Wizards begin with Occlumency.

Chapter 298 Slippery

The problem is coming.

What is Forrest Diomand trying to catch with this bait?

Is it really as Ragnar Wolters said, that they lured Michel's Tower of Sages into the game?

Based on Fletcher Domingo's understanding of Forrest Diormand, this might have been his intention, but it's unlikely to be his primary intention.

Just as your enemy is the one who knows you best.

Those who cannot obtain what they desire will go to great lengths to investigate and understand everything about the person or thing they seek.

When Fletcher Domingo was young, he wanted to get close to Forrest Diormand but was rejected. So he kept an eye on Forrest’s deeds and analyzed his personality and style of doing things.

Even though he himself knew that such a mentality and behavior were not good.

It seems a bit perverted.

But I just can't suppress my desire to know the latest news about Forrest!

Over time, it became a habit.

However, there was an unexpected benefit: Fletcher Domingo could claim that he was perhaps one of the few people who knew Forrest Diormand best.

Therefore, Fletcher can conclude that Forrest's throwing out such a big bait was not simply to lure the Tower of the Great Sage Michel into the game!

(Michelle the Great Sage's Tower: Thank you for your high regard!)

That being said, as the top power in the Michelle District, the Great Sage's Tower should rightfully act as the arbitrator.

Personally engaging with the top wizarding organizations in the district, or other large, medium, and small wizarding organizations, to compete for profits would not only appear unseemly, but would also cause one to lose their superior status.

Once this "skin" is stripped away, and it suffers a strong impact, the status of Michel's Tower of Great Sages could very well be shaken, or even overthrown.

Fletcher Domingo couldn't believe that no one would notice this in the vast Tower of the Great Sage Michel.

Therefore, the Great Sage's Tower of Michel should remain calm and ignore this bait.

"If there truly is a lineage of saints, then Forrest must have used it as bait."

So Fletcher said, "I'm sure some of you can see that too, so why take that bite?"

Ragnar Walters paused for a moment, then sighed deeply, "That's the lineage of a saint! A saint indeed!"

This sigh contained a wealth of emotions, an unspoken message.

Upon hearing this, Fletcher suddenly realized something.

Although the Great Sage Michel was promoted to the ninth level of Great Sage two hundred years after the establishment of the Michel District.

However, he was already an eighth-level Great Sage before that epic battle with the world of gods, and he also participated in that epic battle.

In other words, at this moment, Michelle, the ninth-level Great Sage, has to face a problem that all high-level wizards in the wizarding world must face—the upper limit of natural lifespan!

Humans, as a non-superhuman species, are subject to the concept of a natural lifespan.

If one never reaches the extraordinary level in their lifetime, that is, if they fail to master even the early experimental failure of the body-refining wizard school—the knight system—then living to be over a hundred years old would be considered a long life.

The natural lifespan limit for a formal wizard is around five hundred years.

The natural lifespan limit of a sage-level wizard is between 1,500 and 2,000 years.

The natural lifespan limit of a Great Sage-level wizard is between three thousand and five thousand years.

It is human nature for those with short lifespans to desire long lifespans, and those who desire long lifespans to hope for immortality.

In the wizarding world, unless one dies unexpectedly or is annihilated, only saints can truly achieve immortality!

A level nine sage can certainly find ways to extend their lifespan.

However, each time it is extended, it will be assimilated by the will of the wizarding world.

The humanity that has been so painstakingly preserved will be partially lost.

If this happens too often, one loses all humanity and becomes no different from the gods of the divine world.

They are all agents of the power of the rules, or to put it more bluntly, puppets of the rules!

Rumor has it that Archsage Michelle, a level nine sage, has already had her lifespan extended once.

Therefore, when faced with the question of the upper limit of natural lifespan once again, only two paths lie before the 9th-level Great Sage, Michel:

One option is to continue extending lifespan at the cost of losing some of one's humanity; the other is to find a way to break through, ascend to sainthood, and achieve immortality.

