Asura in Arknights

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Defense

Let's rewind to this morning.

The riots in the West End last night had more or less affected this place, and Adele also had a very important graduation defense to face today, so Adele's mental state was not particularly good when she woke up this morning.

After sitting on the bed in a daze for more than ten minutes, Adele finally perked up.

With her hands clasped tightly to her chest, Adele whispered to herself, "Dad... Mom... I can do it."

Adele was filled with confidence, thinking about her parents who would be returning soon.

Not long after leaving the bedroom, Adele found a note left for her by Leon on the dining table.

"Did they leave so early?"

Adele thought she had woken up early enough, but to her surprise, Li Ang had woken up even earlier than her. She had just gotten out of bed when Li Ang had already disappeared somewhere.

Adele had no doubts about the note left by Leon that said, "I have to go out first."

"Phew... I need to do my best too."

After quickly finishing breakfast, Adele began checking everything she needed for her upcoming defense, including the reference papers she had prepared for the judges and the important sample that supported her theory.

After getting everything ready, Adele rushed to the classroom that had been prepared specifically for her thesis defense.

Standing at the classroom door, Adele took a deep breath and then knocked.

"Boom boom boom——"

"Please come in."

Adele arrived very early; none of the judges on the defense committee had arrived yet, and there was only one person in the classroom.

Professor Valk is another professor at the Originium Arts Academy. In the absence of Adele's father, he is in charge of the students' thesis defenses.

Seeing Adele walk in, the elderly professor smiled and waved to her, "Adele, you've come so early!"

"Come on, sit down and rest for a while."

After Adele sat down next to him, Professor Valcke said, "Adele, I have something to tell you first. The start time of the defense... may have to be postponed a little."

“Besides the guys on our committee, there are two other people who will be watching your defense. They’re not from the school, so they’ll be arriving a little later.”

"Someone else is coming?" Adele was somewhat surprised.

Generally, apart from professors from the college, only some students from related majors come to watch doctoral students' dissertation defenses. I've never heard of anyone from outside the university participating before, and the time for their defenses was specially postponed.

This made Adele curious about the identities of the two men.

Before Adele could ask, Professor Valcke explained, "Those two gentlemen came from the Tower. They were quite interested in your thesis, so they came here specifically to attend your graduation defense."

They actually came from the tower... No wonder the professor takes them so seriously, given their status.

This unexpected turn of events made Adele a little nervous. She wasn't prepared to face two tower sorcerers; who knew what strange questions those who spent all their time in the tower would ask?

“This is your father’s idea, so you must make the most of this opportunity,” Professor Valcke encouraged. “The Tower offers a better future than staying at William University.”

He said with a sigh, "Back then, I was just a little bit short of passing the tower's test. Looking back now, it's really a pity..."

Professor Valcke's suggestion of a more promising path certainly didn't mean Adele should join the Sorcerer's Guard.

Although the Warlock Guard is the most elite force in Letania on the surface, those people are just the Tower's 'guards'. What Professor Valk meant was that Adele has the opportunity to enter the core of the Tower and become a true 'Tower Warlock'.

This kind of opportunity isn't something everyone gets to have.

"I understand, I will try my best." Adele nodded seriously.

"Speaking of which, Adele, didn't your boyfriend come today?" Professor Valcke looked out the window but didn't see the figure he expected. "He didn't even come to be with you on such an important day?"

Boy friend?

After a moment of surprise, Adele quickly realized who Professor Valcke was referring to.

Adele blushed slightly and immediately retorted, "He's not my boyfriend! He's...he's...he's just my friend..."

As she spoke, Adele's voice gradually softened. She now realized that the relationship between the two of them seemed to have gone beyond the boundaries of ordinary friends... Who would let an ordinary friend stay in their home?

It's understandable that the professor would misunderstand.

Seeing Adele fall silent, Professor Valcke realized that his joke had gone too far, so he quickly reassured her, "Alright, alright, I know, I know. I was just joking with you because you seemed a little nervous."

"Anyway, don't worry too much. Just do your best. Even if you don't pass the tower test, staying at William University is still a good option."

"Before those guys arrive, ask them any questions you have now. Also... let me see your paper. I'll think about what questions I need to ask you next."

Professor Valcke didn't care about this behavior, which was tantamount to 'cheating'. In his opinion, Adele was already qualified to graduate, and the defense was just a formality. However, the girl was very stubborn and insisted on producing some results.

