The candlelight was bright. The silence in the study lasted for a few seconds.
Asda stared at Thales expressionlessly.
"Is this question so important that you are so eager to know?"
Thales smiled.
"Not necessarily. It depends on how much you want to see my 'trick'."
Asda lowered his head and looked at the wrinkled sky-blue invitation card on the floor.
"This is not a deal," his tone became cold. "Not to mention using your mystic energy as a bargaining chip."
"Then this is not a deal." Thales' smile did not change. He reacted quickly and readily accepted the Mystic's advice. "It is a student helping each other and learning from each other."
The moment he finished speaking, Thales immediately felt that something was wrong. The air around him slowly froze.
"And this is not a joke either."
The Mystic was expressionless and spoke very slowly.
"Your mystic energy is strange and unpredictable. The consequences are unknown. If you are not careful, your life will be in danger —"
Thales raised his left hand gently.
Asda's words came to an abrupt halt.
The sky-blue invitation card on the floor had disappeared.
At that very moment, it was held between Thales' fingers.
"Not bad." Asda's eyes sparkled with blue light. "It left a deep impression.
"A few months ago, when I was forced to knock on the Door and learned this trick," Thales put down the invitation card in his hand, and his smile gradually disappeared. "I was in the dungeon, being chased by an unreasonable lunatic with a knife. I played hide-and-seek for an entire night."
The Mystic did not say anything. Thales continued softly.
"Because he stubbornly believed that I was a product of the conspiracy created by the 'Three Disasters Alliance', even though I was born five years after the Bloody Year."
Asda's eyes moved.
He spoke slowly, his tone was cold.
"He discovered your secret?"
'My secret.'
Thales stared at Asda gloomily.
'Damned secret.'
"Don't worry, he's dead," Thales said nonchalantly as he shook off the weathered and lonely figure in his mind.
'He died a long time ago.'
The teenager's tone changed.
"But before that, he is not a 'possibility', but a definite threat to my life."
"The reason why I can still sit here and listen to you lecture me from above instead of becoming a prince …"
Thales lifted the hair on one side of his forehead, revealing a bald scar on his scalp.
"It's all because I lowered my head fast enough."
Asda looked at him in silence. No one knew what he was thinking.
"So, this is indeed not a deal, and it's not a bargaining chip." Thales snorted coldly. He raised the invitation and waved it. "It's proof that I was harmed by your 'glorious past', implicated by the sins you once committed, forced to a corner by an old grudge of which I know nothing, and almost lost my life!"
Thales' voice seemed to have alerted the occupants on the ceiling. The sound of rats scurrying around could be heard, but both of them ignored it.
"This unfortunate incident made me realize that mystic energy is not only about itself, but also about Mystics."
Asda did not speak, but the lines on his face grew sharper and more serious.
Thales sucked in a deep breath. "Compared to the so-called 'strange and unpredictable mystic energy with unknown consequences', perhaps the things you hid from me are a greater threat to me?"
"Therefore, for the sake of my little life, I need to know. I must know. I demand to know."
Thales raised the invitation high and, with an elegant movement, sent it flying to the other end of the room.
"Now, who is Freuland?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the study fell silent. The two of them faced each other in silence.
The duke stood in front of the window, letting the moonlight cover his shoulders, leaving only a shadow on his face.
The Mystic stood in the room. The candlelight was bright, but it could not overshadow the blue in his eyes.
Only the sporadic noises from the ceiling proved that the place was not dead silent.
After a few minutes, Asda moved slightly and said,
"You're really different."
Thales snorted softly.
"No matter how many times you repeat yourself, you're still the twentieth." The duke shook his head. "There's no prize."
'Ugh …'
The increasingly tense atmosphere was suffocating. The noises from the ceiling also became more uneasy.
"If I refuse?"
The Mystic said faintly. His voice was still elegant and pleasant.
Thales put on an 'I knew it' expression and shrugged helplessly.
"Then, I have no other choice.