Who would choose a bumpy, detour when they could take the broad, straight road?

The lineage of the Nostrodam Saints has emerged in this world, and the Great Sage Tower of Michelle knows that entering the game is inappropriate, but she must still enter it.

Because Michelle, a level nine Great Sage, could not possibly advance to the Saint level as an elemental wizard.

Otherwise, are you planning to kill the current elemental saint and take his place?

If Sage Michel wants to advance, he either needs to create his own school of thought and climb to the top on his own, or he needs to inherit the positions of the four fallen saints!

The reappearance of the long-extinct lineage of the Mystical Nostrodam Saints is timely.

Forrest is fishing with a straight hook; he's using an open strategy.

Michelle the Great Sage's Tower had no choice but to take the bait.

Having figured all this out, Fletcher Domingo reflected on his own straightforward style of doing things and sighed for the umpteenth time, no wonder Forrest had always looked down on him.

His heart isn't dirty enough!

Fletcher narrowed his eyes, then changed the subject, asking, "Enough with the small talk. What brings you here?"

After figuring out the whole story, Fletcher was too lazy to deal with all that backstabbing and scheming and wanted to get rid of Ragnar Wolters as soon as possible.

Fletcher didn't care which organization would ultimately seize the Saint's legacy.

Anyway, as a body-refining wizard, he could never switch to the mystical wizarding path.

Who cares about saints or not, or traditions or not?

Ragnar Wolters smiled and said, "I want to make a deal with you."

"What agreement?"

"I won't attack you, and you won't attack me."

"Can."

Fletcher immediately agreed.

As mentioned before, Fletcher had fought alongside Ragnall and was well aware of Ragnall's strength.

If the two of them were to fight and it came to a draw, it would be normal for them to fight for several years.

If it's a matter of life and death, it would take at least ten days to half a month to fight.

By the time the outcome or even life and death are decided, it will be too late for anything.

However, Fletcher disregarded the two Level 5 Sages sent by the Flame and Metal Merchants and the White Tower Alliance.

There are differences even among wise men.

Some sages are always at war, while others crave comfort or stay behind to protect their families.

Even if they are of the same level, there will naturally be a gap in combat power.

Unfortunately, or rather coincidentally, the two Level 5 Sages sent by the Flame and Metal Merchant Guild and the White Tower Alliance were the latter type.

In the eyes of Fletcher and Ragnar, who had just returned from the front lines, this was nothing more than a worthless piece of trash, if not a top-tier product.

"Is it a deal?"

This is a very important matter, and Ragnar Wolters needs a definite commitment.

It's a deal.

Fletcher solemnly gave a positive commitment.

Regardless of the power struggle between the two major forces, the Rivosos Academy and the Tower of the Great Sage of Michelle, these sages who are active on the front lines against the world of gods still share a tacit understanding.

The battlefield situation changes rapidly, and no one knows when they might need the enemy's support.

Therefore, these wise men valued promises extremely highly.

Once a promise is made, it will never be broken.

"Thanks."

Ragnall Walters took a half step back, his entire body merging into the void and disappearing from sight.

Fletcher Domingo did the same, concealing his presence while keeping a close eye on the hiding places of the two Level 5 Sages from the Flame and Metal Merchant Guild and the White Tower Alliance.

He wanted to see how Ragnar, who had killed several demigods, would deal with them.

Inside the cockpit of the Lark-class starship.

Link carefully observed the warships sent by the Great Sage's Tower of Michel through Flandre's vision, and his brows furrowed tightly.

That warship brazenly barged into the "pocket".

At the same time, it also continuously broadcasts to the surrounding star systems.

After being relayed through Flandre, Link heard the broadcast clearly.

"Michelle the Great Sage's Tower is handling official business; unauthorized personnel should refrain from entering!"

"Repeat."

