Chapter 358: Shadows Beneath the Tower
Xuebang, the magnificent Great Sage's Tower, Professor Hector Lane's study.
The heavy snow was hitting the glass windows, but the room was so quiet that the only sound was the rustling sound of the ancient pages turning automatically.
Hector, who had just returned from the winter assessment site at the border, was sitting in front of the fireplace, listening to the work reports of his assistants with a little fatigue.
Most of the content was related to the research he was personally responsible for, especially the experiments related to the "virtual realm", one of the top secrets of the academy.
Standing in front of the professor, the teaching assistant, holding the report, reported nervously.
"...The energy of the Seventeenth Void Realm is still unstable. We lost three Mirror Golems and found nothing."
"The initial contact with the 'Flying Boat' world failed. The other side seems to have a field that we cannot understand and can interfere with the conduction of magic power. Our power just touched the edge of that energy and it automatically dissipated. Unfortunately... the other side didn't seem to notice us at all."
Hector listened to the assistants' reports with an expressionless face. All the reports were basically within his expectations.
Until the last assistant teacher in charge of recruiting apprentices for the winter of this year came forward and reported another matter at a very fast speed.
"Professor, the grading of the written examination for this winter recruitment has been preliminarily completed. This year, like in previous years, there are 1,000 people who have passed the examination, but... there is one thing that may interest you."
The assistant teacher's face was filled with excitement. As soon as he finished speaking, he presented a report with both hands and continued speaking excitedly.
"An unprecedented answer sheet appeared in the examination room. The three teaching assistants who were responsible for the final review gave it full marks without knowing each other!"
Hector's slightly frowned brows relaxed, then frowned even tighter, seeming a little disapproving.
He had set this year's exam questions himself, and he was well aware of how tricky they were.
Especially for those subjective questions about the ethics and origin of magic, there is no "perfect answer" in the standard sense.
"Full marks?" He asked calmly, "Did you relax the standards, or did a true genius sneak into the test takers this year?"
"Please take a look!" The teaching assistant did not back down because of the professor's questioning. Instead, he became more excited and handed over a copy of the answer sheet that he had rewritten.
Hector raised his eyebrows slightly, waved his wand, and the test paper floated in front of him.
He began to examine the first line, his expression initially showing a hint of scrutiny and criticism, but it was soon replaced by shock.
"...The soul is not simply a container that carries magic power, but a 'string' that interferes with reality. Its essence is the fulcrum that pries the material world from the spiritual level. The depth of the soul may not determine its capacity, but determines its 'vibration frequency', and thus determines what level of 'source power' it can resonate with..."
"By the way, my understanding of 'source power' is that it has nothing to do with religion and involves all forms of supernatural power, the 'source power of the world'."
Hector's expression was first shock, then disbelief, and then turned into ecstasy of discovering an amazing treasure, so much so that his breathing became much faster.
Influenced by the teachings of Saint Sith, most of the students that Xuebang can find from the Empire are scum whose brains are filled with a lot of shit. They neither understand the teachings of Saint Sith nor the principles of mysticism, so it is no exaggeration to say that the annual winter assessment of Xuebang is like panning for gold in shit.
But he didn't expect that he would actually find a piece of gold this time. In one sentence, he revealed the essence of supernatural power! This is of course common sense in the Great Sage Tower.
But it is incredible that the slag that has not been recycled can also comprehend this level! It is not even just about the part about extraordinary power!
Regarding the topic of virtual realm, this extraordinary candidate also gave a brilliant insight based on the limited content on the stone tablet!
As if possessed, Hector whispered a short passage from the essay, his fingers holding the test paper trembling slightly.
"As for the 'virtual world', my guess is that it may not be the stars in the sky, but a parallel space-time that overlaps with the world we live in, but with a completely different 'vibration frequency'. As I mentioned before, the spirit is plucking the strings of the material world, and two strings with the same frequency can resonate. This is why we can see them..."
genius!
The flaws in the theory do not prevent this guy from being a genius! If Xuebang was not the only one in the entire empire who was studying the virtual realm, he could not help but wonder if this guy was an old guy who was involved in the virtual realm research and was answering the questions!
Of course, this is also impossible.
Not to mention that the professors at Xuebang would not be so boring. These discussions are obviously inferences based on the question itself and do not contain specific experimental content.
