Chapter 388 Arrogance
Night falls, everything is silent, only a few stars shine through the high windows, casting an indifferent glow in the secret private study.
The air is filled with the smell of ancient parchment and herbs. A middle-aged scholar with a calm face is sitting peacefully in an armchair, looking more focused than ever.
In front of him, there was a piece of special leather paper treated with alchemical materials such as troll blood and mercury. The ink shimmering with magical halo moved slowly like a worm, arranging itself into lines of rigorous and neat text.
This is an encrypted magic letter.
And its recipient is none other than one of the powerful people in the Tower of the Great Sage, the master to whom Mentor Merck is absolutely loyal—Professor Alister Thorne.
The content of the letter is enough to shock anyone who knows the secret of Void Realm No. 178, and Alister himself is certainly no exception.
him I feel deeply guilty about the mistake in No. 178 Void Realm.
Because of my personal stupidity and incompetence, I failed to understand the essence of your teachings, resulting in an irreversible failure in the experiment, and I failed to live up to your trust and expectations. And I am extremely grateful for your generosity and giving me this opportunity to make up for my mistakes.
With the generous permission of His Highness Colin, I had the honor to observe his subsequent research on this virtual realm. To be honest, I have to admit that His Highness Colin's theory on virtual realm interference is indeed excellent, and it really opened my eyes!
He used a method that can be called art to save this virtual world that was on the verge of death!
That is not any kind of magic or extraordinary power, but a precise anatomy of the context of civilization and the essence of the soul! Every step he takes is like playing a grand symphony, turning the weaknesses and sources of contradictions of human nature into notes at his fingertips. I must admit that this kind of insight is a frightening power that is often overlooked in our towers.
We may have underestimated him...
】
Seeing this, Alister’s lips curved into a sneer.
He knew very well that the reason why Merck raised the prince so high in the report was not so much to remind himself not to underestimate this guy, but to downplay his own responsibility for the failure and to carefully test his own attitude.
However, as a chess piece, Merck's caution is qualified.
He does have to be careful in handling his relationship with the prince, especially in recent times, when the school he advocates seems to be "increasingly violent".
Some professors have begun to feel impatient with the sensational doctrine and think that he should go to the Royal Academy of Arts in the Holy City to lecture on these tortuous things.
Alister did not pay attention to the loser's harmless intentions, but continued to look down with interest.
In the second half of the report, Merck finally stopped elaborating on those humble words, and began to use the perspective of a scholar to try to analyze the new virtual world No. 178 that had been developed for ninety-nine years and shown by "God Envoy" Jon.
And this part of the content is what Alister is most concerned about.
He is still very optimistic about Merck's academic ability.
【……正如科林殿下判断的那样，我们与178号虚境并没有真正意义上的分开，那个世界的人们对我们的声音仍然怀有一丝憧憬。
Through the acceleration behind the virtual realm, we successfully established a stable spiritual connection with an aboriginal named "Jon" behind the virtual realm. According to his description, we know that since the death of the previous "God Envoy" Kyle, the timeline within the virtual realm has advanced ninety-nine years!
Ninety-nine years have completely changed the face of the entire virtual world. If it weren't for the creatures active behind the virtual world that are still familiar to me, I would almost suspect that this is a completely different world!
The gray people living in that land have completely ended the wasteland. The material barrenness has ended with the turn of the times, although it has been replaced by spiritual barrenness.
But even so, they still created a glorious miracle in a limited time. Even though it was just a quick glance, I still saw a scene that shocked me extremely!
Mage towers occupy the land, and they are constructed of materials I have never seen before. Not only that, their outer walls are flashing with colorful lights, comparable to the light and shadow of high-level illusion magic!
If my guess is correct, it should be a highly intensive "mage tower complex" that integrates an illusion defense magic circle!
Countless "horseless chariots" shuttle continuously on the overpass between the mage towers. Their speed is extremely fast, even surpassing our captive pterosaurs and griffins!