"Michelle the Great Sage's Tower is handling official business; unauthorized personnel should refrain from entering!"

"..."

The content of this broadcast perfectly matched the arrogant posture of the warship breaking into the pocket.

They blatantly displayed their domineering style, clearing out the area as soon as they arrived.

"Flandre, check if those two warships are making any moves."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, in Flandre's shared field of vision, the flagship of the Blazing and Metal Company, the same ship that Link had poked in the butt with, appeared.

The main ship turned around and retreated without hesitation, and at an extremely fast speed.

It seems they were genuinely intimidated by the reputation of the Great Sage's Tower of Michel.

They didn't even bother with the ambush mission and fled.

"Sir, shall we follow it and continue to keep an eye on it?"

Flandre asked a question.

"stare."

Link thought for a moment and then gave a reply.

He didn't believe that the warships of the Great Sage's Tower of Michel would give up so easily just because of a verbal threat.

There must be something fishy going on.

As for the White Tower Alliance's warship, Flandre was too busy to deal with it, and Cornelia was not yet of any use, so we'll leave it for now.

With his attention divided into three parts, Link kept in touch with Flandre, checked the group assignments, and pondered how to deal with the sudden intrusion of Michelle's Great Sage's Tower team.

While I was pondering this, the results of the group selection came out.

Link looked closely and found that all the first-level wizards had chosen the decoy group, while all the second-level wizards had chosen the main attack group.

From this perspective, all 11 team members are self-aware, clearly understand their own strengths and the most suitable roles for them.

These are truly the elites selected by the academy to carry out this mission.

"There's a new development I need to share with everyone."

Without affirming or denying the group selection results, Link said in a deep voice, "The Great Sage's Tower of Michel has also sent a team to participate in this battle for the Saint's inheritance. Their warships are extremely arrogant, broadcasting threats and aggressively clearing the area."

"The Tower of the Great Sage Michel?"

"Why are they getting involved too?"

"That's right. According to the rules of the Supreme Council, whether it's our academy or other organizations, we all have to pay tribute to the Tower of the Great Sage Michel every year. How could they possibly participate?"

"What's the point of saying all this? They've already made their move, what can you do about it? Let's discuss how to deal with it instead."

"Are we just abandoning the plan we just made?"

"On the contrary, I think we should stick to the original plan, just with some changes. Whether it's a decoy group or a main attack group, we should all be in one group."

"..."

Link sparked a discussion among the team members, but he didn't listen attentively; he was focused on studying the star chart that had been pulled up.

Lanny Taylor noticed this, and after a moment's thought, she walked to the captain's seat and asked in a low voice, "Captain, you already have a solution, right?"

The voice was low, but the other 10 team members who were having a heated discussion could hear it clearly.

They didn't stop discussing it either.

Instead, he kept rambling on about meaningless nonsense, which was being recorded by the ever-running cameras in the cockpit, while simultaneously trying to hear how Link would answer Lanny Taylor's question.

Link knew this perfectly well, and replied softly:

Similar to the previous plan, we will still be divided into two groups.

However, the groups should be evenly distributed, rather than a decoy-and-main-attack relationship.

One group remained in the asteroid belt, waiting for an opportunity to act; the other group piloted a warship, circled around along this route, intercepted the Shadow City interdimensional pioneering team, explained the situation, and reached a cooperation agreement with them.

As he spoke, Link drew a winding route on the star map, perfectly avoiding the maximum reconnaissance range of the three teams: the Flame and Metal Merchant Guild, the White Tower Alliance, and the Great Sage's Tower of Michelle, without wasting too much time taking detours.

With the "Skylark" starship operating at full capacity, it could easily slip past the three other ships along this route unnoticed.

As the 11 team members watched Link casually project the route onto the huge main screen, they couldn't help but marvel at Link's meticulous thinking and formidable computing power.

Link said that the "multi-threaded thinking" state is really useful.

"Why are we still dividing into groups?"

