"When I turned down the invitation of the Mentor Freiswalker, everyone said I was crazy, and maybe I was really crazy - rejecting an elder and going alone to a principality under the complete control of the Church in a vain attempt to establish a wizarding academy.

Yes, I know how unrealistic what I am doing.

It was because of impracticality that I agreed to the harsh conditions of the Church and the Duke of Lothair, and to the invitation of the Night's Watch to 'cooperate'... Because only in this way can such an unrealistic dream be realized.

An academy of its own, a place to be able to study freely and unfettered... Most importantly, to bring the 'wizard' to more places.

Yes, the wizarding world will grow stronger by the day, and yes, even if I don't do it, someday someone will do it, bringing the wizarding profession and identity, and the value system behind it, which is completely different from that of nobility and religion, to the land of Lothair......

So why not me?

I saw myself as a 'martyr' for the first half of my life, like the missionaries of the Holy Cross hundreds of years ago, and it cannot be denied that I myself got great satisfaction from this 'sacrifice', even more than the pursuit of knowledge.

Until 'them'... Reach out to Dalton Kander, my only student.

I tried to resist, and then quickly realized my weakness, even if I wanted to expose or expose them, the only end was to destroy all the value I had created in the first half of my life, and let the other party kill without hesitation.

It was that day that I truly understood what it meant to be a sacrifice – not to give, but to sacrifice everything I truly cherished.

At the moment of sacrifice, you can understand how much you have to pay for your dream.

And the rewards I got were also beyond my imagination.

When I heard about Al Ain Rand's achievements at Ebolden, when I learned about the brilliance of Isaac Grantham's talent, when the news of Loren Torino's coronation in Byrne came... I really got it.

I realized that maybe it was really a will from the shadows that brought me to this land, to establish an academy in this land where it was impossible to give birth to wizards, and to usher in a new era in the wizarding world.

Find them, wake them up, and set them on the path they should take... It is me, Peter, the whole meaning of this college, and the mission that must be accomplished.

Of course, everything may be just my speculation, but maybe there really is some kind of will in this world, and I have spent many years studying the relationship between the Holy Cross and the Void, most of which have been in vain, and the only real value is an unverifiable hypothesis based on the research of Mentor Freswalk.

Suppose the Holy Cross is only an existence higher than the wizards of the material world or the evil gods in the void level... Perhaps because of this, the ordinary means of the material world and the low-level high-level magic spells will not be able to cause harm to the Knights of the Oath, because the power of the Knights of the Oaths comes from the Old Book of the Church of the Holy Cross, and the Old Book is the original, the earliest written text of the Holy Cross.

Maybe... These are the sources of the birth of wizards, and the inspiration for the ancient runes created by Logan in Hats.

If this is the case, then the key to opening and understanding the first and second valves is hidden in the old scriptures.

Of course, all this is just the result of my life, a wizard who has always been trapped in front of the first valve, and I wanted to keep the manuscripts in your study until you come back one day, but the climb was too painful for an old man, so I put them in the library.

I hope this will give you a little bit of inspiration, and you can imagine how happy I was when I heard that you had opened your first valve.

As I wish I had, you would be the first person to see this letter.

I am the only one, beyond my apprenticeship;

Dalton Kander.

- Forever indebted to your mentor, Peter. ”

........................

Gently patting the sobbing little wizard on the shoulder, Loren silently left the silent chapel.

When he pushed the door open again, he was already standing in the academy's library.

Without any extra effort, the black-haired wizard found the manuscript left by Abbot Peter—a college that he had visited dozens of times in his memory and a thousand times in the dream world, and he didn't even have to look at it to see what was different from what he remembered.

Flipping through the parchment, the neat manuscript and the very strong notes were enough to prove that Abbot Peter had a very clear mind when he was sorting it out, even if he had not opened the valve, and only from the description of the valve in the nine-pointed wizard tower and the lessons of Master Freswalker, he had fully understood the point.

His mind has fully reached the level of the first valve, and the only regret is that it was too late... The old master Peter could no longer bear the load that was generated when the valve was opened for the first time.

But it doesn't matter to me, the important thing is that I got a very crucial clue.

There are only two places where the documents of the Old Classics have been treasured... The Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower and the Holy Cross Church in the Imperial Capital, the Wizard's Tower was blown up by Master Corona during the Battle of Ebolden, and the Holy Cross Church was completely isolated from the world.

And this is not a problem at all, because he has a "living" library of wizards' towers, and two "friends" who have been exposed to the Old Book literature at least once.

Isaac Grantham, the Priest Weber, and a certain "Knight of Oaths" who probably did not return to the Azores—Isaac needless to say, Webber served as the archbishop's deacon, and the power of the "Sword of Oaths" was originally derived from the Old Scriptures.

Just find and convince them—at least two of them shouldn't have a hard time—that you can get the complete Old Scripture, how to use the power of the Second Valve, and go one level higher, and open the final Third Gate.

The key to it all was the manuscript, which he would never have known without the research of Dean Peter, and the departure of Mentor Dalton Kander before Peter completed his research.

No, if you want to force the connection, you can go further... For example, if there is no Wimpal Academy, if you get the contract in Wild Dog Village, it is very likely that you will not have much communication with the mentor and Ain, but choose to go to Ebolden;

Even... The Vimpal Academy, which was supposed to have been destroyed in the war, was able to preserve the manuscript after being captured by the Azorean elves, allowing itself to see the manuscript......

The black-haired wizard sighed, a hint of mixed emotion flashing in his eyes.

"Did you guess it a long time ago, or was everything in your plan?"

"Dear Loren, why do you knowingly ask?"

