The area was very quiet, and the sun was hidden by dark clouds as if it was the case for the mysterious atmosphere in the area.
A pleasant male voice sounded, "When you think of G.o.ds, what is the first thing you think of?"
A few seconds later, the ruminating Thales subconsciously opened his eyes, revealing his empty gaze. He responded softly in the strange atmosphere, "G.o.ds are completely different from us. The difference between us is like the sky and the earth. We can only stand far apart from each other."
The male voice was silent for a while, and he seemed to be mulling over the answer.
After a while, the person continued to ask, "Then, when you think of the world, what is the first thing you think of?"
The prince frowned slightly.
"The world?"
Thales lifted his head slowly and looked at the man the same he did when he stared at the statues in a temple. His expression was strange and his voice was quiet. "We are in it."
"We are set in it.
"We exist in it."
The male voice paused again, and he spoke in a low-toned voice.
"Very good, very "main school"." The pleasant male voice chuckled gently. "Now, exclude your previous answer. Let go of your mind and close your eyes once more. Listen, when you think of the G.o.ds…"
Thales nodded subconsciously, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"G.o.ds…"
The next second…
*Thump!*
The prince"s eyes flew open, and he pressed his palm on the chessboard in front of him!
Thales let out a long and deep breath. An annoyed expression instantly appeared in his empty eyes.
"Oh G.o.d, I"ve had enough of this," the teenager leaned back against his seat and rubbed his forehead in pain while he interrupted their topic of conversation. "How long have we been on this topic?"
In front of the prince, the handsome man on the other end of the board gently s.h.i.+fted his gaze away.
"Less than an hour," the latter whispered.
Thales sighed in annoyance and spread his hands. "An hour? How many answers did I give you for the same two questions?
"G.o.ds?"
The prince raised his left hand and counted with his fingers. His tone was full of dissatisfaction, and he spoke in a perfunctory manner, "I gave you answers ranging from a creator, a holy existence, an omniscient and omnipotent existence, a manipulator of puppets, a secret observer, to a visitor from another world, a person who responds to prayers, a relentless owner of pets, and the conspirator outside the box..."
The man across the chessboard quietly listened to Thales" words and did not move.
"The world?"
Once Thales finished counting the fingers on his left hand, he lifted his right hand. "My answers ranged from all human beings, a place filled with life, a planet for animals, a material world, a bright future and hope, a place filled with bad morals, an unfair society, to the world is wrong, the world is unfair, and the world being on the verge of destruction..."
Thales, who had a migraine, exhaled and continued to complain, "Are there fifteen kinds? If we add the answers from both groups together, I must have given you more than one hundred answers..."
At this point, the man in front of him gently lifted his finger.
In a flash, Thales felt the air he was breathing in become cool and moist. The refres.h.i.+ng and cold sensation as it entered his lungs caused his incredibly irked mind to calm down.
The prince stopped talking, blinked, and calmed his emotions by breathing in deeply.
"Your mind isn"t here."
In the open-air chess room, Asda Sakern gently put his finger down and plainly said while he remained seated across Thales, "At least not here with me."
Thales came back to his senses and looked at the Air Mystic, who was sitting across the board. Then, he looked at Heroic Spirit Palace in the distance outside the balcony.
He sighed, left the chair and rubbed his face in a dejected manner.
"Sorry." The teenager shook his head in an embarra.s.sed manner and pushed a p.a.w.n forward. "There"s been a lot of things going on lately. I can"t really concentrate."
It had been a month since the council hearing and Viscount Kentvida"s visit.
From that day on, Thales was constantly troubled by the problems brought forth by the envoys from Black Sand Region. The relations.h.i.+p between the Alliance of Freedom and Eckstedt, the struggle between King Chapman and his dissenters, the underlying transfer of power in Dragon Clouds City, the Walton Family"s position as well as their choice, and needless to say, the archd.u.c.h.ess" marriage. But surprisingly, despite Thales" increasingly anxious state after listening to Putray"s a.n.a.lysis, Dragon Clouds City had been unexpectedly calm for the past ten days.
The va.s.sals did not continue to argue and force the archd.u.c.h.ess to marry. Count Lisban was as level-headed as ever, no matter how many times Thales tried to discuss Saroma"s marriage with him.
Kentvida never left Dragon Clouds City. The Black Sand Region"s envoy lived in the n.o.ble"s inn in Axe District. Under the protection of Black Sand Region"s people, he lived in seclusion and did not interact with any va.s.sals or meet with the archd.u.c.h.ess.
