Wizards begin with Occlumency.

Chapter 215 The Human Heart's Deepest Gap, Dark and Difficult to Understand

"The little guy seems to have discovered something."

At the main campus of the Rivosos Academy, whose spacetime coordinates are strictly confidential, the Rivosos Great Sage, who has not ventured out for many years, sat facing the Sosos Great Sage.

With his white hair casually draped behind his head, the great sage Rivo, who had lived for nearly 1,900 years but looked like a young man in his twenties, sighed with a smile.

"So what if he finds out? What can he change now? Isn't everything under your control?"

The great sage Soth casually responded.

She is beautiful, slender, and has an outstanding temperament.

They don't look like elders who have lived for nearly 1,900 years at all.

She exudes youthful and vibrant energy.

She is more charming than a young girl, and more youthful than a mature woman.

She can be seen as a young woman or a mature woman; she can be both sweet and sassy.

Their appearance, temperament, and age create a stark contrast.

For wizards, especially high-level wizards, there are countless ways to maintain eternal youth or even reverse aging.

However, temperament is closely related to a person's mind.

It is extremely rare and a miracle that the great sage Soth has been able to maintain such a youthful spirit for so long.

"That's true, but I quite like this little guy."

The Great Sage Rivo and the Great Sage Soth had known, understood, loved, and stayed together for nearly 1,900 years. How could they not understand each other's personalities and speaking habits?

The two disagree on some unimportant matters, but these are easily resolved.

She can say what she wants, and he can say what he wants; there's no need to force a conversation.

Let each say their own thing.

"It's just so-so, not ordinary, but not particularly outstanding either."

For some reason, the Great Sage Soth has fallen out with the Great Sage Rivo, and they keep saying the opposite of each other.

Even though that's not what you really think, you insist on saying it.

Seeing this, the Great Sage Rivo simply changed the subject and continued speaking to himself:

"The time mentioned in the last prophecy before the death of the Saint of Nostrodam is getting closer and closer, but the 'strange guest' who can fix that ruined world and thus open the passage to the parallel universe behind it has not yet appeared."

This has made many people a little nervous.

The Supreme Council even issued a decree jointly signed by five saints, rewarding any wizarding organization that could discover the prophesied "strange guest" with a large amount of rare and high-level resources.

If we can find that "strange person," we can obtain the resources we desperately need.

You've been stuck at level seven wizard for too long; it's time to move up.

By then, both of us will be eighth-level Great Sages.

Our college will not be confined to the Michel district and can achieve even greater development.

The Great Sage Soth replied, "We can gather the funds slowly and before the prophesied time arrives. There's no need to force ourselves to find any 'strange guest' or not."

"I didn't force myself to look for it; it was just something I did incidentally."

The Great Sage Rivo explained, "I noticed this little fellow because of Rosenthal."

"Rosenthal?"

The Great Sage Soth exclaimed in surprise, "Wasn't he utterly despondent, choosing to return to his homeland to guard those cultivation realms, resigned to his fate? How did he get dragged into this again?"

The Great Sage Rivo laughed:

"Waters wanted to use the unique nature of that little guy's 'Stranger' soul to nurture a 'seed' formed from the essence of a broken world, as a backup plan for his advancement to a Great Sage." (Volume 3, Chapter 38)

As a result, Rosenthal discovered this by chance, and probably on a whim, he thwarted Waters's backup plan. (Volume 3, Chapters 54-56)

Waters, not daring to argue with Rosenthal who was resigned to his fate, fearing he would lose face, complained to me instead.

"snort!"

Upon hearing this, the Great Sage Soth's expression suddenly darkened, and he angrily retorted, "Useless good-for-nothing! You're already a sixth-level wizard, yet you still resort to such underhanded tactics, scheming against a first-level wizard. You truly disgrace the sages!"

"Back then, the little guy was still a wizarding apprentice, not yet a fully-fledged wizard."

"snort!"

The Great Sage Rivo added an explanation, which successfully angered the Great Sage Soth even more.

"hehe……"

The Great Sage Rivo chuckled and then said, "Waters probably feels he's in the wrong and has some pride left, so he has no intention of causing trouble for the little guy."

"Even something that isn't utterly shameless is still shameless!"

After a while, having calmed down, the Great Sage Soth casually asked, "Since he's not the 'strange guest' you're looking for, what are your plans to do with him?"

"deal with?"

The Great Sage Rivo chuckled and said, "Why should we punish him? No matter what, the little fellow is a rising star in our academy. The better he develops, the more he will benefit both of us. Why should I punish him? Not only will I not punish him, but I will also reward him and help him grow even faster!"

"Alright, that's settled then."

Upon hearing this, the great sage Soth suddenly lost interest.

Ultimately, it all comes down to interests.