If he were to solve this problem, he might have written a more rigorous argument, but he would never have thought of such a tricky angle! He would never have thought that he could use the theory of strings and resonance to connect Xuebang's "virtual realm theory" with the "source power theory" of the Great Sage Tower! "Snap!"
Hector slammed the answer sheet on his knees, his eyes burning with an unprecedented light. He gave the teaching assistant an order in an unquestionable tone.
"What's the name of this candidate? Where does he intend to apply? At all costs, we in the Great Sage Tower must capture this person!"
The teaching assistant quickly responded, "Professor, his name is Marco Gage."
"Marco Gage..." Hector repeated the name as if he wanted to engrave it in his heart, and continued excitedly, "You go to the border immediately! Conduct his interview--"
He was halfway through his words when he immediately changed his tone, his face showing an eagerness that he could no longer conceal, and he waved his sleeves and stood up.
"No, I'd better go there myself!"
He couldn't wait to discuss the theory of virtual realm with the candidate face to face! Hector could even imagine how ecstatic the genius who longed for Xuebang would be when the famous Professor Hector stood in front of him and invited him to join his research team!
…
A perfect answer sheet from a candidate named Marco Gage caused a small stir at the highest level of the Tower of Sages.
Professor Hector Lane has decided to go to the border in person to meet this once-in-a-century genius.
However, the sages on the tower did not know that behind this answer sheet that could be called a work of art there was no brilliant soul to match it, but only a freak cultivated by them and the empire.
Just when Professor Hector Ryan was shocked by a "perfect answer", an apprentice named Milos, under the cover of his predecessors, sneaked out of the school's temporary camp on the border of the Kingdom of Rhodes and quietly sneaked into the almost undefended Eagle Rock Territory.
As a preparatory student of the academy from the Northern Dukedom of the Kingdom of Rhodes, he was different from his fellow countrymen who valued martial arts. He had been fascinated by the mysterious magic since he was a child.
More than just an interest.
He was also lucky enough to have a talent for mysticism! An accidental fall into the water awakened his ability to fly, but at the time he didn't know a single spell, so his parents once thought it was a miracle from Saint Sith.
After learning that it was not a miracle but a sign of awakening extraordinary powers, his parents sold the last few acres of land in the family without hesitation, and turned from free people into serfs. Only then did they finally raise enough money for the journey and send him to Xuebang.
Milos's talent was soon verified. He showed his potential in the written test, and with his extraordinary "spiritual potential", he received an olive branch from the Tower of Great Sage.
The story was good so far, and Milos had no doubt that he would soon become a distinguished wizard and bring his parents from the lord to his own wizard tower.
However, he still overestimated the weight of genius.
After all, this was an academy where all the magic geniuses from the entire continent of Os gathered, and he was just a boy who accidentally fell into the water but survived.
There are many extraordinary people here whose experiences are more legendary than his.
Not only that, there are also nobles who can learn magic with just a wave of their hands, and can cast spells without going through any embarrassing shit...as long as they are willing to learn it.
Compared to those real "darlings", his qualifications can only be considered mediocre.
After struggling for several years at the bottleneck of promotion, he not only exhausted all his savings, but also exhausted all his energy, and there was no sign of taking his parents away from the lord's land.
He knew very well that this was all the talent he had. All the blessings he had accumulated in his previous life and even in the previous life had ended up here, and he had already used them all. The bronze level was the limit of his soul level - there was no way he could break through it in this lifetime.
unless--
Use methods outside the system.
Milos had heard of a place called "Virtual Realm", which was the highest level secret of the school. It was said that there was something there that could enable people with mediocre qualifications to improve their soul level without any side effects!
Even though he knew that using these things would come at a huge price, he had no other choice.
He needs money!
And it was a lot of money! Although it would not take a mountain of gold, or even a single gold coin, to redeem his parents who were too old to till the fields, had he worked so hard for half his life just to give his parents the life they could have lived? If so, what would his wanderings along the way mean? A man as smart as him would at least be a guest of the Duke of the North or even a family wizard. Only in this way could he at least get a knight's title when he retired and pass on the fief to his future eldest son!
Fortunately, there were many smart people in Xuebang who were as eager for progress as he was, and he soon found allies in this chaotic utopia.
There is a very unpopular job in the Great Sage's Tower, which is to be responsible for the annual winter apprentice recruitment assessment. Many instructors are extremely tired of this boring job, but it is actually profitable.