"After all, you're the powerful Mystic. I can't force you."
The next second, the Duke of Star Lake stopped smiling. His eyes focused.
"But for the sake of my life, to not be harmed by your old debts, I can only try to save myself. I use all sorts of methods and channels to spy on that part of history."
Asda did not say a word. The only response to the duke was the increasingly anxious noises from the ceiling.
Thales curled his lips.
"And did you know that there's an ancient book vault in Sunset Temple in the capital? The Royal Guards in Renaissance Palace left all sorts of records? Of course, don't forget the secrets of the kingdom —"
Before Thales could finish speaking, the Air Mystic's eyes moved. Blue light shone brightly!
"Ah! Damn it! "
The glaring light forced Thales to turn his head to avoid it. He cursed and raised his hand to block it.
Fortunately, the glare from Asda's eyes only lasted for a moment before it immediately weakened.
Thales raised his head in a flustered manner. He blinked continuously, waiting for the afterimage to disappear from his sight.
"What are you doing —"
The moment Thales said those words, he froze.
Asda just stood there elegantly and calmly as usual, staring at him quietly.
'But …'
Thales realized something and slowly raised his head.
'Silence.
No, it's dead silence. '
At some point in time, there was no more noise in the study, only a terrifying silence.
Thales stared at the ceiling in a daze.
"Cleared." Asda's eyes slowly returned to normal. His tone was ethereal. "Including those in the nest and those who passed by, there were a total of fourteen rats.
"No need to thank me."
'D-Cleared?'
Thales took a few seconds to understand this sentence. He could not help but gulp.
'Damn it.
'How am I going to explain this to everyone?
'A new stray cat in Star Lake Castle? The one that catches rats? '
"If you want to be more thorough, then the rat nests around the castle and in the fields, I can …" the considerate Asda continued.
"Wow, uh, thanks, thanks." Thales quickly stopped him. "That, you don't have to be so thorough. I have to let my subordinates have something to do …"
Asda nodded cheerfully.
"Please forgive me. I was distracted by this matter. And what were you talking about just now?"
Thales clapped his hands.
"Oh, that just now. Anyway, what I meant was, Honorable Sir Sakern." The duke, who had a high status and power, was all smiles. His attitude was amiable. "We are teacher and student, guide and apprentice. We are companions on the long journey of mystic energy. Hence, there is a need for us to strengthen our communication and trust each other …"
Thales looked at his guide whom he respected and admired from the bottom of his heart. His eyes were filled with anticipation.
"What do you think?"
The room fell into dead silence again.
A few minutes later, the Mystic spoke softly.
"Your Highness, are you saying that you wanted to use yourself to threaten me just now in exchange for my compromise?"
Thales coughed and his smile faded.
"I'm sorry. I only realized it recently."
Thales exhaled and tried his best to be as sincere as possible.
"Using yourself as a bargaining chip is quite effective."
Thales weighed the 'Covenant' in his pocket and thought sarcastically.
After all, everyone loved Thales.
Asda's gaze shifted and he stared at Thales.
But a few seconds later, he suddenly laughed.
"You should really look in the mirror and look at yourself right now."
The Mystic's smile — which felt like a puppet whose mouth had been carved into an arc — made Thales panic.
"The mirror in the bedroom is broken. I don't know when I'll replace it." Thales forced a smile to match the Mystic's smile.
It depended on Scholar Julio's account book.
"Wait, apart from killing rats, don't tell me that you also know how to repair mirrors?"
In the next second, before Thales' smile faded, Asda's eyes flashed with blue light again!
Thales felt a great force surge towards him. Caught off guard, he was lifted into the air and fell heavily!
'Damn it!'
Looking at the rapidly approaching ground, Thales raised his hands to protect his head and face in exasperation. 'I knew this grandson was petty —'
* Thud. *
There was a muffled sound. Thales opened his eyes and snapped out of his daze.
He landed on his feet and hung in the air with his face up. He was' sitting 'in the air in a pathetic manner.