Her secret to maintaining a youthful spirit lies in calculating as little as possible.

Whether it's calculating personal gain or manipulating people's hearts, it's best to avoid it if possible.

Without her making any move, the circular light reflecting the ruins of Shanghai disappeared.

Along with it disappeared the special power of rules that had clouded and guided the minds of forty-four people.

Then, her figure transformed into a ray of light and disappeared without a trace.

The Great Sage Rivo sat there for a while, muttering to himself, "Where are you, really?"

Ultimately, the Great Sage Rivo still wanted to find the special "strange guest" mentioned in the prophecy.

Great Sage Soth has remained at the pinnacle of the seventh-level wizard realm for far too long.

If I stay any longer, I will completely lose my drive for promotion.

How long will it take to accumulate resources slowly?

Even if we don't search for special "strange guests" like looking for a needle in a haystack, we still need to find other ways to speed up the accumulation of resources.

Time waits for no one.

A unique world of ruins.

Listed in Shanghai, Chongming Island, deep underground.

Flandre appeared in the huge warehouse, patrolling back and forth to check the situation.

Through Flandre's perspective, Link discovers that these combat robots are in excellent condition.

Once they are powered and awakened, they can be used in combat.

The only regrettable thing is that the combat robots use technologically advanced firearms.

Link certainly wasn't complaining about the power of firearms.

In a world with proper rules, if a wizard neither dodges nor avoids damage, but chooses to tank it head-on:

A single conventional missile can still take down a level one wizard;

A single tactical nuclear missile can still take down a level two wizard;

A high-yield nuclear bomb can still take down a level three wizard;

The power of sufficiently lethal firearms is still considerable.

What Link regrets is the incompatibility.

Technologically advanced firearms have high requirements for the environment and conditions under which they are used.

Even with Link's limited experience in conquering other worlds, it's clear that firearms would be rendered useless in other worlds, such as the fairy world.

Not to mention the myriad realms and worlds with their many different rules.

It's important to understand that even when the Wizarding World organizes its wizarding legions to conquer other worlds, they often have to rely on the world's will.

Otherwise, the same embarrassing situation will occur where the magic artifacts malfunction and the magic cannot be performed.

After careful consideration, I weighed the pros and cons.

Link suppressed his desire and did not allow Flandre to open the "small world" to pack up and move all the combat robots, An-225s, and Tu-160Ms that could be recycled as materials or simply used as exhibits.

Instead, they simply sent Flandre to wander around somewhere else.

Out of sight, out of mind.

There are some bargains you can get, such as having a large amount of knowledge copied;

Some bargains are not worth taking advantage of, such as the combat robots, An-225s, and Tu-160Ms stored in the warehouse.

Link was only entering this special ruined world as a team leader and did not have permission to plunder resources.

Although the wizarding world does not believe in cause and effect, nor does it believe in fate.

However, we should still pay attention to certain things in many situations.

Link didn't want to get himself into a bigger mess because of his greed for small gains.

Consciousness detached from Flandre's vision and returned to her original body.

Link took a short walk on the street, continuing to ponder the question from before.

Suddenly, I realized that the "cloth" that had been covering my mind had disappeared without me noticing.

The awkward feeling of having my thoughts restricted was gone.

Looking back, that state that made Link feel very uncomfortable earlier...

It is quite similar to the concept mentioned in the science fiction classic "The Three-Body Problem" that I read in my previous life. The Three-Body planet locked the theoretical physical upper limit of Earth, creating a mental constraint that those famous physicists could not break through.

Link, who now feels relaxed both physically and mentally, doesn't dare to think about why this sudden change happened.

He chose to focus on fulfilling his duties as team leader and quickly returned to the vault on the fifth basement level.

The apprentices were still busily searching for valuable items.

Lanny Taylor frowned, deep in thought, seemingly sensing something amiss.

Upon seeing Link, Pex immediately approached and whispered, "Team Leader..."

Link could tell what Pex wanted to say just by looking at her expression.

I was speechless.

Is this something you can just say carelessly?

Do you even know what it means to be cautious?

Link quickly raised his palm to stop Pex from speaking, and transmitted his voice telepathically: "Too much talk leads to mistakes, think carefully before you act."

Pex's eyes widened suddenly, then he realized what was happening and corrected his somewhat unbalanced mindset after discovering the anomaly.

To be able to subtly confuse them without their knowledge, the person who makes the move must be at least a sage, right?

The other party's purpose in doing this is unknown, their attitude is unclear, and they suddenly stopped, with no explanation in sight.

If you discover it yourself, just pretend you didn't, or simply pretend it never happened.

Just focus on completing this mission and don't worry about anything else. Getting back safely is the top priority.

Having figured this out, Pex gave Link a grateful look.

The jealousy and resentment that had arisen in his heart because his grandfather always praised Link but never him had dissipated a little.