Although Xuebang has a recommendation letter system, not all recommendation letters will be accepted in the end.
Especially when the person holding the recommendation letter only has worldly money but not worldly power...
They will select the easiest and the hardest to bully from among these easy-to-bully people, and make a small, harmless adjustment to the fate of the two.
For example, Marco Gage, who is rich but not very smart, is a child who needs adjustment.
As a member of a wealthy merchant family in the Kingdom of Rhodes, Marco Gage's father Dorian possesses wealth that rivals that of a country, but unfortunately he does not have power that rivals that of a country.
In this case, no matter how much money they have in their pockets, it is just collected by the king and the dukes and does not really belong to them.
Dorian is very clear about his own position. His entire family is the white gloves for the nobles to make money, and they should be thrown away when they are dirty.
Although money can buy him luxurious manors, beautiful women, and even the false smiles of the nobility, it cannot buy him true respect and a sense of security.
He knew very well that in this theocratic kingdom with clear class divisions, the fate of the Gage family had long been written in the Book of Holy Scripture.
Their only way out is to bypass this rigid feudal system and obtain the "hard currency" recognized by the entire empire - the identity of a Xuebang magician.
That is one of the tickets to the "Road to Prominence", and it is not as dangerous as the Knight's Road, nor is it just a seemingly sweet pie like the Adventurer's Road.
If the unattainable "treasures from the virtual world" were Milos' lifelong desire, then to get his eldest son Marco, who was uneducated and only knew how to recite poems and compose essays all day long, into the magician's team was his greatest wish in this life!
Otherwise, no matter how much money you make, you are making it for others.
However, he still underestimated Xuebang's arrogance.
There are too many people trying to "take the back door" here. He is a businessman without a title and can't even get a number in front of the Master Mage.
The recommendation letter from the Imperial Baron that he had spent a lot of money on had never been heard from since he submitted it. It was not until the winter recruitment was approaching that he learned that his son still needed to honestly take the apprenticeship assessment and that his connections were not as strong as he had imagined.
After all other avenues failed, Dorian Gage finally decided to take a risk and use the money he was most familiar with as a tool to pave the way.
In his view, everything in the world has a price. Since power can be traded, then a mere paper can certainly be traded.
As long as the price is right.
Thus, a down-and-out apprentice who sold out his principles for his future, and a wealthy man who trampled on the rules for the sake of his family... two souls that had no intersection at all, the red thread of fate was intertwined together.
As dusk fell, in the "Adventurer's House" tavern at the Eagle Rock Territory Traveler Camp, Dorian's butler Yankov straightened his clothes and pushed open the creaking wooden door.
Ever since the admission list on the stone tablet was announced, the "Adventurer's Home" tavern at the Eagle Rock Territory Traveler Camp has become a place where two extreme emotions converge.
Some people come here to party and celebrate, while more people come here to drown their sorrows in alcohol.
Butler Yankov went through all these joys and sorrows that had nothing to do with him, and found the person he had been waiting for for a long time in a hidden corner of the tavern.
Looking at the old butler walking towards him, Milos leisurely tasted a glass of expensive beer with a smile that showed everything was under control on his face.
Yankov sat down opposite him.
At the same time, an inconspicuous sack slipped from under his cloak and fell silently at Milos' feet under the shadow of the table.
"Sir, your things have fallen." Yankov said in a very soft voice, as if speaking in secret, "... Please count them."
Milos didn't even look at the purse at his feet, but just waved his hand contemptuously.
The plain storage ring on his finger flashed, and the purse on the ground disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed in this tavern.
The storage ring was lent to him by his senior for use in doing things.
"No need, I trust you." Milos took a sip of beer and said lazily, "Anyway, your young master is still studying abroad, you know what I mean... This store has not just opened today, and this money is not something I can earn alone."
"Yes, I understand. Please believe in the character of the Gage family. My master was able to expand his business because of the ancestral motto of honesty and trustworthiness."
Yankov nodded slightly. Of course he understood these rules.
But at this moment, his eyes involuntarily fell on Milos's storage ring. After pausing for a moment, he couldn't help but asked politely: "By the way, please don't mind, do you still have this storage ring? Our master has always wanted to buy one."
Milos sneered as if he had heard a huge joke, and flatly refused: "Then you can ask him to give up this idea. Your master is not worthy of it."
This was not pleasant to hear, but Yankov could not refute it.
