chsdbacks Chapter 229 The Reason
Chapter 229 The Reason
Chapter 229 The Reason
In the plaza of the New Norren Academy branch campus, the steel giant David and the tall and imposing Jemin greeted each other.
There was no excessive small talk, nor any unnecessary formalities.
At their level, time and efficiency are far more important than empty formalities.
A single glance, a confirmation of soul connection, is enough to convey all the necessary information.
After that, the two didn't say much, but just nodded in tacit agreement.
Their bodies simultaneously transformed into two streaks of light, rising from the ground and instantly tearing through the azure sky of the Erosian plane, taking off together and leaving the still-under-construction academy.
They flew at high speed toward the location where the "illegal wizard" was last seen, as mentioned in the mission intelligence.
The air currents in the high altitude were easily pushed aside by the energy shields around the two people, emitting a sharp whistling sound.
The earth receded rapidly beneath my feet, turning into blurry patches of color.
On the way, the two compared the information on their terminals and exchanged their findings.
During this process, Jemin, feeling curious, asked, "David, why did you participate in this mission?"
"Logically speaking, for newly promoted wizards like you and me, the best choice should be to stay in our respective base camps, carefully consolidate our level, and accumulate knowledge."
Jemin's words were not unfounded.
This is a consensus among logistics-oriented wizards, and even the vast majority of wizards with some ambition.
A solid foundation is far more important than reckless exploration.
Moreover, a wizard's power comes from wisdom and knowledge, and advancement does not necessarily mean an increase in power. Rashly going out to take action could very well lead to disaster. From Jemin's current perspective, if circumstances allow, he believes that a newly promoted level two wizard is not suitable for going out on missions for at least a hundred years.
Upon hearing Jemin's question, David, whose body was shrouded in heavy black armor, fell silent for a moment.
The surrounding air seemed to become a bit heavier as a result.
After a moment, instead of answering directly, he asked, "Jeming, do you know the origin of 'illegal wizards'?"
After giving a negative answer, Jemin began to explain the origins of the special existence of "illegal wizards" in a dull and weary voice.
The so-called "illegal wizards" were pretty much what Jemin had guessed before.
In reality, these are those who, without signing a formal contract with the official wizarding civilization, privately ascended to the rank of wizard.
This situation is not common, but it is not particularly rare either.
It usually occurs in the early stages after a plane has just been conquered, when the transformation of the entire plane is still in its initial phase and the monitoring arrays that cover the entire plane have not yet been fully deployed.
In the chaotic early stages of transformation, all sorts of problems are most likely to arise.
On the contrary, once the modification is completed and there is complete monitoring of all life forms in the entire plane, the probability of problems recurring will be much lower.
According to the ironclad rules of wizarding civilization, every promising newcomer is forced to sign a soul contract the moment they come into contact with extraordinary knowledge.
The contract contains numerous clauses, but if you remove the additional clauses unique to each wizarding faction, its core and most important aspects essentially boil down to two points:
First, one must not betray the wizard civilization in any form.
Second, one must not arbitrarily disclose any extraordinary knowledge about wizarding civilization to any other race or being with whom one has not signed a contract.
"Of course." David paused, then added, "While these two points are stated clearly, there are actually some ways to circumvent them. Theoretical loopholes will always exist."
"For example, what I did back then." He didn't shy away from bringing up his past.
"Back then, in order to persuade that sage from the Erosian plane and completely break down his psychological defenses, I showed him some devastating information about the wizarding civilization."
"If the sage's psychological defenses had not been broken down at that time, but instead he had chosen to resist to the end, and even leaked this information, then I would have violated the contract to some extent."
"Therefore, the possibility that the methods of wizarding practice may be leaked is not zero."
"However, such things can only happen in the early stages of dimensional transformation. Later, when the entire plane is completely covered by ubiquitous monitoring arrays, any abnormal energy fluctuations and information transmissions will be instantly detected. At that point, the occurrence of illegal wizards will be completely eliminated."
Upon hearing this, Jemin had a new question. He asked David with some curiosity, "Since there are loopholes, don't those high-ranking wizards consider revising the contract to make it more rigorous?"
David's enormous helmet swayed slowly from side to side, as if shaking its head.
