Wizards begin with Occlumency.

Chapter 140 One Small Step, One Giant Leap

Lanny Taylor had mixed feelings.

After agreeing to form a team, Link Grande kept his promise.

These past few days, I've been contacting her every day to tell her what she needs to do that day.

Never stopped, never delayed.

Link even took some time to share their team's research findings with her in a very candid manner.

It really made her and her team understand what they were doing and why they were doing it.

Instead of making excuses and wasting effort.

This surprised Lani greatly.

She originally thought that she would have to keep trying to find out this information through subtle questioning.

Ultimately, a great deal of labor is required to gain a small amount of intellectual property from the other party.

Who knew it would be obtained so easily and so comprehensively.

There's absolutely no need for a battle of wits or a back-and-forth struggle.

All you need to do is report the results and data of what you've accomplished each day.

Link seemed unaware of the immense value of the information he was revealing, casually "leaking" it out.

Lanny couldn't understand what Link was thinking.

If it were her, she certainly wouldn't have disclosed the information so easily.

It would take at least a few days of labor for a blank ticket.

What is Link thinking?

Link just wanted to have an honest conversation.

After all, it is far more efficient to guide people to do things proactively than to force them to do them.

If you only whip a donkey, it will eventually kick up its heels.

Let alone people.

But if you hang a carrot in front of a donkey's eyes, it makes all the difference.

Donkeys work hard and tirelessly to pull millstones and carts in order to get carrots into their mouths.

In Link's view, Lani Taylor and her team were like a donkey that still had wild instincts.

It is highly likely that the situation will arise where the leader refuses to guide the child, and the child will only regress when pushed.

To better control this donkey, a carrot must be hung on it.

It's fresh, sweet, and delicious, with an irresistible flavor.

This gives them hope of completing the faction quest, or even the possibility of overtaking Link's team and completing it before them.

Instead of doing things haphazardly without even knowing why they're doing them.

These are the carrots that Link carefully selected.

Honest communication is like hanging up a carrot.

Honest communication has proven to be very effective.

The benefits of carrots are very prominent.

Lani's teammates, five members of the "New Blood Mutual Aid Society" and five other members of the Apprentice Organization, no longer had much resistance to teaming up with Link.

After receiving the task, even if they didn't work their butts off, they wouldn't lie or cheat.

Lani observed all these changes.

There's a vague feeling that I tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice instead.

She thought that Link's wisdom, exploration, and innovative thinking were indeed remarkable.

The problem is that I also got my votes for nothing.

And they were voted out even more harshly!

She had a strong feeling that Link Grand was rapidly moving toward his goal.

After they took the initiative to offer their help.

……

Monroe Briseño calmly accepted Iris Clark's departure.

Even if he doesn't accept it, there's nothing else we can do.

Prevent?

If Iris really went berserk, Monroe wouldn't dare to bear her wrath.

Although both are spatial storage magical artifacts, the leather bag on Monro's waist has a much smaller capacity than the small bag on Iris's waist.

Moreover, there is a huge gap in their personal wealth.

If a real battle were to break out, Monroe would have used up all his rune items and magical artifacts, while Iris would still be able to continuously source modified versions of self-destructing fire grenades.

He didn't want to be bombarded again.

That would be a complete loss of face.

As for Link Grand, who triggered Iris's departure from the team.

To be honest, Monroe harbored no resentment whatsoever.

He knew very well that Iris's departure was not because of Link Grand.

The reason was that he had neither gained Iris's trust in the past nor concealed his intentions well, and she had seen through them.

This time, if Monroe takes his anger out on Link Grand;

So, if a similar or dissimilar problem arises next time, who will he blame?

A person who always blames others and lacks the awareness and courage to face their own mistakes will never achieve great things.

Monroe has lofty ambitions and doesn't want to be a wizard's apprentice for the rest of his life!

He refused to deceive himself.

On the contrary, Munro admired Link Grand, especially after their direct interaction.

He had no more doubts about Link's genius in botany and pharmacology.

After splitting up with Iris, Monroe, along with a few people who trusted him, also got busy.

First, through some connections, he gained access to a site that had already been discovered.

After carefully examining the various records in the ruins, Monroe confirmed that the great war between the god-killers and the gods had indeed occurred in the history of this world.

This indirectly confirms Link Grand's statement about a "devastating rescue".