In addition, according to the description of the new divine envoy "Jon", there is a strange magic device called "refrigerator" circulating in their civilization.
I speculate that this is another mineral similar to "Magic Crystal" discovered by the Grays after the disappearance of "Wraith Coke"!
If nothing else goes wrong, it may become a new renewable specialty product in Virtual Realm No. 178 after the disappearance of "Wraith Charcoal"!
The most incredible thing is that attached to the "magic crystal" is a miniature virtual realm they call "GG". It is said that intelligent creatures only need to stare at this "magic crystal" with their naked eyes for more than thirty seconds, and their consciousness will be briefly pulled into an independent virtual realm!
Unbelievable!
In their world, virtual reality is something that can be attached to a "magic crystal", and everyone has the opportunity to observe and study it!
At present, we don’t know how they did it, nor whether they can in turn observe our world through this technology, but there is no doubt that the material prosperity of these gray people is far ahead of us!
In addition, the "divine messenger" selected by His Highness Colin also mentioned concepts such as "company" and "bank loan" that we have not observed before. In their world, a "company" is different from just a business unit in our world, but a social organization that transcends guilds and noble fiefs and has absolute power to dominate individuals.
And "bank loan" is a kind of harsh contract that allows individuals to advance wealth, but must use their future, and even their souls, as collateral! When talking about this concept, the fearful mental power ripples displayed by the gray man were even stronger than Kyle's reaction when talking about the predators!
This may be an insight of great reference value for us.
In addition, it would be great if you could persuade His Highness Colin to help us mine some "Wraith Refrigerators". I really want to find out what they are...
Although he was not directly involved in the research on Virtual Realm No. 178, he inferred the general concept of "refrigerator" just from the literal meaning and the context.
If the charcoal of resentful spirits is the medium that adheres to the faith and desire of the gray people, then this refrigerator is naturally a magic device that "can collect the cold resentment"!
It is not difficult to come to this conclusion through analysis. The key to the problem is what kind of magic device can actually collect the resentment component of mental power.
He heard that Hell has similar technology, and presumably this is why they can analyze this information through the virtual lens.
The premise for the existence of the virtual realm channel is "resonance", and information outside of cognition cannot arouse spiritual resonance, let alone be transmitted through the virtual realm.
· After silently writing down the important information about the "Wraith Refrigerator", Alister's eyes continued to move downwards, landing on "Company" and "Bank Loan".
Unlike Merck, who knew little about it, Alister was no stranger to these concepts.
Although Xuebang does not have such a thing, similar organizations exist in the commercial systems of the empire and most of its vassal states.
As a scholar who is good at playing power, Alister often deals with chambers of commerce and companies in the Kingdom of Rhodes, but he never thought that they could be combined into such an efficient and perfect squeeze model.
Alister's lips curved into a hint of real interest.
What an exquisite form of slavery this is!
Through clever rule design, it does not require swords, chains, or even overseers. It just needs to convince every soul that everything they do is for a "better tomorrow."
As long as this tomorrow never comes, this self-circulating and infinitely proliferating system will continue to expand!
“Ah...what a beautiful work, I can’t even bear to let that prince break this wonderful tranquility.” Alister smiled and whispered to himself.
In the face of well-organized companies, the Thorne Association, which he relies on economic and academic interests to maintain, is as crude as a child's sandcastle.
It turns out that power can still be played like this!
For him personally, this is probably a more valuable insight into the virtual realm than the research reports on ghost refrigerators and gray men.
With the feeling of discovering a treasure, Alister read Merck's report to the end and read it twice before putting it back on the table.
His movements were very light, as if he were caring for a fragile work of art.
Merck's report is only a preliminary conclusion based on his brief glimpse of the virtual world. A more detailed report on the virtual world No. 178 will have to wait for Corinta's paper to come out.