Suppressing her astonishment, Lani asked doubtfully, "Shouldn't we be concentrating our forces at this time?"

Link explained, "He does his thing, I do mine. Despite the intrusion of the Great Sage Michel's Tower, we can't afford to lose our composure."

"Understood."

Lani seemed to be deep in thought.

The other 10 team members had different thoughts upon hearing this.

Since Link had steered the mission off course from the very beginning, instead of following the Academy's mission details to "snipe" the Shadow City interdimensional pioneering team...

Instead, they were thinking of getting a share of the spoils from the Shadow City interdimensional pioneering team through negotiation and cooperation.

It is indeed feasible to some extent.

Let's all just go along with Link Grand, the team leader, and have a little fun.

The worst that can happen is that the mission fails.

In any case, the main responsibility fell on Link Grand, the captain who devised the plan.

Link had already regrouped the groups based on the self-selection results.

First-level and second-level wizards were mixed together and evenly divided into two groups. Apart from Link's overpowered existence, the two groups were roughly equal in strength.

"I propose that Lanny Taylor lead Group One, with five members, piloting the interstellar warship, and proceed according to plan. I will personally lead Group Two, with five members, to lie in wait in the asteroid belt and act when the opportunity arises."

Link announced his decision, displaying the new grouping results on the large main screen.

The 11 team members, including Lanny Taylor, were not surprised by the group assignments.

In particular, the fact that Lani Taylor was the group leader.

Everyone here has eyes; how could they not see that Lanny has been working together with Link all along?

"Time waits for no one, let's all take action."

After saying this, Link delegated command of the warship to Lani Taylor, then rose from the captain's seat and left the cockpit first.

The five members of Group Two chosen by Link immediately followed.

The six shuttles detached from the starship and dispersed to lie in wait at the asteroid belt hiding place arranged by Link.

To avoid being discovered, Group Two will remain completely silent throughout the process.

Forget about sending out reconnaissance magic devices, they can't even communicate with each other.

Until Link gave the order to act based on the latest information.

Only after the five members of the second group emerge from silence will they act according to instructions.

The Lark-class starship, under the command of Lanny Taylor, stealthily traveled along the route set by Link towards the Shadow City interdimensional pioneer team.

Although the route was planned perfectly and could theoretically avoid the detection of the three warships, Lani dared not be careless.

They only felt relieved after passing the area most likely to be spotted.

On the other hand, after arranging the hiding places for the five team members, Link did not stay in the asteroid belt any longer.

He once again broke away from the group and acted alone to conduct close reconnaissance.

"Master, master."

Flandre's voice rang out just in time, "They've taken a huge detour, intending to circle around to the back of Michelle's Great Sage's Tower team."

"Um."

Link was now stealthily making his way to the location where the White Tower Alliance's warship had previously been hiding, and he instructed in his mind, "Flandre, come back and keep an eye on the Great Sage Michelle's Tower team."

"Yes, sir."

Flandre sweetly agreed and immediately entered the real "small world," then appeared beside Link and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Wind sprites, even in space, come and go freely.

"Sun" wind is still wind, right?

By the time Link finally found the White Tower Alliance's warship, which had also moved, Flandre had already set up surveillance on Michelle's Great Sage's Tower team.

Perhaps knowing that its broadcast threats could only deter, but not completely drive away, other organizations interested in the Saint's legacy, the warships of the Great Sage's Tower of Michel have now ceased this arrogant behavior.

Instead, they became even more arrogant, swaggering around and making no attempt to conceal their presence on the only route the Shadow City interdimensional pioneers would take back.

Unlike the teams from Rivosos Academy, Flame and Metal Merchant Guild, and White Tower Alliance, who resort to ambushes and sneak attacks.

They're going to take a hard line, going in head-on and engaging in a sniper duel at the middle.

Seeing this, Link instinctively felt he could take advantage of the situation, but ultimately suppressed his urge to join forces with the Flame and Metal Merchants and the White Tower Alliance to pull off a heist.

