Chapter 524 - Terrible News
Chapter 524: Terrible News
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The apprentice wild side appeared to have been replaced by newfound humility and respect. The sorcerers were shocked by the turn of events — even more so than they were at Baiyi’s tea trick — as Baiyi had not used any magic, this time. All the powerful host did was ask the apprentice to look into his teacup; that was all it took for the apprentice to do a one-eighty. When did it become this easy to change a person’s temperament?
Hoping to find answers, the sorcerers looked into their teacups. There was nothing in them but their beverage, so they turned back their attention to the apprentice, seeking an explanation.
“I saw the universe,” the apprentice said with a shaky voice, visibly giddy with excitement. He ecstatically recollected the experience: moments after he glanced into the cup, the apprentice found himself looking down at the world much like a deity. His field of view expanded past the Imperial Garden as he seemed to gain altitude. Soon, he could see the entire Empire from above, and a short while after that, he could see the entirety of Isythre. Finally, the apprentice could see the universe, which was made out of pockets of realms.
It was no different from viewing the solar system from a point even higher up, before looking at the Milkyway cluster, then even bigger clusters, and finally the entire observable universe. This experience could stir a human’s sense of insignificance. It was similar to observing Earth before gradually zooming out to see the solar system, the Milkyway, other galaxies, and finally the whole universe. This experience was enough to make a human understand how small humans were in comparison to the vast expanse of the university; such a view was common in sci-fi films and popular science documentaries. To an average human on Earth, expanding field-of-view was common in movies, but to ancient Rohlserlians, whose grasp of the world was limited, watching the universe unravel before their eyes was a soul-rousing experience. [1]
“I saw…” The Apprentice, who looked out of breath said, “What I saw made me understand that I am nothing but a speck of dust in the boundless world I live in. It put my hubris to shame.”
Afterward, the apprentice bowed low to Baiyi and returned to his seat. He closed his eyes, blocking the world out, and immersed himself back in the amazing experience in his memories.
“Illusionary magic?” The apprentice’s teacher, most respected Master Areadl, asked Baiyi quietly.
“A parlor trick,” Baiyi replied truthfully.
Illusion magic already existed in this era, but its application was crude, unlike the illusion magic used in the future. Many sorcerers considered illusion magic petty magic, as, to them, it could only be used for cheap tricks, which should be beneath any magic-user with some self-respect. There was a widespread stigma of illusion magic in the empire, even amongst academics.
Rohlserlian sorcerers frowned at the use of illusion magic, especially in a high-class symposium like this one. The moment Baiyi admitted to using it, a chorus of whispers broke out.
Master Areadl did not seem to share the sentiment, though. “Power has no right or wrong, my fellow sorcerers!” He said, defending Baiyi. “That distinction exists only in the way you harness the power. His Highness used a simple illusion spell to correct the temperament of my unruly student, forcing him to acknowledge his arrogance. You will agree that such an approach is better than correcting students with mere words, yes?”
“Furthermore, I did not sense any damage to my student, resulting from his Highness’s technique. Besides, I sense no adverse damage from His Highness’s technique. My student’s cognitive functions and psyche were not compromised in any way,” Master Areadl said.
In this era, illusion magic was weak and undeveloped. For sorcerers to use it, they had to supplement it with mental-disrupting techniques. A person needed to damage their target’s cognitive stability first before an illusion magic spell could work. This method made illusion magic easy to detect, though. However, the Charlatan Walker’s illusion spells were nigh-imperceptible.
The illusion spell Baiyi had used on the apprentice was the Charlatan Walker’s latest innovation — which he created after Psuedo-Descended. The illusion spell contained technical contributions from the Incubus Walker and the Merchant Walker. The illusion spell, which was called “Dreameality”, did not need to be cast after a mental-disrupting spell; in it was a combination of the Incubus Walker’s power of dream-weaving and the Merchant Walker’s knowledge of psychology and marketing, both of which made the spell capable of immersing its target in a hyper-realistic illusion. Dreameality was a revolutionary spell that could be considered the new frontier of illusion magic.
Regrettably, the spell had been created solely for the students of the Business Faculty at Da Xue, with the intention of allowing them to better sell their products.
Students in the Business Faculty got their stock — experimental prototypes and homework — from the Engineering Faculty for cheap, which would then be sold to students of other faculties, whose pockets the Business Faculty’s students believe needed to be drained. The Business Faculty students would first convince other students to try out the prototype armor or weapon that was up for sale, and when the unsuspecting students agreed, Dreameality would then be cast of them, allowing them to falsely view themselves slaying a thousand-strong army by themselves. Such an illusion was enough to convince these students into offering dozens of gold coins for the junk merchandise.
Such unconscientious practice was often used in the Business Faculty of Da Xue. The students in that department were encouraged to employ such methods by their faculty advisor, a famous fraud — the Painter Walker — whose hobby was exploiting legal loopholes. Da Xue did not have any law that forbade such unethical practices. Many students, including those from high-income families, feel more pressured by Da Xue’s incredibly high fees as they complete more semesters. Students in the Business Faculty, on the contrary, become richer as they complete more semesters. They were unaffected by the rising tuition fees; they even had enough money to splurge on a famous card game.