At least the gigantification of carnivorous animals, the mutation of some plants, and the changes in a very small number of herbivores can all be explained logically.

In that case, we must act as soon as possible.

While not necessarily completing the faction quests before Link Grand, we should at least improve our own and our team's participation, performance, and results in the faction quests.

During the competition between the two districts, the academy seemed to have thrown the wizard apprentices into this world and then barely cared about them.

However, all the actions of the wizard apprentices were recorded clearly by the academy.

Otherwise, how would the college grade and rank students?

Research and experimentation were not Munro's forte.

Forcing things to happen won't speed up the process, and the results may not be very good.

Monroe's choice was to use every means possible to first eliminate a group of those giant carnivores.

So, while Iris's team was wreaking havoc, Monro's team was also wreaking havoc.

The difference is that Iris kills purebloods from the opposing faction, especially members of the "Pureblood Will" group;

Monroe kills giant carnivorous animals and often jumps out to steal monsters just when the opposing faction's hunt is about to succeed.

For a time, Iris's squad and Monro's squad caused the opposing camp a great deal of trouble.

Organized by certain individuals with ulterior motives, an operation to ambush and kill Iris's team and Monro's team is about to begin.

……

Link was glad that he had a large amount of witchcraft in reserve.

In the research and experiments on reconstructing ecosystems, many processes and procedures that would normally take a certain amount of time have been greatly reduced and made more efficient with the help of various magical techniques.

In just three days and three nights, the experiment of reconstructing the ecosystem cycle based on the premise of destroying giant carnivorous animals has yielded preliminary results.

After the temperature rose to a certain level and four large ferocious fish died in succession, the ferocious fish that were subsequently bred showed a clear trend of becoming smaller.

It's not just carnivores that are changing.

Microorganisms, plants, and herbivores all underwent adaptive changes as a result.

After a rather rough comparative assessment, Linke concluded that, in terms of sustainable development, reconstructed ecosystems have a greater advantage than existing ecosystems.

However, at this stage of the study, the experimental conditions are not sufficient, the experimental process lacks rigor, and the reliability and validity of the experimental data are insufficient, so it is not yet time to declare it a success.

Link urgently needs a larger and more suitable venue, more and more complete experimental materials, and better and more sophisticated experimental equipment to conduct a longer and more rigorous experiment.

Only in this way can it be considered a qualified study and produce a qualified "paper".

Well……

The above demands arise from the researchers' academic instincts.

In fact, Link doesn't need to do that.

What was the initial purpose of conducting research and experiments on this world's ecosystem?

It's not about actually reconstructing a perfectly good ecosystem.

Rather, it's about verifying whether rebuilding a sustainable ecosystem can save the world.

Everything Link had done before, including exchanging equipment, arranging for a team to analyze water samples, soil, and biological specimens, and reconstructing the ecosystem in three directions, was all preliminary research.

The argument does not need to be very rigorous, as long as the logic is self-consistent.

Link has now achieved some initial results.

In other words, raising temperatures could trigger the extinction of giant carnivores that consume the most resources in the world, thereby optimizing the ecological structure and allowing the existing, unbalanced ecosystem to move towards normal and sustainable development.

In this way, the conditions for the world to recuperate and grow are met, and time is bought for the slow recovery of the world's origins.

The preliminary analysis yielded the desired results.

The next step is to find a place to submit the "report".

Wizard apprentices have limited power; even if they find a way to save or destroy the world, they cannot carry it out themselves.

Therefore, Link concluded that the Academy must have arranged a "place" or a "role" to help the participating wizard apprentices verify their plans.

Where this "place" or this "role" is is a question.

In accordance with the academy's consistent practice, it is impossible for them to tell the participating apprentices directly.

Apprentices need to guess, search, and verify on their own.

In this regard, Link has a bold guess.

He wanted to verify it.

"Come on, everyone, come over here for a moment."

That morning, Link gathered his team members, who had been hiding underground on the sandbar and had been engrossed in research and experiments for three days, regardless of the changing circumstances outside.

"Boss, what are your orders?"

Buck is showing signs of becoming a joint spokesperson for the Brotherhood and the Social Anxiety Group.

Whenever Link gathers everyone together, he's usually the one who speaks first.

The claim that the person in question is lying is undeniable.

"I didn't give any specific instructions, but there's one thing that requires everyone's cooperation."

