I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Chicheng Huanshan Lake.

The night wind on the cliff rustled Roland's robes.

This is the edge of the first level of the Holy See's base. Water flows down the foot of the mountain, forming a magnificent waterfall.

The waterfalls flow into the sea of ​​clouds below, then pass through the clouds, touch the barrier below, and are then vaporized into mist, becoming the clouds at the edge of the Holy Throne.

As Roland recited a lengthy incantation, the sea of ​​clouds stretching for tens of kilometers along the edge of the Holy Throne was drawn back by Roland's hands like a light, fluttering veil.

Then, the true view below the Holy Throne appeared before Roland's eyes.

It was pitch black, and you couldn't see anything.

It wasn't that nothing was visible at all; somewhere in the distant, dark earth, there was a small patch of something glowing. It looked smaller than a little fingernail.

Near the area of ​​shimmering fluorescence, there were also small patches of faint but very noticeable white light. That white light was changing at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few minutes, it was gradually stretched into a white line with a distinct arc.

The arc of white light seemed to be slowly spreading and expanding towards Roland's direction.

It grew longer and wider. Just before it touched the small patch of fluorescent light nearby, that area gradually dimmed.

In a flash, Roland realized what that small patch of 'fluorescent little thing' was.

That is the 'River of Angels', thousands of kilometers northeast of the Holy City.

Those fluorescent lights were the magical glow emanating from the countless wizard towers along the River Angels at night, and from the countless construction sites.

The gradually expanding arc of white light nearby is the horizon illuminated by the sun at sunrise.

Roland was standing 400 kilometers in the air. It was midnight there, but it was dawn on the banks of the River Angel.

"This is fucking ridiculous! Working overtime until 4 a.m. before lights out?"

Roland suddenly realized that being a wizard in the East wasn't such a good thing. Because once you reached the advanced apprentice level, you basically didn't need to sleep anymore. So everyone could work overtime without rest.

As for Roland, a formal wizard, when he was studying magic or brewing potions, he would often look up and find that several days had passed—in fact, several months had passed.

The White Wizards fared better; after all, they were all overly virtuous and would never allow their mentors to treat their apprentices like that. Therefore, the White Wizards generally had a 267 schedule, meaning they were forced to rest from 2 AM to 6 AM every day, and then worked 7 days a week.

The situation is alright on the Black Abyss side, since they are closer to the White Chess Wizards and have been deeply influenced by their Mother Goddess culture.

Therefore, out of humanitarian considerations, mentors allow apprentices to rest for two hours each day—of course, if you volunteer to work overtime and don't want to rest, then it's not the mentor's fault for not letting you rest.

As for Twilight in the East, wizards have a very unified view: Twilight wizards are not considered human.

Since they are not considered human beings, there is naturally no humanitarianism involved.

Those who join the Twilight Wizards' circle don't even consider themselves human.

Wizards willing to hang out in places like Twilight Academy are generally suffering from some serious illness. In their view, the physical body is a burden, while the vessels nurtured by the divine flesh and blood of ancient gods are the perfect shells for the soul.

Although the practice of kidnapping apprentices to be 'trained' in one's own academy has been largely eliminated in the Twilight wizarding community since the magical reforms.

The Twilight wizards have an obligation and responsibility to explain everything clearly during the admissions process, and the rights of new students, such as the right to know, are always well protected. Therefore, those who go to Twilight are basically doing so voluntarily.

However, the number of Twilight Wizards has never decreased. This is because their mystical magic is the most powerful magic in the world. And their research achievements are simply too numerous to list.

Moreover, there are no barriers to choosing the Twilight path.

Even if an apprentice has no talent and can't even use magic, once he embarks on the Twilight Path, his future will be no worse than anyone else's.

Of course, none of the above factors are the main reason for the large number of Twilight Wizards. The main reason is that there are many monsters in the East.

Many people were originally from the Black Abyss and the White Chess, but as they studied the mystical magic, mystical creatures, and so on, they eventually couldn't help but come into contact with Twilight's things.

Roland is a typical example. He wears the skin of the Black Abyss, but after becoming a formal wizard, everything he studies is related to Twilight.

Whether it's the 'Scarecrow,' 'Herakka Theology,' 'The Theory of Dry Blood,' or the books given by the Thousand-Eyed King, they're all Twilight stuff.

Even many things he encountered at Black Abyss Academy originated from Twilight—such as the Ballerina and the Shepherd Tree.

Roland's most proficient demonic magic, as well as his most cutting-edge theories of madness, are all based on these things.

As for the old Black Abyss members, every single one of them came from the Twilight Council.

The three main wizarding groups in the East are essentially inseparable; they are all one family. The tools they use are, in essence, of the same kind.

However, Twilight is focused on studying madness and mystery, researching illogical and insane things, while Black Abyss is half-mad and half-sane, and White Chess is just trying to keep himself sane—they are also deeply studying mysticism, researching madness and gods.

From the church's perspective, these wizards are all the same. They're all black wizards.

A series of footsteps sounded behind Roland, as if someone had landed behind him from a distance.

Roland turned around and saw Miss Joan looking worried.

Roland laughed and said, "My room always smells like the toilet, which makes it hard for me to sleep, so I came out to get some fresh air. I originally planned to take a walk by the lake, but then I remembered that Johnson mentioned this place, so I came over out of curiosity, hehe."

The Akagi Monastery had been uninhabited for some time. Moreover, Olivia was a clean freak, and the priests had cleaned it spotless inside and out since they arrived. Everyone had just finished a thorough cleaning that evening, and the toilets hadn't been used since. How could a smell have gotten into Roland's room?

Joan didn't expose him. She walked to the cliff with her hands behind her back and stood next to Roland, gazing into the distance with him.

“It’s truly spectacular. I’ve never seen a sunrise like this before.”

Joan couldn't help but exclaim, "So the earth really is round, and we all live on one sphere."

She looked up at the sky again: "The Milky Way here is so dazzling. In the academy, I saw photos that my mentor brought back after flying up into the sky. The sky in those photos was all black. My mentor said that our cameras are still quite primitive and can't capture the stars in the void. We have to see them with the naked eye."

As they talked, Joan inexplicably recalled the magnificent sky and the dark sun they had seen from the top pedestal during the day.

She suddenly realized that the sunrise they were seeing might be fake; they were like a group of tiny ants, trapped in a bottle filled with a false sky.

A sense of sorrow welled up in Joan's heart. She suddenly understood Roland's feelings. (End of Chapter)