After putting down the apprentice using Dreameality, a brilliant illusion spell, there were no more open disagreements. The sorcerers now respected Baiyi, which was just as he had planned.
The symposium proceeded to its most boring segment: the academic jargon and theories part. Since this was their first meeting, Baiyi did not expect anything of substance from the current discussion.
The discussion was no different from meetings to discuss university assignments. Baiyi introduced and explained the topics of interest to the sorcerers with a few tips. He informed the sorcerers that the research would be into time and the Path to Heaven.
The novelty of the topics instantly intrigued these magical scholars. On the one hand, they were to discover the truths of Time, the mysterious and ineffable Law that drives the universe; on the other, they were given the blueprint of a massive magical formation that they had never seen before. The sorcerers were so riveted to the topics that they failed to notice that Baiyi had secretly retired from the discussion to fool around with Little Mia at a side instead.
Complex conundrums like these required a long time to make significant headways, so Baiyi seized the time for dinner to adjourn the symposium, but not before informing each participant to make their chosen research topic clear so that they could continue back home and returned with their results.
The sorcerers agreed and began to announce their chosen topics. Baiyi made a silent count and discovered that most of them had decided to study Time rather than decode the Path of Heaven formation. Once again, novelty triumphed; a scholar would willingly invest their time into an exciting topic despite its challenges and conjectural nature, even though the other topic was palpably more manageable. Baiyi could only wonder why people, apparently, love making their own lives harder.
Baiyi patted Mia’s head. “Alright. We gotta go home and work as hard as they do, too.”
To his surprise, the girl shook her head and swung his hand off her head. “Aww. Mr. Hope, can I see Lulu please?” She pled with her trademark sweet, coquettish voice.
“Well…” Baiyi trailed off helplessly. Lulu may one day be someone of high status — as high as the two of them were right now, in fact — but she was still just a normal, unspectacular village girl now. It was her lowborn background that complicated things — Baiyi was no classicist, but the society they were living in currently clearly cared about class differences.
Honestly, Mia may see Lulu as her best friend, but would Lulu dare think the same?
“No way, Mr. Hope! She’s definitely not that type of person!”Mia drawled as she tugged Baiyi’s elbow hard.
‘Hold up. This little brat is not actually trying to shirk her responsibilities in this academic research, right?’ A warning popped up into Baiyi’s head. Just as he was about to comment on it, one of the castle runners sprinted towards him. After a brief address to his title, he pushed a letter into Baiyi’s hand.
“Your Highness, there’s an emergency at the border!”
Baiyi stiffened in surprise before turning his eyes to the letter. He was just about to break the seal when a thought sprang into his mind, causing him to stop. “Why isn’t this being delivered to the Emperor himself?”
‘Lemme guess. Our fierce supreme leader who had charged into Coninopolis with such courage and determination suddenly wanted me to handle his country once his artists had come to make new cipher cards for him, huh?’ Baiyi grouched inwardly.
“His Majesty is informed of the situation, Sire. It was his order to have the letter delivered to you,” The runner said quietly. “Your Highness, His Majesty would like you to decide on the next course of action pertaining to this issue and meet him as soon as possible.”
Then, as if worried that Baiyi would rip him into pieces like any irritated royalty, he bolted.
Baiyi undid the seal of the letter tiredly and read the content of the message. He frowned despite his absence of face and turned to a curious Little Mia. “There have been surprise attacks on several border towns,” He whispered.
Mia’s face began to twist in worry. “Doesn’t that mean…”
Baiyi nodded slowly.
“Aegir, the town we had briefly stayed before, was one of those under attack. The casualties are yet finalized, but border troops had been mobilized to repel lingering enemies.”
It was as if every air had been forcefully sucked out of Mia’s body, causing a spell as she staggered and fell backward onto the ground. Alarmed, Baiyi gripped her shoulders and helped her up to her feet.
“Calm down! I’m sure she’s alright. She has an important place in history, remember? That is despite being a normal girl from a border town historically rife with similar demonic invasions. She had survived them all before, and I have little doubt she will survive it again this time!”
With her feet struggling to hold her weight, she stammered with a voice heavy with tears, “But aren’t you also the one… who said that our presence in the past… is altering the course of history? What if this is part of the change?”
‘So what did I say back then, hmm? I told you to not get so intimate with her! But did you listen? No! The two of you were inseparable!’ Baiyi snapped in his mind.
Before the words in his head were voiced, however, he saw the tears in Mia’s eyes and heard her sniffled as she looked at him with an expression that said, ‘Imma bawl right now if you scold poor little me!’
Baiyi’s heart softened.
He sighed instead. “Look, just calm down, okay?” He said, casting a spirit-soothing spell on Mia to help her control the tides of emotions roaring in her chest. “Why don’t we think positively? Her parents are tasked to take care of the injured in Highland City, right? That sort of work tends to take one or even two months, as they needed to be on call until all injured soldiers have recovered to stable health. Since we’ve only been separated for two weeks, I’m sure the family hasn’t left the city yet.”