Chapter 97 |
Lynn walked over with his notebook in his arms. Ido was seated in the leftmost seat of the first row, with an empty space to her right. A fair-skinned little leg was resting on that seat, but as Lynn approached, Ido withdrew her leg.
“Reserved just for you; I figured you’d be late,” Ido said casually.
“Thank you,” Lynn replied politely.
The atmosphere in the classroom was very quiet, with the apprentices sitting quietly at their desks, focusing on their own tasks.
Lynn glanced back at the apprentices standing in the last row before turning his gaze away, unable to help but steal another glance at Ido.
This little wealthy woman’s background and strength seemed impressive; otherwise, she wouldn’t have occupied two seats all to herself, leaving many apprentices at the back who would rather remain standing than daring to sit.
Although Lynn mostly kept to himself, he had been here for some time now, gradually gaining a deeper understanding of the dog-eat-dog atmosphere of Demon City.
Here, strength wasn’t just physical; it also encompassed background, tactics, connections, and wealth.
Coughs intermittently echoed in the classroom, the sound emanating from the person seated to Lynn’s right, occupying the central position of the first row.
Noticing Lynn’s gaze, the wizard to his right covered his mouth and coughed softly before squeezing out a gentle smile.
“Darn it, ever since becoming a wizard, I’ve been pulling all-nighters regularly. My health is deteriorating day by day.” The elegant young wizard lamented in a clear voice.
“I’m barely keeping up with my health. Friend, you look so radiant. May I ask how you take care of yourself?”
“A hundred push-ups, five hundred squats, and then a ten-kilometer run every day.” Lynn said nonchalantly.
Ido, seated on Lynn’s left, rolled her eyes upon hearing Lynn’s exaggerated claim.
This guy was just making stuff up. She had never seen Lynn go out for a run.
Unless it was to attend classes or when he ran out of raw materials in the laboratory, Lynn basically spent every day in the laboratory.
She knew this because once when Lynn was conducting a critical experiment and Jim wasn’t in Demon City, Lynn had asked Ido to help him procure some experimental raw materials. It was during that opportunity that she visited Lynn’s laboratory.
There was nothing interesting there—just cold walls and mechanical experiments.
It felt just like her dad.
“Is that so? Unfortunately, I don’t have that much spare time,” the young wizard beside him said regretfully.
Seeing his regretful expression, it seemed like he genuinely felt sorry about it.
On the podium, a ripple of space flashed, and then, to everyone’s gaze, a lady with long green hair cascading over her shoulders appeared on the podium. She wore a delicate crown on her head, exuding a rich green natural aura.
“My name is Maybetessa, and I’m the instructor for this class on ‘Wizard Tower Construction and Insights,'” the lady announced from the podium.
Upon hearing this name, Lynn was shaken to his core, staring in astonishment at the lady on the podium.
If the Abyss Wizard Academy didn’t have two official wizards named Maybetessa, then this wizard before him should be the owner of the giant elven tree.
“Before we begin this class on Wizard Tower Construction and Insights, let me ask you all a question: what is a wizard tower?” Maybetessa asked.
Many apprentices in the classroom raised their hands promptly.
This was an opportunity for them to showcase and demonstrate themselves in front of official wizards, an opportunity not to be missed.
For most apprentices, the most opportunities they would ever have to directly interact with wizards would be in the classroom at the wizard academy.
“A wizard tower is a place that carries the truths of wizards.”
“The wizard tower is the war weapon of the wizards, relying on the power of the wizard tower to conquer other planes.”
“Your answers are all correct. Essentially, the wizard tower is the crystallization of a wizard’s wisdom. It is fundamentally just a tool, so there’s no need to mythologize it,” Maybetessa explained.
“But have you ever thought about how wizards survived before the existence of wizard towers?”
Maybetessa’s question brought a sudden silence to the lecture theater.
Before the wizard towers… how long ago was that? Did the earliest wizards not have wizard towers?
Without wizard towers, it would have been difficult for wizards to achieve their current level of power.
“I know! It was in the third era that wizards created the wizard towers,” Ido raised her hand and spoke up.
“Correct. As you all know, we are currently in the seventh wizard era. Before the seventh era, there were six eras. It was in the third era that wizards created the wizard towers,” Maybetessa nodded.
“But before the wizard towers existed, it doesn’t mean that wizards didn’t have similar creations. Floating cities, planetary transformations, artificial titans—these large-scale creations still allowed the wizards of that era to wield power far beyond their level,” Maybetessa elaborated.
“These were all creations made by the wizards of that era. The wizard towers were similar achievements. The initial wizard towers were not as magnificent as they are now. It was through generations of wizards improving and creating that the wizard towers became increasingly powerful.”
“So initially, the wizard tower was just a tool created by wizards, used for warfare, to capture enemies,” Maybetessa concluded.
“Why only make one wizard tower if it’s just a tool?”
