Life is tough, so Honglong resorts to performing?

Chapter 119 Commitment
"While the shipments are pretty good, buddy, isn't your speed a bit off?"

The part-time job chat was filled with laughter and chatter, but Loren raised his own question at that moment.

We just issued this task. Even if the other party is using their real name online, it shouldn't be this fast, especially since they are using a fake identity.

"Hey, what a coincidence! The identity forgery technique this guy uses isn't exactly legitimate. It's probably an open-source database built by a performance artist from the past. In every detail of the identity forgery he's responsible for, there's a piece of fake news that's obviously fake but only known to the locals in each region. And I just happen to have lived there."

"..."

"There's such a thing? They're not making money anymore?"

The chat in the group started to shift, and there were now juicy gossip and trivia to listen to!
"I already said it's open source. Many fake ID users who lack the technology to design their own identity information use his system. He also updates it from time to time along with the federal system."

"Then his fake certificate system... could it be an official entrapment scheme? Besides the official ones, the Federation has more than 3,000 cities in the southwest region alone, and more than 25,000 cities in the entire Ellen, with a total population of countless. Who could collect so many urban secrets?"

"People like us can only manage the level of a few cities nearby. After all, the protection level in some areas is limited, which allows us to find some loopholes to exploit..."

"You never know, who knows if there are any officials among us. Judging by our skill level alone, the one who should be most suspected of being an official is actually our group admin..."

"One thing to say, one thing to say, indeed."

"really."

"Indeed, add one."

"..."

A long queue of people started to line up to join the group, and everyone was enthusiastically chatting. While Loren found it amusing, he stopped paying attention to the part-time job chat group.

The group owner's unpredictability and mystery are well-known, and it's not long ago that he's been suspected of being a powerful official. In the entire southwest region of three thousand cities, if something really happens in the group, he can always accurately pinpoint the people below and retaliate against them. It's normal for people to suspect this ability.

However, based on Loren's actual experience, although he disliked the Transcendentalists, he allowed them to join the group to recruit people for part-time jobs and permitted him to commit online fraud against them. This suggests that the other party's position and attitude were quite delicate.

"A neutral entity that adheres to its basic principles while maintaining a degree of flexibility..."

This is Loren's impression and portrait of the group leader.

"It's time to get busy with other things."

Loren thought to himself, then took out his magic crystal terminal. Yesterday's meditation and mindfulness not only helped him concentrate, but also allowed him to organize a lot of the basic magic theories and principles he had read in order to write his thesis. In other words, he should start learning new magic knowledge!

The illusory red dragon appeared before Loren once again. This time, Casilla looked at Loren with a mixture of surprise and delight.

"You joined the Elemental Light Project? Is it because you've started growing recently?"

She clearly noticed Loren's change in body shape.

"Yes."

Loren nodded in acknowledgment.

"For people like you and me who are driven by knowledge, it is indeed a good thing to approach adulthood early and have a mature and stable brain sooner."

She was even happier. The growth of both soul and body, gradually becoming a true young dragon, meant that the little guy's ability to bear and carry knowledge had been improved once again. In the future, her knowledge exchanges with him could be more in-depth and closer to each other's minds and bodies.

"Should we talk to him about it, really tell him the truth behind my legend?"

Cassilia's inner greed was stirring, and there was no better time to act.

The little ones were too young and immature before. Once they pass the juvenile dragon stage and truly become adult dragons, their physical growth slows down, and their intelligence will once again take over their brains. Their calculations of interests and power will increase day by day.

Only during this period of youth, in order to mature and grow, a large amount of various hormones are secreted, stimulating the brain and nerves of young dragons. In the past, before the establishment of the Federation, many dragons made their reputations during this period.

During this period, the dragons most closely resembled the stereotypical image of dragons in the public eye, and it was also the time when the battle between dragon slayers and dragons was most intense.

Especially the red dragons, during this period, their inner arrogance and thirst for battle, under the influence of their hormones, almost made them lose their minds. Apart from combat intelligence, their brain usage rate in other aspects was almost on par with that of the white dragons.

"But this same period is also when almost all of a dragon's future behaviors are set; unless a major event occurs after adulthood, they will hardly change..."

Cassilia calculated, recalling the knowledge she had already imparted to the other, pondering whether their relationship would take a further step or remain on separate paths after the full presentation.

"Being anxious and indecisive, etc., when did I become like this, like a short-lived person in the throes of passionate love?"

Suddenly, the mother red dragon Casilla froze.

As a member of the Federal Research Institute, she had seen too many brilliant researchers abandon their experiments and magic for the sake of so-called love, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the so-called love, only to end up with nothing and nothing.

Of course, she has also met quite a few researchers who have drawn inspiration from passionate love and emotions, achieving what is known as a double success in both love and career.

As a researcher, she recalled that some meddlesome single researchers had come up with so-called rational dating rules, the most important of which was: when you are hesitant and indecisive:
They either charge headlong into the fray, risking their lives, or they immediately implement technological sequestration, adopting a mechanized mindset and waiting for the initial excitement to subside before letting time decide.

"But what can I seal away? I'm not the real Cassilia, I'm just a mimicry model of her magical theories, and the last update was several years ago..."

She thought that, according to the laws of reason, there was only one choice.

Let’s go!
Cassilia made her decision immediately. Her gaze toward Loren was no longer gentle, but filled with greed and possessiveness. As a true red dragon, when she decided to take something, the arrogance and fighting spirit of a red dragon naturally surged up.

Loren was a little scared by that look. He vaguely remembered that when they first met, the other person seemed to have looked at him with that same gaze once, and now, that gaze was back again.

"You've already learned most of the basics. Would you like to hear something more profound, like my deeper exploration of the foundations of magic, the origins of the world as I see it, and the principles of my legend?"