Unexpectedly, Link Grand is a pretty nice guy.

Link then turned his attention to Lanny Taylor, wanting to see how she would react, given that she was clearly aware of what was going on.

After mastering the "Great Universe Meditation Method," Link's already enhanced perception abilities were further amplified.

Especially in terms of intuition and premonition.

It vaguely suggests the attainment of the sixth consciousness, "consciousness," in a previous Buddhist life.

Back in the underground vault, the moment Link saw Lanny, he had a gut feeling that she had already noticed the changes in her mind.

Therefore, Link wanted to see how this bright peer would react.

Lani's reaction was no reaction.

She ended her reverie, relaxed her brow, and continued to focus on directing the looting of the vault.

The only action that seemed somewhat conspicuous was taking out the smart device, bringing up two sets of previously photographed Shanghai stock market maps, and glancing at them casually.

"This place."

Seeing this, Link was quite satisfied and decided to lend a hand to the academy's team.

As the team leader, Link was also embarrassed that his team failed to win the exchange and learning battle with Shadow City.

He then used "telepathic communication" to secretly whisper in Lani's ear.

At the same time, mark the location of the underground factory on the map.

That place is about 38 kilometers away from the Shanghai Tower as the crow flies, which is quite far.

It will take some time to get there.

However, according to the rules of this exchange and learning, if the academy team were to search for and take away those combat robots, An-225s, and Tu-160Ms, their chances of winning would be greatly increased, if not guaranteed.

Lani's hand holding the smart device trembled slightly, but she quickly regained her composure.

She carefully examined the route between the two locations, deciding that after collecting the high-value items from the vault, she would head straight to the place the wizard Grand had told her about.

For the wizard Grand to personally inform me of this place, it must be extraordinary.

This will most likely determine the outcome of this exchange and learning session.

Just as Lanny made this decision, Luna walked over: "Captain, Team Two has spotted the Shadow City team leaving that building and heading this way. They're moving very fast and are in combat mode."

Lanny decisively ordered, "You and Gillian gather the team and prepare for a counter-attack."

"Yes."

Luna responded loudly and immediately turned to carry out the order.

At Luna's command, Groups One and Two quickly stopped what they were doing, conducted reconnaissance, and prepared to attack.

Under Gillian's command, Groups Three and Four, especially Group Three, changed their division of labor from searching to defense and counterattack. They quickly built a solid defensive line by making use of the terrain and buildings of the vault.

Through the real-time footage obtained by the two reconnaissance teams, Lani discovered that the Shadow City team's objective was very clear: they were heading straight for the fifth underground level.

What happened?

Why is the other person suddenly being so unrestrained?

Is this because they believe the value of the supplies they've collected is sufficient, and they don't intend to continue collecting, but instead switch to attacking to disrupt the rhythm?

Or are you planning to launch a full-scale annihilation?

Lani bit her lip. Since that's how it is, then let's just ignore it and fight.

Let's finish this quickly so we can call it a day.

Link gave Pex a wink, signaling him to keep an eye on things.

He then floated out of the underground building, came to the surface, and stopped Christina.

"Telepathic communication," a secret voice transmission sent the message: "What's going on over there? Are you abandoning your plans to gather supplies and preparing for direct combat?"

A serpentine plume of black smoke emerged, outlining the words: "Someone noticed the change and interpreted it as a sign that the mission had entered its second phase, transitioning from limited gathering to unrestricted free-for-all. And so..."

After reading it, Link's forehead looked like it had three black lines.

Notification of phased changes in task priorities?

Can changes at the mental level be understood in this way?

What kind of brain circuitry is this to think like that?

After thinking for a moment, Link asked directly, "Doesn't anyone have any other opinions?"

Christina shook her head, her snake-like eyes looking at Link with a puzzled expression, black smoke outlining words: "What other opinion could there be?"

Emmm...

Link remained silent.

It turns out that in Shadow City, not only the wizard apprentices thought this way, but even Christina, the leader and a first-level wizard, viewed the sudden change in their mental state in the same way.

Are all shadow wizards' thought processes this peculiar?

Link was bewildered and deeply shocked.

"Fine, whatever makes you happy."

Link shook his head as well, sighing with a hint of helplessness.

If the competition starts sooner, the outcome is decided sooner, and this exchange and learning activity ends sooner, then it's acceptable.

It's a bit of a pity about this rare opportunity.

Flandre is still wandering around Shanghai, hoping to find the historical records that it has been searching for.

Link intuitively felt that this peculiar ruined world could not possibly be his homeland from a previous life.

Even though there are so many similarities, even identical ones.

For various reasons, he wanted to learn about the history of this special world of ruins.

For no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity.

Unfortunately, Flandre had copied so much knowledge, but lacked history.