Asda had already 'sat' beside him and was leisurely admiring the night outside the window.
"Then, let's talk," the Mystic said calmly.
"As usual, no notes."
'Talk?'
Thales came back to his senses. He frowned and touched the 'air chair' under his butt.
He calmed his pounding heart and stared in disbelief at Asda, who had suddenly become easy to talk to.
'Alright, looks like he's not that … Hmm, petty?'
"Very well."
Thinking of this, the teenager's lips twitched.
"But before you invite me to sit, perhaps you should first ask —"
* Thud! *
Thales fell heavily on the ground. He touched his buttocks and grimaced in pain.
'Ahhhh — pain, pain, pain — F * ck!'
"Then, may I ask, Your Highness, would you like to sit?" Asda looked at him calmly. A blue light appeared on his left and outlined the outline of a chair. "Your Highness, would you like to sit?"
Thales covered his butt and gritted his teeth as he climbed up.
'Sit your ass!'
But just as the word 'no' reached his lips, he caught a glimpse of the mottled and faded old, crooked chair that belonged to the duke behind the study table from the corner of his eye.
The noble and dignified Duke of Star Lake could only smack his lips in annoyance. Sulking, he sat on the 'chair' that Asda had prepared for him.
'Damn it.
'Petty.'
"Frillan Sanchez."
In the room, Asda stared at the small patch of night sky that was locked by the window. His gaze was unfocused.
"This is her name, at least the part that I know."
'Frillan Sanchez.'
Thales muttered the name in his heart.
"She was born very early. It is said that she witnessed the Empire during its heyday. I guess even among fellow Mystics, there are very few who can surpass her in terms of experience. "
Asda's tone became tense.
"Before becoming a Mystic, she was a magic apprentice at the Alchemy Tower. After becoming a Mystic, her line of origin was named 'Senses'.
"Alchemy Tower, I know." Thales raised his hand excitedly. "'Towards Omniscience', right?"
But Asda did not give him a positive answer.
"What did you say?"
"Alchemy Tower, their motto," Thales recalled and repeated, "'Towards Omniscience'. It's under the symbol of the strange eye."
Asda narrowed his eyes and looked at him strangely.
Seeing this, Thales had no choice but to stretch out his hand and draw a sentence in the ancient language of the Empire in the air. "Towards, Omniscience?"
The Mystic was silent for a long time.
"They taught you the language of the Empire, right?"
"Of course, why?"
"So, you failed?"
Thales' small face darkened.
'Why don't you try taking lessons eight days a week?
What? You're asking where the extra days came from?
Of course it's squeezed out from sleeping time! '
Thales was puzzled.
"What's wrong? Or is it better to translate 'omniscience' into 'omnipotence'? "
"The languages in this world do not correspond to each other," Asda said coldly. "If that's the case, why don't we just learn nouns one by one, and when it's time to use them, we only need to say, 'You, learn, grammar, class, idiot'?"
Thales shrank back into his chair and crossed his arms in a daze.
'You, actually, really don't have to be so mean.'
"And if you can be a little more generous and magnanimous, noble, studious, knowledgeable, and progressive, Your Highness."
Asda said faintly,
"Release a little of your touching feelings of being diligent in government affairs, worrying about the country, and caring about the welfare of the people, squeeze out a little of the time you stand in front of the window and sigh at the majesty of the kingdom's vast rivers and mountains, or a little of your heroic courage to bargain with me in the face of death, and then generously and mercifully give them to some boring grammar lessons that you think are insignificant. Then, you may be lucky, coincidentally, unexpectedly, touching, and miraculously notice an insignificant point in an inconspicuous corner. In the language of the Ancient Empire, your so-called 'path' is a concise combination of a noun and a verb."
Thales felt dizzy as he listened. It took him a lot of effort to digest this long paragraph. Only then did the corners of his mouth twitch.
"That, you, you only need to say the last sentence. That's enough."
Asda ignored him.