Asrael's voice was as cheerful as ever, like an innocent child.

"This is a war, a war that decides the fate of the whole world, with caution, with all the power you can, with no hesitation to decisiveness, sacrificing yourself if necessary... Poor Asriel had always thought that these were the best and most perfect qualities in dear Loren. ”

"Just because of these ......" Loren didn't look back, and put down the manuscript: "So you chose me?"

"Nope. The blonde boy spoke in a low voice, and his brisk steps slowly approached from behind:

"It's you who have these qualities, it's not those qualities that make you - it sounds paradoxical, but dear Loren, please don't doubt Asriel's trust in you. ”

"Some delusions may be fickle, but that's why they are called 'delusions'—to change completely, not to manipulate or distort the nature of a consciousness, which is a more terrible force than destroying the world. ”

"Not even two 'crosses' have been able to do things... Hmmm, let's assume that's impossible, okay?"

You don't have to look at it, and the black-haired wizard can imagine the expression of him blinking at him with his hands behind his back.

"So in that case, you're also a... Well, be cautious, do everything you can, do whatever you can, be decisive without hesitation, sacrifice your own if necessary... Evil gods?"

"In a way, in a sense, yes. Asriel's voice was still cheerful:

"Dear Loren, you must understand the evil gods... There is no concept of time for the existence of void life, and every success or failure seems to us as if it had just happened or was about to happen. ”

"So this time, you... Or do you think you're going to make it?"

"No, it was because he couldn't succeed that poor Asriel pinned all his hopes on dear Loren... Either cross, it is beyond the limits of what we can reach, and only Loren can hope to match it. ”

"Dear Loren, you are us... He is the savior of this world!"

"So if you can't defeat two 'gods', you're going to create another?"

Loren smiled: "You are not afraid that I am worse than the Holy Cross or the Black Cross, then again, is there really a difference between letting an experienced person, an ambitious person, and a consciousness who basically doesn't care rule the world?"

"Or are you ready to swap me out at the last second and rule the two worlds yourself?"

Perhaps because it was difficult to gain insight into the thoughts of the black-haired wizard, the blonde boy behind him was slightly stunned.

"No... No, no, no, only the last Asrael didn't think about it, and as for the previous one......"

The blonde boy suddenly grabbed the black-haired wizard's hand, and Loren, who was forced to turn around, looked at the boy standing in front of him, and instinctively stunned.

"Y-How are you... Belch... Got a change of clothes?"

A lace long-sleeved white shirt, a delicate bright red tie with a black lace sapphire blue cape with buttons, a pair of small leather boots that fell below the knee-length trousers, and a small bowler hat crooked on his head with bright blonde hair. Tied with a red silk ribbon encrusted with pearls.

The extremely gorgeous outfit does not look superfluous or dazzling at all, but gives the blonde boy a touch of innocence and childlike fun that does not exist in the first place.

The always "plain" blonde boy suddenly dressed so fancy, which really made Loren quite uncomfortable.

"If you have the chance, try something different. Asriel smiled, his scarlet eyes looking into the eyes of the black-haired wizard with an extremely pure, as if it could penetrate everything: "As for the question just now......

"After such a long period of time, Asriel doesn't really mind being wiped out, obliterated, and disappearing from this world forever, after all, there is a beginning and there should be an end;

"But at whose hands it died, it matters. ”

"More than everything... It's all important!"

..............................

When Loren walked out of the library, the little wizard and the elf, as well as Yuri Wirtz, had been waiting outside the door for a long time.

With her head down, Ain's eyes were red, as if she had not fully recovered from the pain of Peter's departure, and the elf Lea on the side hugged her tightly, whispering to comfort her.

The Grand Duke of Ellemont on the side was silent, his head bowed as if to hide his somewhat ugly expression.

"All ready?"

The black-haired wizard asked.

"The army has been reorganized, the wounded have been properly housed, and the prisoners have been executed. Yuri Wirtz nodded: "For the rest, leave it to the Lothairians, after all, this is their territory." ”

"When can I pull it out?"

"We're still talking to the Lothairians, but it's expected to be within a week, we don't have much time to rest, and fighting could break out on the Ebolden front at any time. ”

"That's in a week. The black-haired wizard looked at the elf: "Within seven days, let the Lothair army gather and go with us to the Ebolden battlefield... Including you, we have to let the royal family of the Heavenly Dome Palace and the other principalities know that Lothair has changed masters. ”

"It's about the relationship between the Empire and Lothair, the attitude of the Royal Family of the Heavenly Dome Palace, and the thoughts of the other Duchies, and we can't afford to delay any longer to avoid surprises. ”

The female elf nodded very casually, obviously not taking this to heart.

Loren, who sighed, found that Yuri Wirtz was still looking at him.

"Something?"

The Grand Duke of Ellemont nodded.

"Bad news?" Despite his guess, Loren couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope.

"The female elf I caught, the samurai of the Imperial Court, the 'puppet show' Shera......" Yuli Wirtz's face became more and more ugly:

"Let her run away. ”

"Ran away?!"

Loren was so surprised and surprised.

According to the previous statement of the Grand Duke of Ellemont, the female elf had her hands and feet cut off, her saber was not by her side, her whole body was chained like a dumpling, and she was locked in a cage... So that can make her run away?!

"That's right, not only did she run away but killed the three witchers who guarded her, a wizard and a few of my bodyguards, all of whom were killed without even realizing it. ”

"Not only that, but at the scene of the incident... There was no trace left, there were only corpses at the scene, no living mouths, and if it hadn't been discovered by the soldiers patrolling around, we might not have known anything about it until now!"

As the words fell, the black-haired wizard's expression finally became a little more solemn.