For a month, the West such as the City of Faraway Prayers, did not send any messenger crow over, and there was no news about the Alliance of Freedom or the war.
The situation in Dragon Clouds City was like a lake with faint ripples on it, and those ripples appeared non-stop. It was precisely because of this that Thales"s heart became even more uneasy. His current state was probably similar to water before its boiling point.
That was until he received the next sky blue invitation.
"Recent matters?
"You mean the little girl I found on your bed six years ago?" Asda hummed softly, then casually said, "The one who was sent to the archduke"s seat just because she slept with you for one night?"
Thales" expression froze.
"Oh, my G.o.d." A second later, the stunned prince cried out in an exasperated manner. "Has Soul Tower not taught you how to properly use the modern Western Peninsula"s lingua franca to avoid misunderstandings?"
"Indeed, the modern lingua franca was gradually formed after the Battle of Eradication." Asda looked as relaxed as ever, but Thales felt that there was faint scorn hidden behind his calm face. "When I was your age, my home tutor taught me the Empire"s national language; perhaps he also taught me some of the vocabulary in the lingua franca. In Soul Tower, the orthodox written language of the Ancient Empire was used."
"I wasn"t being sarcastic about your level of efficiency in the lingua franca, chap…"
But the mentally exhausted prince had already given up on arguing with him.
Thales sighed in resignation, then s.h.i.+fted the topic, "I never imagined that the famous Air Mystic would also care about our little worldly affairs."
Asda raised his eyes slightly.
"Just because I don"t care about these silly things, it doesn"t mean that I"m deaf or blind.
"As I said, too much attachment to mundane affairs will affect your progress," the Air Mystic said in a casual, moderate pace. It seemed that he was not angry at his student"s distracted state. "Perhaps you don"t understand yet, but as a Mystic in the making, if you don"t have a solid foundation—"
"A solid foundation comes from a tutor"s unreserved and careful teaching, not a hypnotic session that was thrown on me without cause and explanation," Thales looked at him askance and retorted without beating around the bush. "It seems that I need such a tutor."
Perhaps Asda was indeed a man with good temper, or perhaps it was because he absolutely did not care about his student mocking him. The Mystic then plainly said, "Well, it seems that you are now refreshed. Then, let"s do this again…"
Thales, who had enough of the lesson, exhaled and looked helplessly at the ceiling.
"Are you sure you won"t continue with the topic from your previous lesson?"
The prince hit the chess pieces listlessly, causing Lord Justin and Wya to look at him strangely from a distance. "Remember, the Two Empresses? How did they betray you?"
Blue light flashed in Asda"s eyes.
"The only thing you need to know is that they are enemies."
The Mystic coldly said, "The Two Empresses are beyond your level, unlike Giza and me. Plus, they have immeasurable influence on the world. The more you know, the more likely you are to expose yourself to their spies, whether they are willing spies or not."
Thales s.h.i.+fted his gaze.
"Immeasurable influence.
"People who became their spies, whether intentional or not."
"What you mean is, after the Battle of Eradication, they"re still in touch with the rest of the world even though they"re Mystics?" Once the prince caught on to something, he asked in a manner of testing the waters.
Asda fixed his eyes on him, then said in derision, "Why don"t you try thinking with your foot or something, Your Highness? Even me, Giza and… Existences such as ourselves could use more than a hundred years to secretly run a gang that"s entangled with the n.o.ble forces. We take what we need from each other, and they serve as our ears and hounds.
"Do you think that as the winner of the Battle of Eradication, the two wh.o.r.es would just look for a comfortable nest, pile up their treasures, then sleep on it for six hundred years?"
Thales frowned. "So..."
Asda shook his head. "One day, you will come to know about it. I won"t even have to tell you."
The prince exhaled in pain. "You"re just making me even more curious."
"Curiosity kills Mystics," Asda shot back so quickly like it was muscle memory. "Remember, these are the original words of your tutor and guide."
Thales sneered in disdain.
"As if Mystics could die…"
At this moment, Thales was struck by a thought.
"Right, speaking of my tutor…
"Mister Sakern, you told me about the few rules that I should best follow in cla.s.s last time," the prince said in a ruminating tone. "You know, to think about every word, to ask questions at any time, to express my opinions clearly, to express my doubts, to question each other, and so on..."
Asda gently nodded as he s.h.i.+fted his palms upward. This gesture was already familiar to Thales. This was a sign that the Air Mystic was allowing him to finish his sentence.
Thales took a deep breath and looked at the Mystic"s almost emotionless eyes.
"If there are people in the world who have told me almost the same rules…
"What does that entail?"