So, the Alchemy Tower's motto in the language of the Ancient Empire was not literally "path to omniscience".
For the sake of his academic dignity, Thales had to pull himself together and began to draw in the air again.
"Then, 'path' is a noun, so it is not 'path', but 'path', or even simpler, 'road'.
"And the verb, 'road leads to omniscience'?"
Thales looked at his guide expectantly.
Asda did not even look at him. He said indifferently,
"Look at the verb for 'omniscience'."
Thales scratched his head and continued to draw.
"Alright, let me see — oh!"
Thales came to a realization. "So 'path to omniscience' is a modification of 'road'! Hmm, 'path to omniscience'? "
Asda snorted coldly.
"Look at the verb for 'road'."
Thales frowned.
"Look again? But there are only a few of them — oh. "The teenager's expression changed again." I get it, 'road' is a passive object. It has a corresponding subject-predicate! "
But Thales was immediately confused.
"But this sentence does not have a subject-predicate …"
Asda snorted again.
This time, Thales did not need to be reminded. He had an idea.
"I remember now. In the poems and proverbs of the Ancient Empire, according to the context and logic, certain elements would be omitted, such as' I 'and' I am '."
Thales slapped his thigh and said excitedly,
"So, the Alchemy Tower said 'I am on the road, and the road leads to omniscience'?"
Asda was expressionless.
"Do you usually speak like this?"
Thales coughed and adjusted his words.
"'I am on the road to omniscience', not simply 'heading to omniscience', right?"
This time, Asda did not say anything.
'Towards omniscience.
'I am on the road to omniscience.'
Thales silently recited these two sentences. He remembered the symbol of the strange eye on the Alchemy Tower and felt something in his heart. "They are different."
"A very big difference," Asda suddenly said.
Thales thought for a moment and nodded.
"I get it."
"Towards omniscience — it is like the door plate on a door."
"You just have to open it. Behind the door is omniscience."
Asda did not comment.
"But, 'I am on the road to omniscience' — this is more like a signpost on a long road." Thales' eyes brightened. "You walk past it, you know you are not there yet, but you know the direction is right, and then, and then you continue forward."
The former was a complacent master who guarded the door.
The latter was a traveler who carried a heavy burden and had a long journey.
'They are different.'
Thales was a little lost in thought.
"Musclemen may be rigid and stubborn," Asda looked at the moonlight outside the window and said faintly, "but they are also wizards."
Thales came back to his senses.
"Musclemen?"
The Mystic tilted his head.
"Soul Tower uses a derogatory term to mock them."
"I understand. What do they call you?"
"Thinkers."
"Thinkers?" Thales raised his eyebrows. "Why not bookworms?"
"Because it is ironic."
Thales narrowed his eyes.
Asda snorted coldly.
"We use the most direct and simplest derogatory term that they will not misunderstand no matter what.
"And what they use to insult us is an ironic term that can only be understood by connecting the context, history, and reality."
Thales was in high spirits.
"Interesting. Even though they use derogatory terms against each other, the logic used by Soul Tower and Alchemy Tower is completely different! Am I right, Thinkers? "
Once he finished speaking, Asda looked at him expressionlessly.
The air around him became heavy.
Thales reacted and had to cough vigorously.
"Ahem, back to the topic at hand." The duke's expression became stern. "So, Mister Sakern, Freuland, she is an extremely experienced Mystic — Sensory Mystic?"
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
The Mystic's tone instantly became cold.
"Don't call her that.
"You can either call her by her mortal name, or use her full name, 'Sensory Mystic'. You can even inadvertently mention 'Sensory Mystic' in a sentence."
The blue light in Asda's eyes was extremely sharp.
"But the only thing you should not do is call a Mystic by her name of origin in such a pure, simple, and crude way when you know who you are calling."
'Don't call her … by her name of origin?'
Thales was puzzled.
"Why?"
The Air Mystic was silent for a while, as if he was thinking about something.
But he still spoke in the end.
