standing here, he would be able to give an answer from the perspective of the Revolutionary Army.

But he didn't know much about the revolutionary army in this world.

Therefore, he could only offer an answer from the perspective of wizards and priests.

Roland said, “Mentor, you are right. There must be many insightful people like you in the church, and there must be many people who hope to stand on your side.”

But they chose to stand on the other side.

Because they discovered that in this world of gods, resistance was pointless.

The sheep's only way to survive is to obey the farmer's every command.

Mentor, your research has not only given the sheep the same rights as the farmers, but it has also turned the sheep into people, into people who can shoot, just like the farmers.

If it were merely that the sheep one day discovered they no longer needed to worship the farmer, and even possessed human-like rights...

So, for these disobedient sheep, the farmer only needs to kill them all and raise another batch.

But once the sheep learn to use guns, they will desire true and complete freedom.

The instructor asked, "Why did the sheep rebel? Why didn't God let the sheep leave the farm? Was it because God was afraid there were man-eating wolves outside the farm?"

Roland said, "Mentor, life, death, and reincarnation are not rights inherent to humankind. They are rights bestowed upon us by God."

If people fight for the right to live, they are fighting against God for God's authority.

The god of this world—the god you worship—is anti-human.

Therefore, the church in this world is also anti-human.

Mentor, this is a twisted world.

"If a person wants to live, he must kill God!"

Roland regretted it as soon as he finished speaking—no wonder the church always said that cultists and old religions were nothing, even the devils of hell were nothing. Wizards were the biggest heretics.
What Roland said was something even a child could understand for the people of the East. It was the most obvious truth.

But for a believer, for someone who is used to being a sheep, it is something they can never understand, and even if they do understand, they cannot accept—that the gentle shepherd is actually a butcher?

Are the gods evil gods who devour believers?
Anyone who says such things must be a devil from hell! Or a heretic who worships an evil god!

Or perhaps the most despicable of all, the faithless—the wizard.

So, Roland regretted it a little after he finished speaking—how could Edward have uttered such heretical and unorthodox ideas about wizards?
To his surprise, his mentor remained silent for a long time without voicing any questions. It seemed that in his view, this was the heresy that Edward would utter.

Roland suddenly understood—Edward and the wizards were all revolutionaries.

The mentor slowly raised his head, looking much older in that moment. He suddenly said, "Edward, both Baal (the Earl) and you (the Revolutionary Army) are far more clear-headed than we are."

Perhaps you are right.

Edward, as I continue my research into basic magic, I've come to realize that there must exist an omniscient and omnipotent being in this great astral plane. But the gods are not.

They were not that great.

I often wonder if I have already apostatized.

Count Baal told me that I had not apostasydid.

Because the omniscient and omnipotent Lord truly exists—but the gods have stolen His glory.

One day, the true Lord will surely descend upon this world.

Roland hurriedly reached out and shouted, "Don't believe his nonsense!"
Mentor, there truly exists a 'Lord' who is all-knowing and all-powerful—it is this great astral plane itself, the aggregate of all things in the world! It is an all-encompassing concept!

"Baal, the so-called Lord my father spoke of, is nothing more than a fish that can swim in this great astral plane. Compared to other creatures, he is simply better at swimming and more adept at utilizing the law of 'all beings are one, encompassing everything, and all things returning to oneness'!"

Even the Mad Goddess Sanguine said she was just a slightly larger insect and dared not claim to be omniscient and omnipotent. Even if Roland were completely insane, he wouldn't dare to consider himself an omniscient and omnipotent being.

Roland was really frightened by what his mentor had just said.

Because he discovered that Count Barr and his gang of lunatics had elevated him far too high, so high that it terrified him!

If their identities are discovered and they find out they aren't Edward, but they're not omniscient, they have to rescue Edward quickly!
Otherwise, forget about stealing from Olivia—if he sees the Count tomorrow, he'll be dead! Roland offered his mentor some final words of comfort before preparing to leave.

When his mentor saw that he was about to leave, he got up to see him off.

At the office door, Roland asked a few more questions: "Mentor, what container did Olivia use to take the data away?"

The mentor said, "It is a book of heaven. It is a sacred object bestowed upon the church by the gods. In theory, it can describe a world, and the higher gods and the ancient forbidden creators used it to record the world and modify its laws."
The Book of Heaven can record everything, even seal away the unspeakable gods of the lower realms.
Olivia used data copied from this book.

Roland's eyes flickered slightly, and he thought to himself, 'Is there really such an extraordinary magic book in this world?'

Roland couldn't help but ask, "What does that book look like?"

The mentor not only told Roland what the book looked like, but also told him a lot about the book.

After listening, Roland suddenly understood. He thought to himself, 'The gods blew the Book of Heaven up to the heavens; I thought it was something extraordinary. Turns out it's just a low-grade Book of Alaye.'

The book in Olivia's hand was far less impressive than her mentor had claimed—it was most likely a counterfeit.

However, it can indeed record indescribable things, and even laws.

These kinds of books were very popular in ancient times, and they had a name—the forbidden books.

Nowadays, many of the traditions of the Eastern Realm have been lost, while the gods have many such things in their hands.