"No," he replied, "those high-ranking wizards, especially those nine great beings at the pinnacle of our civilization, who are at the ninth level."
If they wanted, they could subdivide these two core contracts infinitely, eventually developing a perfect set of contractual rules that, in theory, would be absolutely impossible for anyone to find any loopholes to violate.
"But that does not benefit the development of wizards in any way."
"The more explicit and impeccable the rules, the more they will restrict the wizards' thinking and actions. And the most important thing for a wizard is that unfettered wisdom. In this way, it will actually be detrimental to the wizards' growth. Sheep raised in captivity can never defeat wolves in the wild."
Having answered Jamie's question, David finally steered the conversation back to the beginning.
He continued, "The reason I took on this mission is because—in a sense, this illegal wizard who is about to appear before us was born under my influence."
Jemin's eyes narrowed, and he listened quietly.
"The cause still lies with that sage." David's voice revealed a complex emotion that was hard to describe.
"After learning of the despair-inducing power of the wizarding civilization, he did not succumb to it like the others. He forcibly split his soul in two using a method I still cannot understand."
"A portion of his soul remained within his body, cooperating with me to sign a contract, and as the price for his 'surrender,' he personally slaughtered all the remaining high-ranking mortal leaders of the Erosian plane."
"And another part of his soul has taken up residence in the body of an inconspicuous commoner. He is waiting, waiting for the Norren Academy to carry out the first round of physical modifications on the remaining humans of the entire plane."
"After that body was modified to be suitable for humans in the wizarding world and could meditate, he began to secretly cultivate using a fragmented meditation method that he had obtained from who-knows-where."
"Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal. The wizarding forces don't mind having another intelligent and ambitious wizard. As long as he's willing to re-sign the contract and become one of us later."
Hearing this, Jemin nodded in agreement.
Wizarding civilization has long since moved beyond the era of classifying races based on appearance. To be honest, it's questionable whether many high-ranking wizards can even be considered human based on their appearance.
Even the modification of indigenous people, turning them into human form, was only because creatures in this form were more suitable for the initial meditation method.
If there truly exists a form of wisdom that even wizards acknowledge and is willing to join them, then the wizards would be very willing to see their civilization flourish.
Jemin had also studied the sage from the plane of Elosia.
Jemin had to admit that the other person's intelligence was indeed something he admired.
If such a person is willing to join the wizard civilization, then in the eyes of the wizards, the greatest loss he would cause to the wizard civilization is his use of incomplete meditation methods, which could very likely create obstacles to his future advancement.
"But the problem is that, it seems that the brutal soul-splitting process, or the subsequent body modification, caused some irreversible damage to his remaining soul. His mind has developed serious problems. The once calm and wise 'sage' has become out of control, cruel, and full of destructive desires."
"And because he already had a good foundation in strength, his soul strength far exceeded that of ordinary people. After he switched to becoming a wizard, his power increased exceptionally rapidly."
"Although it's a pity, Norren Academy will not allow an out-of-control wizard who refuses to communicate to run rampant under its magic."
David didn't finish his sentence, so Jemin silently completed the conclusion in his mind:
"Therefore, this kill mission was issued."
After David finished speaking, he fell silent again.
Jemin finally understood why the other party was here.
This is not just a mission, but also a way to settle a karmic debt that he himself started.
During their conversation, the two had already flown thousands of kilometers to the location where the target was last seen according to the intelligence.
It was a charred, twisted forest.
The air still carried a lingering aura of violent negative energy and the smell of blood.
The two descended from the air and each used their own reconnaissance methods to carefully search the area, which covered a radius of tens of kilometers.
Jemin even activated his "all-seeing eye" to analyze the residual energy information on every inch of land.
David, on the other hand, directly deployed a massive force field to sense any abnormal soul fluctuations.
However, after a thorough search, no valuable information was found.
The other party was clearly very good at hiding themselves, and had completely covered up all traces.
After exchanging a glance, the two used the magic network terminal to bring up a map of the nearby area and found the nearest city built by the remnants of the revolution.
"Let's go," Jemin said, "let's go there and see if we can find any clues."
There's no other way for the time being, so we can only go and ask around to see if anything strange has happened recently.