"Because we do not know Freuland's current situation. Whether she is sealed, whether she is complete, how she is, whether she still walks freely, and whether she exists in the world, we do not know.
"If you call a Mystic's name of origin wholeheartedly when you know who you are referring to, and if the other party is normal, you will sense it."
Thales' expression froze.
'If I call her name of origin seriously, alone, and intentionally, the other party will sense it?
'That means …'
"Once or twice might not be a big deal, but if it happens too many times … Trust me, no matter how soft it is, no one wants to be knocked on the window for no reason," Asda ended his sentence with a warning tone.
Thales had a brainwave.
"It's that amazing? Then let me try yours, Air — "
At that moment, the air around him was compressed with the force of an avalanche!
"No, no, no —" Thales had difficulty breathing. His face flushed and he waved his hands randomly. "Ha — ha —"
In the next second, Asda put down his finger. Thales only then regained his breathing and panted in pain!
'F * ck!
He's definitely doing it on purpose! '
"First of all, this is not a friendly move."
Asda snorted coldly.
"Secondly, remember, the Magic Empresses stand at the pinnacle of the path of mystic energy. I strongly suspect that they can use some unimaginable method to sense and monitor known names of origin. Once a Mystic reacts due to being called too much, the b * tches will notice that something is wrong."
'Magic Empress.
'Monitoring names of origin?'
Thales tugged at his collar and said unhappily,
"So strange?"
The Mystic did not answer. He only stared at him coldly.
Thales could only continue asking.
"So, a name of origin is like a website — I mean, an address? Once you call it, it's like throwing a stone at someone's window?
"And the Two Empresses live in the tallest villa. They're hunters with sniper rifles and crossbows who stand at the highest point. If someone's window rings, they pull the trigger and kill them in one shot?"
Hearing this, Asda heaved a long, deep sigh. He seemed dissatisfied.
"Metaphors, analogies, and analogies are always like this."
But he only paused for a few seconds before his eyes glowed with blue light.
"No."
"In a sense, a name of origin is more like a gate with a sign hanging on it. It's used to distinguish our territory and boundaries, and to warn others." The Air Mystic's eyes were bright and piercing. He stared at an unknown place. "To prevent us from clashing, fighting, and killing each other."
'Distinguishing territory and boundaries.
'Gate.'
Thales furrowed his brows and asked further.
"But, if the other party can sense it by directly calling a name of origin, then it's like a gate deliberately erected to attract people to knock on it?"
Asda turned his head.
"Isn't this the reason why a 'gate' is stronger than a 'wall'?"
The Mystic's voice sounded as if it was thousands of miles away, indistinct and indistinct. "It also leaves space for others to visit."
Thales blinked in pain. "It's a little complicated?"
"You'll understand."
The blue light in Asda's eyes slowly disappeared. "When you understand."
Thales nodded and forced a fake smile.
'Thank you for your nonsense.'
However, he suddenly realized that after he displayed his mystic ability and resolutely expressed his opinion that "I don't want to be implicated by your old debts", this time, Asda seemed to be willing to teach him more, deeper, and more difficult to understand.
In the study room illuminated by candlelight, two people, one big and one small, were suspended side by side in the air. One was quietly contemplating, and the other was gritting his teeth with his arms crossed. It was an extremely strange sight.
Thales thought of something and immediately asked, "Then, is the World Cleansing Project seven hundred years ago, which aimed to destroy the records and history of magic related to this?"
The Mystic turned his head.
"When there are fewer and fewer people who remember you, there are fewer and fewer people who call out to you." The teenager slowly sorted out the logic and gradually felt that it made sense. "Then, when your names of origin are heard, it will be extremely conspicuous. It will make it easier for the Two Empresses to hunt you down?"
Asda was silent for a while.
"Perhaps," the Mystic said faintly. "But it's not just that."
Thales was about to ask, but Asda had already spoken.
