In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

Lu Mingfei sat stiffly, watching Principal Cynthia make latte art.

With a subtle, exquisite tremor of her wrist, concentric white ripples spread across the black surface of the coffee—then, she gently straightened the teacup, and as it tilted, the chaotic patterns transformed into a swan spreading its wings…

Looking at the cup of coffee pushed towards him, Lu Mingfei was almost reluctant to drink it.

"It's alright, drink up." Cynthia was making the second cup of coffee with latte art, her hands moving non-stop while her voice, delivered with exquisite precision, reached only Lu Mingfei's ears. "It's beautiful, but coffee is meant to be drunk."

"Ultimately, what's the difference between it and regular coffee? It's just water, coffee beans, and some milk—"

"Don't forget its practical value just because of its performance."

Lu Mingfei blinked, sensing that there was something more to the principal's words.

To this day, when Lu Mingfei recalls this principal, his impression of her remains from the entrance ceremony.

In the past month, not only him, but even the entire freshman class of the Knight Academy has had very few eyewitness accounts.

But no one found it strange.

This "principal" is not only a teacher, but also a researcher, an official, and even a summoner.

Besides her teaching duties, she also has her own research projects to do, making it impossible for her to be at the school frequently.

During her discussion with the red-robed acolyte, she even imagined that the school's teaching affairs might not actually be on her desk at all, but would be handled by her graduate students...

—Okay, Lu Mingfei now knows that this should be a guess.

At least, in the infirmary, you can actually call upon this "most noble lady of Saint Marian" directly...

"So, Lu Mingfei," Cynthia put down her cup and resumed making latte art, "after seeing that scene, don't you have any questions you'd like to ask?"

There are, of course, many questions: the strange blockade of knowledge, the bonfire on campus that can directly alter one's life form, or simply one's 'parents' in this world—

But Lu Mingfei rubbed his temples and finally asked:

"Rong En, will he be alright in the future?"

"Of course not." Cynthia replied casually, shaking her wrist. "You also developed those methods for using magic cards and experimented with them, so how could there be a problem?"

"!"

Lu Mingfei was startled – without a doubt, the principal might not be watching the academy all the time, but once she determined where the problem occurred, tracing its source would not be difficult for her.

Even though Lu Mingfei hadn't completely cleaned up the traces of the firefight, and the hoofprints were still clearly visible in the dust, he was able to figure out what had happened just one night later...

Can we say that this person truly deserves to be called one of the world's last remaining legendary-level summoners?

"—Okay, you might not know what this represents, but since you can use it, you're not far from understanding its essence. I can tell you the conclusion directly." Cynthia pulled the milk up high, finishing the latte art on the coffee, and nodded in satisfaction as she looked at the sun on the surface of the liquid.

"About a week ago, Lintel told you that all magical spirits have the same mind."

"So, have you ever thought about the relationship between mind and matter?"

Lu Mingfei checked the "Card Fusion" section in the integrated network interface again, confirming that the keywords "mind" and "matter" were not mentioned, only "connecting spell trajectories".

Cynthia saw that Lu Mingfei was in a daze, but she wasn't angry. She just continued talking to herself:

"Before the era of magic cards, people believed that the mind needed matter as support, and that only the existence of actual matter could give birth to a mind. Even the various elements and giant spirits were no exception; they were just composed of very thin matter."

"That is why, for a period of time after the development of magic cards, many people did not believe that magical spirits had minds—because magical spirits 'have no actual material composition,' they are all pure or impure energy condensations."

"Do you know what incident caused the Summoner... Oh, sorry, I forgot, this is actually a second-year lesson." Cynthia gently opened her mouth and drank the sun on the surface of the liquid in one gulp. "That's the downside of being a teacher for so long; you always get used to asking questions but forget the age of the person you're talking to."

"Principal Cynthia, actually I know." Lu Mingfei blinked—this part was an extra 'knowledge expansion' given to him by the red-robed acolyte:

"In the year 347 of the old calendar, a year known as the 'Year of Chaos,' all the magical spirits that had been created rose in rebellion, and two-thirds of the summoners perished under the magical spirits' swords—"

...Okay, Lu Mingfei was actually very curious about what the summoners had done back then that made the magical elves so fed up that they rebelled.

The magical spirits have a remarkably high tolerance for their creators; this isn't even a characteristic of the magical spirits under Lu Mingfei's command, but rather a 'unified characteristic' of all magical spirits.

The simplest point is that all magical spirits would be willing to step onto the dueling arena, and would not defect out of fear of death.

Even duels that aren't performed in public, but still attract a large following, like Lu Mingfei's battle with Johnny when he first summoned the Life Alchemy Jar—

The three dwarves showed no intention of turning around and fleeing, even though the pot spirit could kill them in a few rounds.

For these spirits that can be summoned again, they can even 'pay' their lives to the summoner who summoned them unconditionally. So what kind of oppression would make them rebel?

"The answer is dignity and honor." Cynthia tapped the table, her face filled with an indescribable solemnity.

"At that time, the summoner's skills were controlled by the nobles, the priests and paladins of the Holy Church were collectively suppressed by the rapidly expanding noble military force, and the demons were in the distant abyss—"

Even the hero's rebellion will be regarded as a joke by nobles and kings.

"Back then, the five colors of magical power had not yet been discovered, and the magical spirits created by summoners were all different kinds. Thus, some of these magical spirits, such as 'knights' and 'angels,' came into contact with ordinary people who were being oppressed..."

"Ultimately, these heroes decided to dedicate themselves to forging sharp blades for these poor souls."

Lu Mingfei remained silent, not uttering a single word.