Cassilia stopped speaking in Common and began speaking in Dragon Language. The unique tone startled Loren; if he weren't covered in dragon scales, he would have been covered in goosebumps. This knowledgeable magic user actually had a voice that sounded slightly soft and sweet to dragons. Perhaps, like him, she had used quite a few growth items in the past?
After all, online learning websites only display the level, not the age.

"Regarding the principles of your legendary status, I wonder what I must offer in return?"

Loren spoke respectfully, explaining that the principles of legends were the legendary mages' conjectures and understandings of the world, the crystallization of their knowledge of the world, and not something that could be shown to others casually.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the demigod fire demon Ellis easily demonstrated her philosophy to Loren. That's because her philosophy is more focused on practical application. As a creature of the abyss, she disdains discussing philosophy with other mages. If she were to discuss philosophy, she would discuss martial arts.

Loren had previously searched on a military-grade academic paper website, following the trail of Flame Fusion, and had seen legendary spells even higher than those, whose titles alone exuded an aura of formidable power.

"Flame Beginning, a self-destructing spell that regenerates time, space, and existence from all things back into flames."

The brief description on the outside states that mages who do not possess individual demiplanes or super-fast regeneration/resurrection abilities should not attempt this without authorization. For the sake of the stability of the world's spacetime structure, please do not use it on Elren. Thank you for your cooperation.

Therefore, Loren knew very well that the mages' legendary secrets were not usually revealed to others. For the mages, this was their most powerful trump card and also their weakness. If they wanted to obtain it, they would have to pay a sufficient price.

"I don't need to give anything for now. I've asked you to be my disciple more than once, and you've refused more than once. Asking again will only be a hassle. If I take your money, it feels like no amount is enough. So let's leave it for now. How about a promise for the future? It doesn't need to be a promise sworn to the gods."

"Isn't this too easy? Why don't we swear an oath to the great Daenerys Targaryen?"

Loren frowned. The conditions offered by the other party were too easy and cunning. As for the promise of the future, who knew when that future was or what would be exchanged for it?

"Swear to Daenerys? Don't take me for a fool, kid. You might be more credible if you swore to Bahamut. People like us would start looking for materials and methods to break an oath the very next second after making one, wouldn't you say?"

Cassilia tilted her head and chuckled. How could a tangible oath witnessed by the gods bind a magic-loving dragon swimming freely in the sea of ​​knowledge, especially after they had come into contact with so much knowledge related to the gods?

Not to mention that the gods are now unable to respond to the world, and cannot even bring down divine punishment.

"You're right, then let's make a promise, a promise that's not bound by anything. As for whether it will be kept, that's a matter for the future."

Loren sighed, sat down seriously, and waited for Casilla's explanation.

"So let's begin. To make it easier for you to understand, let me start by explaining my role."

Casilla became serious.

"I am the chief lecturer of the Frontier Theory Institute of the Federal Research Institute. My main responsibility is to explain and help those ancient war dragons understand the latest magic theories and knowledge. What is most needed in my line of work is tolerance and understanding. I need to integrate all kinds of imaginative magic theories and legendary principles. I don't expect complete understanding, but at least I need to be able to explain them so that there won't be any problems due to conflicts."

"Therefore, the key to my legendary status lies in knowledge itself."

"Simply put, knowledge itself has weight and carries weight. Gods have their own burdens, and mortals have theirs. The world is composed of different kinds of knowledge and their mechanisms. With enough knowledge, you can reshape or build your own world and reality..."

"Before that, what I need is to record—to record spells, to record time, to record phenomena."

Casilla explained things in a simple and easy-to-understand way. She didn't talk about too much theory, and her occasional examples and demonstrations left Loren stunned.

The other party's legendary principles allowed her to use scrolls to record and replicate a considerable number of things, not only spells, but also the past of objects, weather, disasters, mysteries, emotions, and other things that have physical or non-physical forms.

"It feels somewhat similar to viewing everything as information, but it's more realistic..."

As Loren listened, he combined the other person's ideas with the knowledge system from his past life in his mind and sorted it out.

Loren was immersed in this unprecedented torrent of knowledge, and the legendary principles of Casillas unfolded slowly before his eyes like a vast scroll.

The weight and significance of knowledge she describes is not merely an abstract concept, but something tangible and actionable.

She opened the scroll in front of her to demonstrate:
"This is a natural frost that has descended upon the North. What you see is my testimony."

The book was opened, and a violent, chilling aura surged out.

Even in the simulation, Loren still felt the extreme cold that made the red dragon uncomfortable.

"Because we are both red dragons. We both hate ice and snow, so this record will hurt us twice as much. My own perception will double, and yours will double again."

Is this even possible? A four-times weak-to-ice powerhouse, huh? You think you can just label the opponent as "cold-sensitive" because you're afraid of the cold? Is this some kind of game?
Loren was shocked. Is this how the world of you strong people is?

"Your perception and feelings about the world are also part of knowledge, as are my perceptions and understanding."

Casilla explained.

"This requires sufficient understanding and feeling about this matter, right?"

Loren asked a question, and Casilla showed a happy expression, as if to say, "You're really smart."

"Yes, only records completed with sufficient knowledge and sufficient feelings are genuine. Even if an ordinary person who has no specific understanding of frost storms dies in one, the understanding of frost storms they gain will not be strong enough, because their understanding of strength is insufficient."

"You can get this from someone else..."

"Of course, the world is so big, I can't travel all of it, and I still need to study."

Casilla said this matter-of-factly, and Loren nodded in agreement, continuing to listen to the explanation of the spell's principles.

The class passed quickly, and when the other person's illusory figure disappeared, Loren even felt a little reluctant to let it go.

"That's strange, I'm not really a magic-devouring dragon!"

(End of this chapter)