With the addition of two sorcerers from the Tower, the nature of the defense changed. It transformed from testing Adele's knowledge into showcasing her talent and research findings to the two sorcerers.

This was just to help a colleague's daughter; it's nothing serious.

The judges who arrived later all made the same choice as Professor Valcke. If they didn't have some deep-seated hatred for Adele, who would deliberately make things difficult for her in this matter?

Time passed slowly, and about half an hour after the original start time, the two tower sorcerers finally arrived at the classroom.

They were two very mysterious sorcerers, just like in various legends. Their bodies were wrapped in a thick black robe, and their faces were shrouded in some kind of Originium Arts that would interfere with their vision.

Tower sorcerers are considered very important figures in Letania. Except for a few individuals, most tower sorcerers do not easily reveal their true identities, and few people in the general public know their true identities.

As soon as they entered the classroom, the leading sorcerer said, "Professors, you can pretend we don't exist. Just proceed according to the original plan."

"We will not interfere with your decisions. We will make our own judgment after everything is over."

Upon hearing this, the judges exchanged glances, and then Professor Valcke looked at Adele standing on the podium, nodded, and said, "Miss Adele Naumann, you may begin now. You have half an hour to present your successful research to us."

Adele took a deep breath and said, "Distinguished teachers, I am Adele Nauman. The paper I will be presenting next is titled 'On the Relationship between Originium and the Generation of Natural Disasters'."

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Originium and Natural Disasters

The relationship between Originium and natural disasters is a timeless topic, with numerous papers published worldwide every year. Therefore, writing an excellent paper on this topic is extremely difficult.

Adele had her reasons for choosing this topic.

Compared to others, Adele has an advantage that no one else has: her parents are some of the world's leading experts in volcanoes.

Therefore, Adele's paper also chose to approach the topic from this angle, starting with the relationship between volcanoes and Originium, and gradually expanding to the relationship between humanity, Originium, and natural disasters.

Volcanoes play a very special role in this world because volcanic eruptions are also a type of natural disaster.

Unlike natural disasters that can occur anywhere, the location of a volcano is completely fixed. Therefore, even if a volcanic eruption is extremely dangerous, it is very easy to avoid, as long as the mobile city is not parked near the volcano.

Because of this characteristic of volcanoes, many people have taken a liking to them.

Natural disasters and Originium are inextricably linked. Natural disasters bring Originium, and Originium triggers natural disasters. This is the common understanding. Volcanoes can cause natural disasters, which means that there must be already formed Originium veins that can be found in volcanoes.

Moreover, due to the frequency of natural disasters, even if the Originium veins in the volcano are completely mined out, they will regenerate in a relatively short period of time. The half-formed Originium ore that Adele found is a very strong piece of evidence for this.

From this perspective, Adele reinterprets the relationship between humanity and Originium, and subtly expresses her concern about natural disasters.

"Humans are continuously transporting Originium back to the city to feed the entire social system. Only by becoming stronger can humanity cope with natural disasters that may become even stronger in the future."

Finally, Adele concluded her paper with this sentence.

Originally, there was a paragraph at the end of this paper stating that hundreds of years ago, before humans invented mobile cities, natural disasters might not have been as severe as they are now. Otherwise, why would the world's situation not have improved much even though humans have mobile cities to escape natural disasters?

Is it precisely because of humanity's misuse of Originium that natural disasters have become increasingly powerful?

Or is it that the natural disaster is growing stronger over time, and the entire world will eventually be destroyed in a natural disaster of unprecedented scale? Before that happens, humanity can only obtain a sliver of hope by developing Originium Arts at any cost?

Adele's father had done more in-depth research in this area and had discovered that volcanic activity around the world had become more frequent in recent years than in the last century. It was under his influence that Adele came up with this idea.

However, after much consideration, Adele ultimately decided to remove this section from the paper, as this viewpoint was not suitable for this paper.

Next comes the most difficult part for every graduate: the Q&A session. If the professors find flaws in the thesis or stump you with a tricky question, the words "delayed graduation" become a nightmare for many.

Fortunately, Adele didn't need to worry about that. Because they had already discussed it with each other, the questions raised by the professors were very targeted. On the surface, there was no sign of them being lenient, and the questions were all aimed at some unclear parts of the paper.

