Reiner was groggy and felt like he was moving through the streets, everything around him was slowing down, and only he and the other were still moving normally.

This feeling lasted for several minutes, and with a feeling of inertia overweight, Reiner stopped.

He felt his stomach churn and almost vomit what he had eaten at noon, and Reiner staggered and unsteady on his feet, but still looked at the person in front of him.

The man was full of gray hair, beard, looked old, and was wearing a tattered and loose robe, and he couldn't see his identity, he yawned, pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Boy, you're lucky to meet me."

He said, his voice low and seemed to echo in the small room.

It was only then that Reiner noticed where he was, which seemed to be a room with rudimentary furniture, but it was all badly dusted, and it didn't look like someone had lived there for long.

The room was poorly lit, and it was rather dim in the evening, and a ray of sunset light shone through the crack in the window, and fell right on the other person's face, and the dust in the air drifted away, flickering with a faint light, and the man's face was half in the sunlight, and the other half was still in the shadows, showing a wonderful sense of picture.

"Who are you?"

Seeing that the other party had no ill intentions, Reiner stood and waited until his nausea subsided, he always felt that he had seen the other person, but he couldn't remember where.

"You don't care who I am, I'm just here to give you a glass of wine."

As he spoke, the old man casually picked up an empty cup from the table and handed it to Reiner.

"Wine?"

Reiner took the glass, only to find that it was already full of ale.

"Ah......h

Only then did he remember that when he attended the annual academic conference of Mercury Balance, he had paid for a homeless man in the bar, and after careful meeting, that homeless man was the old man in front of him!

I didn't expect it to affect me until now.

Reiner looked at the glass of clear ale in front of him and took a sip, it was mellow and delicious, it was the highest grade wine.

This old man's magic level is not ordinary!

Although the old man's magic prowess could have been evident from the fact that he had previously incapacitated Ampekos with at least five rings with a single blow, it was this glass of wine that really showed his skill.

Void creations are involved according to the specific situation, from the simplest magic to the most difficult magic, the simple is like the fireball technique, which can create unstable compounds in a short period of time, and the difficult one is like the glass of wine in front of you, which not only maintains stability, but also has a specific composition, you know, even the bread made by the high-level mage's food creation technique, the taste is no different from sawdust, this level of ale must spend extreme energy to design a spell model, it is possible to make it.

However, the old man waved his hand lightly, and a glass of fine wine appeared in front of Reiner, lightly speaking, like breathing.

Who the hell is this?

Reiner was puzzled, although he didn't know all the high-level mages, he basically knew the name and the simple situation, and he had never heard of anyone like this old man, wandering around the continent like a vagabond, and even being swept away from the tavern because he had no money.

Experiencing life? A private interview with Weifu?

Reiner felt that he couldn't understand the other man's train of thought.

"How did you find me? What do you want to do here? ”

Since the other party is unwilling to tell Reiner his identity, then Reiner can only ask what the old man is going to do now, after all, if you simply save people, you only need to defeat Ampekos, and there is no need to arrest Reiner here.

"I happened to be passing by, and I felt a little familiar here, so I came."

The old man's explanation did not reveal any information, he stroked his beard, and said.

"I need you to help me with a couple of problems."

Hearing the word question, Reiner seemed to understand something, and asked.

"What's the problem?"

The old man glanced at Reiner and threw out a piece of paper.

On the paper was a three-dimensional geometry problem, and Reiner glanced at it and quickly gave an answer.

The old man glanced at Reiner's answer, nodded in satisfaction, and took out another piece of paper.

It was a differential equation on paper, and Reiner was quick to give the answer.

The two of them just asked and answered, and soon, the ten questions that the old man took out were answered by Reiner one by one, all correct, these questions involved mathematics and mechanics, and there were also problems in alchemy, Reiner noticed that these many questions actually have a complete solution to the current theory, it seems that this old man has not been in contact with the current magic theory for a long time?

"Yes, you're quite talented."

The old man bowed slightly, put away the questions, and then spoke faintly.

"I want to ask you, what is the nature of magic?"

"This ......"

Reiner was speechless when he heard this question, he didn't know if the other party wanted to discuss the philosophical meaning of magic with him, or if he really wanted to figure out the theoretical nature of magic.

You know, the legendary mages have been trying to find the root cause of the problem for so many years, but they have found nothing, and they can't even come up with constructive conjectures.

Reiner's knowledge of magic was far from enough, and naturally he couldn't have any ideas.

"I don't have enough knowledge now to think about it."

He replied that it was not that Reiner was not curious about the question, but that a lack of understanding could lead to a lot of extremely stupid speculations that were pointless.

"Yes, a little self-aware."

The old man nodded appreciatively, then spoke.

"The more I've studied magic over the years, the more I've noticed that our magic is evolving in unspeakable places, and I've learned something, but I can't say it."

His words were vague, but they aroused Reiner's curiosity.

"Boy, have you ever considered why high-level magic can use magic more than low-level magic, and why magic power is spontaneously attracted to high-level magic?"

The old man was silent for a moment, and then suddenly asked.

Reiner knew that the criterion for distinguishing high-level magic from low-level magic was the utilization of mana, because mana would be spontaneously used by high-level magic, but no one knew why magic had such a nature.

There are also people who are pursuing the so-called ultimate magic, that is, magic with the highest utilization of magic power, reaching 100%, they think that this can reach the essence of magic and get all the answers to their questions, but unfortunately, the results of the current attempt are not optimistic.

"Have you ever thought about such a question, boy?"

Seeing that Reiner did not speak, the old man asked again.

"Why is the utilization of magic so low?"