At that moment, Thales very clearly saw Asda raising his right eyebrow.
"Who?" Asda looked calm as he asked.
"A very old home tutor from Dragon Kiss Academy of Anlenzo Dukedom." Thales imagined the interesting image of the skinny old man and could not help but narrow his eyes. "Meryl Hicks."
Asda remained still for a second.
"Dragon Kiss Academy." He seemingly pondered on the words before he gently lifted his head.
"Hmm, then it makes sense."
Thales widened his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Asda grabbed a chess piece.
"Dragon Kiss Province served as a famous refuge even as early as the era of the Kings and the Ancient Empire. If war came, many scholars, academicians, businessmen, and n.o.ble refugees would choose to go there. Wizards were no exception."
"Do you mean that Dragon Kiss Academy and Magic Tower are closely connected together?"
"They"re not just closely related." The Mystic shook his head and put his chess piece in its next position. "The founder of Dragon Kiss Academy was a wizard from Soul Tower one thousand years ago. Some teaching rules in Soul Tower have undoubtedly affected Dragon Kiss Academy."
Thales could not help but feel shocked as he remembered Ramon telling him that magic had become extinct.
"So, Dragon Kiss Academy also teaches magic?" The prince was surprised. He leaned over the table. "But—"
Asda interrupted him indifferently.
"I know what you"re thinking. Dragon Kiss Academy did not manage to avoid the catastrophe of magic extinction too after the Battle of Eradication. Most books and scrolls that were thought to be about magic or thought to be related to magic were destroyed."
Thales" expression fell.
However, he soon looked up and said with a little bit of hope, "Then, there"s still a small part of it left, right?"
"Yes, but it"s not what you"re imagining. You should be leaving."
Asda continued, although with an unbothered att.i.tude.
"The wizard who built Dragon Kiss Academy was the backbone of the Seat of Historical Poems. His expertise in Soul Tower was history and literature, and he specialized in the origin of civilization in poetry. Dragon Kiss Academy"s teachings naturally s.h.i.+fted to his research direction."
With a frown, Thales grabbed his king and moved it out of Asda"s hunting range. At some point of time, he was checkmated in the game again, and again, he did not even know when it happened.
But he immediately registered what Asda said.
"History? Literature?" the prince said in surprise. "The Magic Towers researched these subjects as well?"
Asda chuckled.
"Not just that.
"Among the Three Great Magic Towers, the largest is Soul Tower, and all kinds of magic branches came from that tower alone. The number of branches were as numerous as the stars in the galaxy."
The Mystic gently lifted his eyes, and the blue light within them surged around.
Under Thales" curious and eager stare, Asda proficiently and quickly mentioned a group of nouns that would have caught anyone"s attention.
"The Seat of Gold specializes in the impact of economic currencies on humans; the Seat of Historical Poems is good at working with the ascetics to discover new things from archeological remains; the Seat of Thoughts look into human language and logic; the Seat of Power believes that only by going in-depth to secular societies can one have a better understanding of the world. It is the biggest provider for external wizard services in the Soul Tower. The habit of practically every suzerain hiring a wizard as a consultant began from them; the Seat of Million Laws acted as a precedent for other wizards; the Seat of Nature has a good relations.h.i.+p with the Alchemy Tower, advocating the discovery of objective and natural laws as well as finding out flexible ways to use those laws. There are countless seats below it…"
Thales pondered over each word, totally rapt and shocked. "Wait, gold, poems, thoughts… These are also counted as magic?"
The prince turned his head and cast a dubious look at the person before him as he sought for an answer.
Asda returned to his original apathetic self and asked plainly, "What do you think magic is?"
Thales took a deep breath and began to think.
"I heard from Ramon that magic covers a very broad area." The prince scratched his head, then said in disbelief, "However, the economic currency? The impact on humans? This is too—"
"Economic currency?" Asda interrupted as he repeated the words.
The Air Mystic"s gaze was sharp and serious.
"Currency... Think about it. Wizards can profoundly change thousands of people"s lives and destinies with only some metal discs and useless waste paper. They can also affect the history and future of a country as well as a place.
"Fame and success, the destruction of a family, all of these things are included in the things that wizards can do. A king, his citizens, n.o.bles and commoners... None are exempted from a wizards" influence. And this influence comes from the Magic Towers" hard work and continuous research."
Thales lifted his eyebrows.
Asda leaned his body forward slightly, and the look in his eyes made Thales unable to help but avoid his gaze. "Tell me, what kind of spell, what kind of magic can do such a thing?
"If these aren"t considered magic…
"Then, what else is magic?"