From an outsider's perspective, this was a perfect defense, and the judges immediately announced that Adele had passed the defense.

Now, everyone's attention has turned to the two tower sorcerers, who are the only ones who haven't yet expressed any opinion.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, one of the tower warlocks cleared his throat and asked, "I'm quite interested in what you said at the end about the relationship between Originium and society as a whole. Could you elaborate on that?"

That's what you're asking?

After thinking for a moment, Adele replied, "No problem."

"In my view, the relationship between Originium and humans is similar to that between ants and food..."

Then, Adele shared some of her theories about natural disasters.

"A very interesting idea."

Nodding, the tower warlock continued, "Did you come up with this on your own, or did you hear about it from someone else?"

“This…” Adele hesitated for a moment, then answered honestly, “I heard this idea from my father.”

Adele felt there was no point in hiding such things; a little investigation into Adele's social circle would reveal the origins of her views, so she honestly told the truth.

"I see."

After asking that question, the two tower warlocks seemed to have no more questions and began to talk in a corner of the classroom.

Bystanders could only hear them talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

Letania is a land of Originium Arts and music, so it is naturally rich in Originium Arts related to music. In fact, many of these Originium Arts are driven by sound.

Blurring one's voice is nothing to these tower sorcerers; others are already used to it.

The two argued for a long time before finally reaching an agreement.

“Alright, Miss Adele Nauman, we have reached an agreement,” the Tower Sorcerer said.

At this moment, everyone's hearts were in their throats. Adele's future depended entirely on what the other party would say next.

"Regarding how you will be handled, my deputy and I have reached a temporary agreement."

At this moment, another warlock who had never spoken a word suddenly walked to the professor's door and made a move that surprised everyone.

He took out his staff and, while softly humming, released a verdant light that instantly covered all the doors and windows in the classroom.

After doing all this, he didn't stop, but instead pointed his staff at Adele on the podium.

What do you want to do?

Professor Valcke jumped up from his seat, and the other professors, though a beat slower, quickly reacted, drawing their staffs to confront the two tower sorcerers.

The actions of those two sorcerers... had revealed their malice without reservation. Regardless of their true identities, these professors could not stand by and watch them attack their own students.

"This is a matter for the Tower to handle, and it has nothing to do with you. You'd better not interfere," the Tower sorcerer warned.

"According to Her Majesty the Queen's latest decree on infected persons, the Tower has the authority to arrest any infected person whose infection level exceeds the standard."

“So, Miss Adele Naumann,”

"You are under arrest."

Chapter Forty: Imprisonment

"...That's roughly what happened." Professor Valcke gritted his teeth and recounted the scene to Li Ang.

"Several of us tried to stop them, but they attacked without any hesitation..."

Professor Valcke's head wound was inflicted at that time.

The first attack was just a warning. If Professor Valcke and his companions had dared to make any further moves, it wouldn't have been as simple as just having a wound on their heads.

They were just ordinary professors at William University, and even though they possessed powerful Originium Arts, their practical combat experience was almost zero.

Some of them were even those who failed the Tower Tests, and there was a significant gap between them and true Tower Warlocks. Faced with two genuine Tower Warlocks, there was very little they could do.

“We did our best, but those two guys… they really wanted to kill us,” Professor Valcke said with a wry smile. “Adele’s parents haven’t even returned to Letania yet, I really don’t know why this happened.”

After listening, Li Ang had only one feeling: this was simply...incomprehensible.

The claim that, according to Her Majesty the Queen's latest decree, all infected individuals exceeding a certain infection threshold will be arrested is utter nonsense.

It is no exaggeration to say that at least 10% of the residents of Brandenburg are infected. How many of these infected people are so seriously ill that they could die at any time and become new sources of infection?

Why arrest Adele instead of those infected? Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that this is just an excuse.

“Something must have gone wrong. Why would they arrest that child? And for such a ridiculous reason?” Professor Valcke said, looking somewhat dazed.

He also helped to contact the sorcerer in the tower. Professor Valk meant well, hoping that his student, on whom he had placed high hopes, could take this opportunity to rise to prominence. Who could have imagined that it would bring such a disaster?

"Where is Adele now? Has she been taken away by those people?" Leon asked after calming down.

“No… Adele is currently being held in the library.” Professor Valcke shook his head and said, “The headmaster already knows about this. He stopped those two guys. No matter what, we can’t let the student be taken away like this.”