There's no need for someone to force their way in.

If the Flame and Metal Merchant Guild and the White Tower Alliance intend to deal with Michelle's Great Sage's Tower team, they will take action on their own without Link taking the lead.

If there was no such intention, Link taking the lead would serve no purpose other than revealing his own existence.

Inside the warships of the Flame and Metal Merchant Company.

Vina the Wizard glared angrily at the images displayed on the main screen, wishing she could immediately launch an attack on the warship of the Great Sage Michelle's Tower.

The experience of being remotely controlled by the headquarters of the trading company, having our warships flee without firing a single shot, was truly infuriating and frustrating!

Since she was born, when has Vina ever suffered such treatment?

Inside the White Tower Alliance's warship.

The "scholar" Silvano, now in a different warship, looked at the Flame and Metal Merchant Guild warship on the main screen, which seemed poised to launch an attack, and couldn't help but shake his head, sighing, "Vina, Vina, you still don't think things through."

Although Forrest stirred things up, the alliance between the Blazing Flame and Metal Merchants and the White Tower Alliance was not so easily broken.

This time, the two companies once again acted in unison, sharing the same goals and cooperating in their actions.

Therefore, when Link first discovered the two teams, their warships were positioned at the 12 o'clock position and the 6 o'clock position, which was just right for launching a pincer attack from two directions.

When Michelle's team from the Great Sage's Tower suddenly appeared, they broadcast threats and arrogantly cleared the area.

The "scholar" Silvano took the initiative to back down and informed Vina, urging her to remain consistent.

As a result, Vina got angry and decided not to back down an inch, even wanting to clash with Michelle's Great Sage Tower team.

This prompted the headquarters of the Blazing Flame and Metal Company to intervene, remotely controlling the warship to evade.

"snort!"

Hearing the mocking voice of "scholar" Silvano, Vina scoffed and replied, "All I know is that, according to the rules of the Supreme Council, their forces are about the same size as ours. Two against one, victory is assured!"

"and then?"

Silvano calmly countered with a question.

"And then?"

Vina was slightly puzzled. "And then you won? What else?"

"Tsk tsk..."

Silvano sighed, "Are you really stupid or just pretending?"

Vina did not respond and remained silent.

Silvano said to himself:

"We deployed so many reconnaissance artifacts and put our warships' reconnaissance systems at maximum, yet we didn't find any teams from Mesopotamia University and Rivosos Academy. Isn't that strange?"

It's understandable that the University of Mesopotamia is completely closed off and not sending any teams.

But will Rivoss Academy not send a team?

That's impossible.

As you said, according to the rules of the Supreme Council, the size of the teams that all organizations send to seize the inheritance should be equal.

So, under what circumstances would we be unable to locate the Rivosos Academy team?

As he spoke, Silvano pulled up a star map of this region and pointed to several locations, including the asteroid belt:

"Only when they are hiding in these places that are far away, difficult to detect, and easy to conceal can we fail to discover them."

Vina looked at the points marked by Silvana and asked疑惑地问道, "Since you already have a guess, why not send more reconnaissance magical artifacts to these places?"

Silvano laughed and retorted, "So what if we find them? What's the point?"

Vina was completely stumped by this question.

She took a deep breath, but still couldn't suppress her anger, and gritted her teeth, saying, "Stop pretending to be profound, explain yourself clearly."

Silvano's smile faded, and he said seriously, "Because I never intended to participate in the competition to seize the Saint's inheritance in the first place."

"Why? What about the mission?"

Vina asked, puzzled.

Silvano shook his head, a mocking smile playing on his lips:

"Because the water is too deep in here, if you or I get involved, we'll easily drown."

The legacy of a mystical saint is not so easy to steal.

Even if we manage to snatch it, what benefits will we gain?

Do you dare to rob it?

I dare not!

(End of this chapter)