At present, Prince Colin has asked students to start writing papers. If you are optimistic, you should be able to see it before All Souls' Day at the end of the month.
And before that, maybe they can discover more interesting things...
Merck is full of optimism about this.
It can be seen that this divine envoy named "Jon" seems to be much more reliable than the "Kyle" he chose before.
Alister stood up slowly and walked to the window of the study.
Overlooking the Artisan Street and the snowfield, which were still brightly lit in the middle of the night, he had mixed expressions of admiration and jealousy on his face, and it took him a long time to spit out a reluctant compliment.
"Genius..."
Even though he has a lot of prejudice against the nobles of the empire, he still has to admit that His Highness Colin is a real genius!
As Merck mentioned in his letter, this method of turning decay into magic has gone beyond mere supernatural power.
It is more like an art.
An art that plays with civilization and people's hearts, belonging to the "gods".
It would be great if we could take such talents under our command!
Alister felt such emotion in his heart more than once, but soon the sincere admiration in his heart was replaced by a faint chill.
If the success of Virtual Realm No. 440 can still be explained by chance, then the experimental reappearance of Virtual Realm No. 178 will undoubtedly put the prince on the real altar!
No one knows how to develop virtual resources better than him!
This achievement is not only enough for him and his school to gain a foothold in the Tower of the Great Sage, but will also attract countless magicians who are eager for the truth to follow.
The name Colin will become a rising star!
And the light of this star will inevitably occupy and squeeze the original positions of other stars!
Alister's eyes fell on the scattered towers of Xuebang, and his eyes became complicated and cold. It seemed that what he saw was no longer a palace of knowledge, but a steel forest where the weak and the strong preyed on each other.
Just like the steel forest that Merk saw in the virtual world!
"Although Xuebang's tower is very high," he murmured to himself in a voice that only he could hear, "but in fact... it's very crowded."
Especially the ecological niche under the tower spire!
The core power of Xuebang is firmly in the hands of the thirteen sages, and there are only a handful of corners where the sages’ will cannot penetrate.
The "Thorne Society" that he has worked hard for more than ten years is nothing more than a spider curled up in these shadows.
Now someone had entered his territory, and seemed not content to just pass by.
A feeling of anxiety gripped by an existential crisis crawled throughout Alister's body. And this is the first time since he became a diamond-level mage that he has felt such clear anxiety!
Just as his soul was being burned by the nameless fire, a soft and unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded from the depths of his soul.
"An interesting annoyance."
The voice appeared without warning, so much so that it startled Alister and almost activated the defensive amulet on his body.
"Who?!"
Alister turned around abruptly, and for the first time, a look of confusion and shock appeared on his always calm and calm face.
His powerful mental power was like an invisible giant net, instantly sweeping through every corner and every inch of the entire study!
Hand yet——
Hand empty.
Besides himself in the study room, there was only the moonlight shining in from the window and a lone shadow cast by the magic lamp on the table.
That voice seemed to be his own illusion.
No——
This is definitely not an illusion!
Alister stretched out his skinny hand and grasped the wand he had taken from nowhere, his tense nerves on high alert.
"When the rise of one genius inevitably overshadows the light of another genius, you were once a cutting-edge scholar in the field of virtual reality research, but this was already twenty years ago... Now that you see your former self, what will you do? Kill him, or... obey?"
The voice sounded again, with a playful smile, as if it was watching a game that had nothing to do with it.
A thin layer of cold sweat broke out on Alister's forehead.
He was convinced that his study and spiritual world were shrouded in the top protective magic circle, and no existence could invade without alerting him.
Unless——
This intruder is far stronger than him, even surpassing the great sage sitting at the top of the tower!
“Who are you?”
Alister lowered his voice and asked this sentence to the empty room. Although his voice tried his best to remain calm, it could not hide the tremor of surprise and uncertainty.
That mysterious whisper was silent for a moment.