He no longer mentioned the ring. He looked around nervously and lowered his voice to confirm one last time: "Okay, I'm just asking casually. Besides, my young master's affairs... won't be exposed, right?"
"Don't worry." Milos took another sip of the fragrant beer and waved his hand lazily. "All the failed papers were turned into ashes at the 'incineration point' that night. The limerick your young master wrote is no longer a proof. As for the passed papers, not many people actually read them seriously. Do you expect the professors to personally look over those childish things?"
Having said this, he paused for a moment and quietly placed a piece of paper on the table.
"By the way, just in case, I copied the contents of the paper. Remember to ask your young master to memorize it so that he can handle it even if the professor asks him questions."
After saying this, Milos leaned back in his chair, tasting the beer carefreely, with a calculating gleam in his eyes.
The scroll that was swapped was carefully selected by him, and in his opinion as a professional test-taker, it was obviously unremarkable and there was nothing noteworthy about it.
Especially the views on the source of power and the virtual world, which were so naive that they made people laugh. Although he himself had never been to the virtual world and had never truly understood the root of the pursuit of the Great Sage Tower, he also knew that it was definitely not something that an ordinary person was qualified to talk about.
However, since the number of words read on that scroll was large enough, the handwriting was neat, and the attitude was serious enough, it was still easy to get a passing score.
The written test for winter recruitment is, after all, just a preliminary screening, and only those who have not become apprentices will take it too seriously.
Milos was certain that the person he replaced was a powerless nerd who dreamed of getting into the school and might even have sold his property for it. If not, that guy wouldn't have written so many words in the snow.
No one will stand up for this guy.
As for why he was so sure, it was because he himself used to be that kind of person.
Since you like exams so much, why not take them again next year?
After hearing this, Yankov finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He thanked Milos profusely, as if he was the Gage family's great benefactor, and then hurriedly left the tavern.
Milos rubbed the storage ring on his knuckles, feeling elated and as if he had reached the pinnacle of his life.
So what about the Gage family, which is as wealthy as a country?
In front of the respected Master Mage, he was still as humble as a dog! His self-confidence was as hard as steel. He decided to go to the traveler's camp to release those mortal girls before returning to the academy.
However, when he excitedly arrived at the corner of the camp, he was shocked to find that the women who had been soliciting business there had disappeared overnight, leaving only a few empty tents that smelled of cheap perfume.
It's really strange.
He returned to the tavern and asked the bartender, who only said vaguely that he seemed to have been captured by Sir Richter's guards the day before.
"This is nominally his territory... although he doesn't come here often. You know, this kind of thing is not recognized by Saint Sis after all."
Milos looked at the bartender in confusion.
"By the grace of Saint Sith... He actually still remembers that he is a knight of Saint Sith. I heard that he doesn't even care about the undead."
The necromancer seemed to have some connection with Xuebang. He remembered hearing a senior mention it and told them not to cause trouble for themselves. Trying to be a good person for a bounty of dozens of silver coins was not something they, who were only at bronze level, could challenge.
The bartender seemed to feel a little embarrassed and coughed.
"That's not the case. Master Richter is still very hardworking. I heard that he led people to wipe out the undead in Pompeii Village a few days ago."
Just because of that guy?!
Milos was stunned, but he didn't bother to investigate further. He just felt extremely disappointed, so he could only finish a glass of wine alone and return home in disappointment.
However, he did not know at this moment that his small mistake brought huge trouble to him and the wizards behind him.
The three teaching assistants in charge of marking the papers had no idea that the full-mark papers they had given out were "commodities" that had been swapped by their colleagues.
They just upheld fairness in the trivial matter of "marking papers" based on their own academic vision and knowledge reserves, and they were moved by their love for the talent of the 6,000-word "paper".
In the past hundred years, it is a rare case that three teaching assistants have given the same scroll a perfect score without any prior agreement.
After all, those are all subjective questions and there are no standard answers.
And it is almost impossible for a mortal to shock three magicians with silver or even gold-level strength at the same time.
However, there are so many coincidences in this world that this low-probability event that should never happen happened.
Not only that, this scroll also alarmed the real strongman in the Tower of Great Sages—Professor Hector who possesses platinum-level strength!
However, neither Professor Hector nor other professors who were also eyeing this legendary apprentice had realized what the scroll they placed on the scale was...
(End of this chapter)
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