"Whether it's when demons bewitch people, asking the victims to call out their taboo names loudly, or when religions spread their beliefs, asking the believers to repeat the admonition of the gods, or when the Emperor rules over the world, asking millions of people to shout 'Long live the Empire' over and over again."
The Mystic seemed to be immersed in his own world again.
"Summoning symbols is always the most direct way to strengthen connections, establish habits, and build authority.
"Mystic abilities are the same, and even more so."
Thales was puzzled by what he heard.
"I actually, um, don't quite understand."
Asda raised his head and was extremely certain.
"You will understand.
"Sooner or later."
Thales could only hug his arms tightly and chuckle.
'Thank you.
'Another nonsense.'
"And this is why, Mister Sakern, you have been unwilling to tell me the names of the Two Empresses and the unsealed Mystics?"
"This is one of the reasons," Asda said solemnly.
"And you have to be careful, especially since you have already started to come into contact with mystic abilities and even knocked on the Door. A mortal calling out their names of origin and a Mystic calling out their names of origin are on a completely different level."
Thales snorted softly, turned around on the air chair, and turned to his guide.
"You know, you could have told me earlier. You could have just told me what I could do and what I couldn't, and that would have been it." The prince pursed his lips. "This has nothing to do with mystic abilities."
The Mystic was silent for a while.
"Trust me, Thales."
Asda spoke faintly, but it made Thales a little nervous.
"Everything that happens in this world, everything, everything …
"Is all related to mystic abilities."
'Strange, he's been talking so much today.'
Thales frowned, but still decided to turn around again and look at the ceiling. No, when he thought of the fourteen rat corpses on the ceiling, Thales had to flip to the other side and face the door.
"So, even Mystics themselves usually don't call each other by their names of origin?"
"One."
Thales frowned. "What?"
The Mystic's ethereal voice rang again. This time, his tone was mechanical and indifferent.
"As far as I know, since the birth of mystic abilities, there has only been one and only Mystic. From the beginning to the end, he did not have any scruples. He was used to calling his peers by their names of origin, and he even believed in it.
"As if that was our only name.
"As if that was his creed in this world."
For some reason, when he heard this sentence, Thales shuddered.
He subconsciously turned around and looked at Asda.
"And every time he called out my name of origin …"
The Air Mystic was lying in the air. His blue eyes flickered as he stared at the ceiling.
But it did not seem like he was staring at the ceiling.
Instead, it was something above and beyond it.
Thales had rarely seen Asda like this.
"Who is he?" the teenager could not help but ask.
Asda did not move.
But in the next moment, there was a flash of blue light. The Air Mystic's gaze, which was filled with blue light, locked onto Thales.
This gave Thales a shock.
It was like a comic strip flipping on a book. In the blink of an eye, it changed to the next page.
"Fortunately, he and his brother have been confirmed to be sealed."
The blue light in the Mystic's eyes flowed out of his eye sockets and climbed up his face like cracks.
"Before they destroyed the world."
The two rays of blue light made Thales extremely uncomfortable. He subconsciously turned his head to avoid them.
In the next moment, the Air Mystic instantly turned towards the sky and called out a word coldly and numbly.
"Exist."
'Exist.
'Exist …
'Exist, exist, exist …'
This word seemed to have some kind of power. Under Asda's call, it seemed to echo faintly.
In the next moment, Thales felt as if he was hallucinating — all the sounds and colors in the world disappeared at the same time!
Even his thoughts had come to a halt.
Everything was over.
After an unknown amount of time, he felt a movement somewhere.
Soon, the ceiling, the ground, the walls, the door … Everything in front of him and beside his ears gradually returned to him.
In the next second, the teenager took a deep breath and sat up!
Thales came back to his senses and realized that he was drenched in cold sweat.
Asda sat beside him. Just like before, he looked at him calmly, elegantly, and indifferently.
Thales panted rapidly and blinked his eyes frantically.
'Everything is normal.
'Normal?
The only extra thing, or rather, what was left behind …
'It's an omnipresent feeling from the inside out …
Deep palpitation.
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