Then, in an intimate and eerie tone, it gave an answer that made Alister's whole body cold.
ˆ "I am you."
His brain went blank for a moment, but the steely willpower he had honed over decades allowed him to quickly escape from the impact that would drive an ordinary mage insane.
"You're fooling me!"
Alister's voice became sharp and sharp, and his fear completely turned into anger, completely tearing apart his pretense of elegance and calmness.
His powerful mental power set off an invisible storm in the study room, making the pages of the book rattle.
However, the mysterious whisper was not affected at all, but instead brought a smile that seemed to be sighing.
"It's you who are fooling yourself. You don't admit the fear in your heart, you don't admit your jealousy of that "genius", and you are even less willing to admit... This innate arrogance is the truest you under the mask, why don't you accept yourself? This is not a bad thing."
"Get out of my head..."
Alister growled threatening words, but the voice in the darkness just smiled softly.
"I've been outside all the time. If you don't believe me, look in the mirror."
Mirror?
Alister turned around abruptly and looked at the huge ebony floor-to-ceiling mirror on the wall of the study room, which was used to organize his appearance.
The next second, his pupils suddenly shrank, and the blood all over his body seemed to solidify in an instant.
The mirror surface was as clean as new, clearly reflecting the scene in the study, as well as his own face, which was slightly distorted by shock.
However, what is incredible is that right next to "myself" in the mirror, there is a gray mist that is constantly changing shapes floating quietly!
The gray mist seemed to be alive. Sometimes it gathered and sometimes dispersed. The surface was constantly rolling, and countless distorted and painful faces could be vaguely seen flashing through it, as if they were silently screaming and wailing.
It does not reflect any light, but is like a miniature black hole, greedily devouring all surrounding light, exuding chaos and crazy emotions.
Alister subconsciously looked back at the real space beside him - there was nothing there.
But when he looked at the mirror again, the ominous gray mist still lingered on the side of his reflection, like a part of him!
A fear that completely subverted his perception of reality gripped his heart tightly.
With his diamond-level magical attainments, he can't explain what this power is and why it appears here!
The only thing he could conclude was that this was not an illusion or a mental attack...
"What the hell is this..."
Alister's voice was dry. He instinctively raised his hand, and light blue light began to gather on his fingertips, trying to analyze every inch of space in the study again.
He must figure out what this strange gray mist is!
However, just when he was about to cast the spell, a clear and rhythmic sound of footsteps sounded in the corridor outside the study.
Immediately afterwards, there were three respectful and restrained knocks on the door.
"Professor... I am, Skye, your most loyal servant." A young and humble voice came from outside the door.
Seemingly worried about the weight of his voice, he added after hesitating for a moment.
"I have some discoveries about "Prince Colin", which may be important enough to report to you... You told me before that any new clues must be reported to you as soon as possible."
Alister was silent for a long time, and the light on his fingertips disappeared.
He took a deep breath, forced down the turmoil in his heart, and quickly glanced at the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror from the corner of his eye.
The ominous gray fog in the mirror is still there.
It seemed to be aware of the visitor outside the door, and it rolled more violently. Countless twisted faces seemed to be showing him a smile full of ridicule and expectation through the mirror.
"The opportunity for verification has come...another me."
"Shut up..."
Alister squeezed out a sentence through his teeth, and then closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, all the fear on his face had disappeared, and he put on the mask that belonged to Professor Alister again.
"Come in." He said in a smooth voice without any emotion.
The door opened automatically.
Sgain walked in respectfully.
This young man kept his head down throughout so as not to offend the moody professor with his eyes.
He walked quickly to the desk and spoke quickly in concise and capable language.
"Professor, I have noticed that Prince Colin has recently become very close to a preparatory student named Ilana Octavia. Although there is no direct evidence to prove that there was any contact beyond friendship between them, the Highness seems to have a crush on this woman. The scholar was quite fond of her, and not only gave her many important tasks, but also provided her with a lot of academic help in private... so much so that it aroused the jealousy of some people. "
Alister raised his eyebrows and motioned for him to continue.