“Because we don’t have the money to make a second one,” grumbled a wizard from the back row, raising their hand silently.
He still had a long way to go to gather all the raw materials for the first wizard tower.
“Valid point,” Maybetessa acknowledged. “So fundamentally, the reason is that building a wizard tower requires too many raw materials, which many of you cannot afford.”
“I happen to have an opportunity here, an opportunity that can save a lot of resources and quickly become a wizard. But I need you to sign a contract with me, agreeing to cooperate with me for a hundred years after becoming an official wizard,” Maybetessa proposed.
Lynn leaned back in his seat, thinking, Is this elder sister here to offer a loan shark deal?
The classroom erupted into a buzz of excitement. They hadn’t expected such a good opportunity to arise. Some apprentices widened their eyes in disbelief.
“Lord Wizard, can I know what this opportunity is?” one apprentice couldn’t wait to ask.
Maybetessa smiled faintly and took out a seed with numerous intricate patterns carved on its surface from her sleeve.
This seed exuded a strong vitality, and even the air around it seemed to shimmer with illusions of petals, leaves, and grass.
“This is a seed of a sub-species of the Elven Mother Tree. It can serve as the framework and structure of a wizard tower. Moreover, the Elven Mother Tree naturally absorbs the power of elements in nature. Using it can save a lot of source materials,” Maybetessa explained.
“My wizard tower was built using the sub-species of the Elven Mother Tree. So there’s no doubt that it can be used as source material for wizard towers. Many people use metal to build wizard towers, but I can tell you, using living beings as the framework for a wizard tower can also have unexpected…”
“Maybetessa!”
A stern rebuke suddenly resounded in the classroom, the voice coming from the distant void.
Maybetessa, who was standing on the podium, looked up into the void without any fear. “What is it, Lord Director?”
“Everyone has their own path. You cannot influence other apprentices with your path.”
“I’m just giving them the right to choose. I’m not interfering with them.”
In the sky above the classroom, space suddenly tore open, and a black giant claw engulfed in flames descended from the heavens.
Maybetessa chuckled. “What is a new path, and what is an old path?”
Lynn was close to the podium, and he could see clearly. When the flaming giant claw descended, the surrounding air also rippled like waves.
The space did not shatter but was continuously compressed by some great force, eventually turning into a thin sheet of paper.
Standing on that sheet of paper was Maybetessa, who had been on the podium.
Maybetessa made no resistance and did not cast any spells.
It wasn’t until the flaming giant claw took Maybetessa away and disappeared from the spot that the podium returned to its quiet state.
The apprentices in the classroom exchanged glances, wondering why the teacher disappeared halfway through class. Would they get a refund for the tuition fees? And was that seed Maybetessa mentioned still valid?
Not all apprentices could build wizard towers; for some, it was an extremely challenging task. Upon hearing Maybetessa’s words, they immediately thought of what she had said earlier. However, the wizard had already been taken away, so where could they find another one now?
Lynn’s face betrayed his worry. If Maybetessa, who had a cooperative relationship with Nocturne, was taken away, would it affect the experiments he was involved in? If the source materials he had acquired were lost, his efforts would have been in vain.
“Damn it, she’s wasted so much of my time again. I thought there would be something substantial, but it turns out it was just to promote her seed,” the young man sitting next to Lynn muttered, covering his mouth as he coughed laboriously. Lynn couldn’t help but worry that he might die at any moment due to his increasingly distressing coughing fits.
“Do you know who the guy sitting on your right was?” Ido asked.
“Who?”
“Korsky, the most promising apprentice in Demon City to become an official wizard,” Ido replied.
“That’s quite a reputation,” Lynn replied casually.
“Because his wizard tower is almost complete. He’s quite well-known. He comes from the Mechanist City.”
When Lynn heard the name Mechanist City, his eyes flickered with interest. Ido continued, “He’s also quite the weirdo. Most wizards in the Mechanist City focus on alchemical transformation and mechanical immortality, but he has always detested machinery since he was a child, advocating for fleshly immortality instead.”
“Later, his father got fed up and threw him into the Abyss Wizard Academy. If you ever get to see his wizard tower, you’ll see it’s different from the usual ones,” Ido shrugged.
“What about your wizard tower? I’ve never seen yours,” Lynn inquired.
Ido smirked, “Curious, are you?”
“Just wondering.”
“You’ll see it someday,” Ido replied, walking leisurely beside Lynn with her hands behind her back.
“Oh, by the way, do you have time? I’m planning to go to the Abyss slave market to see if there are any suitable slaves,” Ido asked.
“No,” Lynn shook his head.
He was so busy every day, with no time to spare for the Abyss.
“All right,” Ido sighed. “You’re always so boring. It seems like you’ve thrown all your time on the road to seeking the truth. But aren’t the sights along the way worth stopping for a moment?”
Lynn didn’t know how to respond. He just remained silent, lowering his head and quickening his pace.
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