For centuries, wizards have been recording the ineffable, the truths, and the laws in another way. Roland even created one himself—the Shepherd's Picture of Black Holy Blood!

However, the Shepherd's Picture, the Heracles statue, and other similar items are far inferior to the Book of Paradise.

However, after the wizards began in-depth exchanges with Vermeek, the Eastern Lands are now comprehensively interpreting the Old Scriptures, attempting to create a Book of Heaven through divine script. They intend to use this type of book to replace the Book of Alaye, serving as a 'quiz machine'.

While Roland was involved in the renovation of the Sanctuary, the wizards created several versions of the 'Book of Heaven'—named the 'Book of Truth'.

When Roland went to the ruins, these kinds of books were already being sold in the East.

This thing is much more useful than a magic book. Some rich young women, if they have both connections and money, would definitely ask their fathers to get them one.

Roland thought to himself, 'With my Book of Alaye, I can copy all the contents of the Book of Paradise in Olivia's possession.'

Roland asked, "Approximately how much data is there? If recorded in divine script, how many pages would it be? How long did it take Olivia to copy it?"

The mentor sighed: "She didn't take all the data, only the part that interested her. I should have given her all the data."

Roland nodded and said, "She doesn't have all the data either? Things seem a bit complicated. But it's not a big problem."

After thinking for a moment, Roland said to his mentor, "Mentor, don't worry. Don't touch the crystal arrays or the magic books in the room."

"If we can find the tower wizards in the Eastern Territory who specialize in this kind of technology, we can recover some of the data."

Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise. If you ask Roland to do this kind of research or engineering work, he doesn't have the ability.

He may not understand the technology, but he does understand the theory.

This kind of technology is beyond even the old Black Abyss, let alone Roland—but if this were entrusted to the apprentices of the Tower of the East, they would certainly be able to handle it well.

Who hasn't messed up their advisor's experiment?

In the Black Abyss, there are countless absurd things that happen, like accidentally burning down a laboratory.

If the data in these crystal arrays was simply destroyed by magic, then restoring them would be a piece of cake for the wizards of the East.

But Olivia used divine power, a power that is extremely thorough in purification. Therefore, Roland couldn't guarantee it.

However, no matter what methods are used to erase data, they will leave traces in the underlying world.

Even before the quiz machine existed, Eastern Wizards knew how to use the Underworld to find lost items.

Now that the quiz machine is available, data recovery has become much simpler and more efficient. However, Roland wouldn't dare guarantee a full recovery. After all, that would be somewhat disrespectful to Olivia, the god.

But if we can get our hands on what Olivia has, and use that data as clues, we can definitely retrieve all the data from the underworld!
The underworld, the mystical realm, and other such areas were not Merlin's area of ​​expertise. However, he knew that Eastern wizards were adept at these fields.

The instructor has already examined the crystal arrays and spellbooks. The lab definitely can't restore them.

But the wizards of the East might not be so bad!

Their technology is many years more advanced than that of the South! Even the current achievements in their laboratory are the result of research into ancient basic magic in the Eastern Territory!

The mentor was unaware that the 'Edward' before him was the wizard from the East. However, he knew that Edward had many friends and acquaintances in Wilmick.

The mentor had heard rumors that Vermeek had defected to the Eastern Frontier. Whether this was true or not, Vermeek Theological Seminary had always maintained academic exchanges with White Chess Academy.

If Edward has friends in Wilmeek, then perhaps he could find some wizards to help him!

Even if the wizards are unwilling to help, it would be good to offer some advice!

So when he heard Edward say that he would try to find a wizard from the East to help him, the mentor was very excited and escorted Roland all the way from upstairs to the corridor outside the laboratory.

This is not the corridor Roland came through; the corridor has several forks.

Roland wasn't familiar with the roads, and he was a bit bewildered when he saw this situation.

At this moment, Roland noticed that his mentor seemed to be planning to give him a couple more steps, and his eyes flickered slightly.

He thought to himself, "I have absolutely no idea how to get to the hot springs, and the paths inside the castle are completely disorganized. Using the wishing needle will only lead me astray and make me get lost. My mentor, please guide me a few more steps."

Roland deliberately brought up a topic about magic in the Eastern Realm—mostly content from the books his senior had read.

Although Roland hadn't read those books, his current understanding was so profound that he could practically start his own school of thought in the East. Even the professors in the Black Abyss who specialized in this type of magic would probably have to call him a rabbi.

These things that the senior student taught were all basic knowledge that low-level apprentices in the Eastern Territory learned, so Roland could use them with ease.

Since Edward had given these books to the lab, he must have read them. Therefore, Roland assumed that the academic issues he discussed with his mentor wouldn't be beyond the scope of the curriculum.

The mentor initially seemed distracted and planned to see Roland off briefly before rushing back to research how to recover the data.

But after he chatted with Roland for a few minutes, his eyes lit up.

As they chatted, the two took a detour, heading to the hot springs from the less crowded gallery side—if Roland had entered through the main entrance and seen the guards at the hot springs, even if the cultists remained silent upon seeing him, Roland would have been able to guess that someone was bathing inside.

However, if you only see someone guarding the gallery entrance, and the gallery itself is filled with treasures, then it's perfectly normal for someone to be there. (End of Chapter)