"What's even more interesting is that Miss Ilana seems to have been in a lot of trouble recently."
"A woman named Rastina is uniting her small group because of jealousy, preparing to teach Miss Ilana a lesson in the upcoming "All Souls' Day Maze Trial" "Although you may not be interested in such boring little things, if we can help His Highness Colin solve this problem at a critical moment, we can not only sell him a favor, but also win over Miss Ilana, who is closest to him..."
Skye's words stopped abruptly.
He was about to continue explaining the plan when he suddenly felt that the professor's eyes were like sharp needles, looking directly at him with an unprecedented sharpness, as if he wanted to pierce his soul on the spot!
Sgain's heart skipped a beat, and he felt a moment of chills.
He felt as if his throat was being held by a hand, unable to make any sound or squeeze in any air.
In front of a diamond-level powerhouse, a mere bronze-level apprentice is as insignificant as an ant crawling under a spider web.
Just when Skye was about to feel suffocated, the pressure on him suddenly relaxed.
Alister spoke.
"Skin, you... did you see something next to me?"
His voice was a little dry, like a corpse in a maze, making people shudder.
“Something?” Skye responded tremblingly, then raised his head blankly and followed the professor’s gaze.
There was nothing next to the professor, only the ancient tapestries on the walls and the bookshelves beside them, as well as the mottled shadows cast by the moonlight through the curtains.
"Professor, I don't understand what you mean." Skye replied nervously, but his heart became more and more uneasy.
"Nothing."
Alister withdrew his gaze, and the waves in his eyes calmed down instantly.
He confirmed.
Scain could not see the gray mist suspended beside him, nor could he hear the whispers in the darkness that seemed to come from another space.
Alister pondered for a moment, as if the gaffe just now had never happened. He returned his attention to the information reported by Skye and gave a calm order.
"You should observe first, and you can sell his favor if necessary...but not in my name, and don't do anything unnecessary."
"If there is a chance, you can use it as an opportunity to get close to Colin."
He accepted the order respectfully and quickly exited the study room that made him feel extremely depressed, as if he had escaped from here.
The heavy door closed with a click, isolating the inside and outside into two worlds.
The calm mask on Alister's face disappeared instantly. He turned around suddenly and stared at the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror on the wall.
"Interesting," his voice had a hint of playfulness, "Only I can see you."
The ominous gray mist in the mirror rolled more violently, as if enjoying his gaffe and his growing interest.
"Of course."
The intimate and strange whisper sounded again, accompanied by a sinister laughter, "After all, I am a part of you, I grow in the depths of your soul."
"Stop pretending to be a ghost, who are you," Alister said word by word, "I will ask you one last time."
Just before Alister was about to completely lose his patience, the voice in the darkness finally gave the final answer.
"I am the arrogance in your heart."
"Or - your godhead."
Godhead?
The anger in Alister's eyes solidified the moment he heard this word, and then turned into complete astonishment and shock.
"Godhead..."
He repeated this word in a low voice, as if he was tasting the sweetest honey in the world, and the crazy face in the mirror gradually became stained with a sick smile.
"That's really interesting... You mean, I'm a god?"
“Yes, congratulations, do you need me to award you an award?” A teasing voice floated out of the twisted gray mist, making it hard to tell whether it was ridicule or praise.
Alister stopped smiling.
"No need, but I just want to know why me?"
He still had a sense of wariness in his heart.
As a scholar who explores the void, he is not stupid enough to believe whatever others say.
And——
He suspected that the sound actually came from somewhere else, such as the void they had been staring at.
The gray mist let out a chuckle.
It seemed that it did not take his fear to heart, it said in a normal voice.
"Actually... there is no special reason."
h "You are not the best choice, and the person I was looking for at the beginning was not you."
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