Link said calmly, "This matter is rather urgent, and we may need everyone to work overtime to finish it as soon as possible."

"Boss, just give the orders."

Buck pounded his chest with a heavy thud, shouting, "We brothers and sisters will absolutely not hold the boss back! We'll complete the mission!"

Having grown accustomed to Buck's antics, Link didn't mind at all; in fact, he quite liked it.

It's good to have someone on the team who can liven things up.

Happy learning, happy work, happy life!

He continued, "Please summarize the experimental records and data you are responsible for within two hours, compile them into a written report, and then hand it to me."

A report should not just be a few dry sentences.

There should be detailed experimental records, comprehensive experimental data, and a self-consistent internal logic.

This is where the extensive analysis conducted on water samples, soil, plant specimens, and animal specimens comes in handy.

By adopting different intervention methods in three directions and reconstructing three different ecosystems, the significance becomes apparent.

Everything was done to validate the idea of ​​"devastating salvation".

Everything was for the sake of a report on a feasible plan to save the world.

"No problem, boss."

Buck responded and led the group of guys and the socially awkward group to get to work with great enthusiasm.

Jasmine stayed behind, and after everyone went about their business, she walked over to Link and asked in a low voice, "Any progress?"

She knew Link's habits.

When a large amount of data is needed, that's when research results are achieved.

"Um."

Link didn't hide anything from Jasmine and nodded, "I have a guess that I'd like to verify."

"What guess? Is it convenient to say?"

Jasmine pressed for an answer.

She has been trying to catch up with Link, and she is trying to be like Link in every way.

Understanding Link's way of thinking was very helpful to her.

"It's hard to say right now; I don't know for sure myself."

Link thought about it for a moment, but still didn't tell Jasmine about the bold guess that suddenly popped into his head.

This isn't because I don't trust Jasmine.

However, this guess is really too far-fetched.

"All right."

Jasmine shrugged, not pressing for more details, and instead said, "If you need to take risks, be sure to be careful."

It must be said that women's intuition is very accurate.

Although Jasmine couldn't guess what Link wanted to verify, she instinctively felt that it was something with a high risk factor.

That's why Link himself wasn't sure what to do.

Before taking action, they were unwilling to say much.

"Yes, I will."

Link said with a smile, then reassured her, "Don't worry, nothing unexpected will happen."

Jasmine didn't say anything, and turned to leave.

She was in charge of several experiments and also had to compile and record the data.

In less than two hours, Link received stacks of well-organized experimental records and data.

I crawled into the tent, hung a discarded magic stone for lighting, and spread out paper and pen.

Link quickly organized his thoughts and began writing furiously.

The abnormalities in the ecological environment, the mutations in some plants, the mutations in some herbivores, the relatively normal body size of most herbivores, and the gigantism of almost all carnivores are all evidenced by these changes.

Component testing, analysis, and comparison of water and soil samples.

Then there are experiments on reconstructing ecosystems based on plant "genes" modification, and experiments on reconstructing ecosystems based on herbivorous animal "genes" modification.

Finally, there's the experiment of reconstructing an ecosystem based on the idea that "nature" destroyed giant carnivorous animals.

Link wrote down everything, big and small.

The records are complete and the data is detailed.

After laying the groundwork, Link proposed his "devastating rescue" plan and began to conduct logical arguments based on the above records and data.

In terms of wording, Lin Ke tried to use plain language as much as possible and reduced the use of academic terms.

After several revisions and polishing sessions, it took nearly eight hours to complete a 50-page report.

After a short rest, drinking some water and eating some dry rations, Link pressed on and began to verify his guesses about a certain "place" and a certain "role".

He first had Jasmine lead everyone out of the tunnel to the surface of the sandbar, preparing to cross the river at any time.

Then, alone, he entered the secret passage once again.

This time, Link didn't use thorns to open the bronze gate; instead, he opened it himself.

A creaking sound rang out.

The bronze gate slowly opened.

Link's eyes fell upon the withered bones guarding the coffin, leaning on a greatsword.

After staring into the empty eye sockets for a long time, Link took a deep breath, took a small step, and placed the thick stack of reports in front of the skeleton.

If we were to find a "person" willing to save this world,

Link thought to himself,

Perhaps it was the god-killer.

Let's make a bold guess.

As for whether it is or not, let's wait and see.

(End of this chapter)