The sun rises in the east, and the sky is clear. On the blue sea, a passenger ship splits its waves and sails eastward against the rising sun, and a huge chimney rises in the center of the ship, and the billowing black smoke from the top of the chimney indicates that the ship is a product of the Age of Magic.

York sat quietly on the bow of the boat alone, looking ahead, after three days and three nights of sea sailing, York and his classmates were tired from the excitement of the first voyage to the sea, staying on the boat on all sides except for water or water was a little boring, some classmates played cards late last night, and are still sleeping, but York got up early, ran to the bow of the boat to watch the sunrise on the sea, today's weather is just right, when a round of red sun jumped up from the sea, the moment the light erupted, York's shocked hairs were about to stand up.

This ship is a passenger ship from Noah's continent to the Holy Demon Island, the ship is divided into two floors, a total of more than 300 people, most of them are going to the island for tourism and vacation, with the vigorous development of alchemy, the sea traffic is becoming faster and more convenient, so that more people can have the opportunity to enjoy the coconut grove on the Holy Demon Island, the delicacy of the beach, the warmth of the sea breeze, the passion of the waves, of course... Of course, they can stop by the world-famous Museum of Magic.

In addition to the tourists, there were also a number of businessmen and students, including York and his classmates, a group of more than 20 people. They are students in the advanced class of the Microscopic Magic Department of the Continental Academy of Magic, and the purpose of going to the Holy Demon Island is to complete the visit to the Magic Museum on the Holy Demon Island before graduation, and to study with the staff inside for a period of time, because of some origins, the Magic Museum has maintained a good cooperative relationship with the Continental Magic Academy since the day it was established, and hundreds of students from the Academy come here every year to enrich their studies, and York They are just a small part of it.

The Museum of Magic has a large collection of Holy Magister's life-made The magic formations and props used, these formations and props have played a decisive role in promoting the process of human magic, although they are already some old antiques, but every year there are still a large number of magic practitioners and enthusiasts who make a special trip from the mainland to the Holy Demon Island, just to go to the magic museum to see the true face of these magic arrays and props, on the one hand, they hope to get some magical inspiration and inspiration from these artifacts, and on the other hand, it is purely for pilgrimage, worship the supreme holy demon master in their minds- Alan Kanter.

After watching the sunrise, York flipped through a biography of the life of the Holy Magister on the bow of the ship, and saw the sun rise

When he was a pole high, he got up and went back to breakfast, where he met the boatswain on deck.

"Good morning, sir, how long will it take to get to Holy Demon Island?"

"Good morning! It's not far away, I'll be there after breakfast. ”

"Really, that's great, I can't wait. ”

So, York rushed to the restaurant in a hurry, and most of the others were there except for those who were playing cards in the evening, and York told them the news, and everyone was excited.

After York prayed before eating, munched a few bites of bread and ham, and then ran to the second floor of the ship with his classmates, stretched his neck to look into the distance, and sure enough, a dark coastline in front of him had appeared in view.

"Oh... Roar!" York and his classmates high-fived excitedly, and then hurried down to pack their belongings.

An hour later, when the liner entered the harbor with a long flute, York and his classmates stepped off the ship under the guidance of the trainee teacher, and the people sent by the museum to greet them had already arrived, a total of four carriages, one loaded with luggage and three carrying people. The group walked south along the coast in a horse-drawn carriage, admiring the beautiful tropical natural scenery along the way, and they were not only a little drunk.

The museum is not far from the port, only a few miles away, so soon the horse-drawn carriage arrived, and York and his party got off the bus in the square in front of the museum gate, the square is very wide, stretching to the reef by the sea, which is five or six square miles in size, and a large number of tropical tall trees are artificially planted on both sides, and from time to time there are seabirds chasing and playing among the trees, a scene full of life. At this time, the attention of York's group was attracted by a statue in the middle of the square. The statue is more than 20 feet tall and stands on a huge rock with the words "Magic is to make people happy and happy." The image of the statue is an old man, holding a magic wand embedded with a huge crystal in one hand, holding a book in the other, the old man bows his spine slightly, wearing a black magician's robe, wearing a pointed magician's hat, and a pair of eyes hidden in the shadow of the brim, looking at the end of the sea, which is the direction of Noah's continent.

"This is the statue of the Holy Magister, isn't it?" muttered a male student as he circled the statue. "That crystal on his wand must be worth a lot of money. ”

"To make you say so vulgar, you know that a magic crystal like this can be used as a source of magic power for a medium-sized magic array, but now there are almost no pure crystals, I heard that the Sunset Republic Magic Academy, the Department of Synthetic Magic is conducting experiments on artificial crystals, and samples have been made, but the purity is not very good, it can be used as a temporary storage body of magic power, and their idea is said to be inspired by the functions of some devices in the museum. York angrily expressed his opinion of the magic crystal, but no one seemed to listen to him.

"I like that hat, why can't we use such a hat in our school's graduation uniform, it has a retro charm when worn. "A female classmate seems to have a very researched expression of clothing.

"I think the old man's expression seems to be homesick, don't forget that he is from the mainland, but now he can only stand on this island. Another female student said as she observed the statue's expression.

"Hey, don't forget, this is just a statue, there are no less than a hundred such statues on the mainland, although this one does have a more expressive expression. A male classmate clearly did not agree with the female classmate's opinion.

While the students were chattering about the statue, the teacher who led the internship shouted that everyone had gathered, and that the staff had arranged their accommodation, and they needed to put their luggage in their accommodation first according to the arrangement.

After lunch, York and his classmates were taken to the auditorium, where they were given a small welcome ceremony at the museum.

"As you all know, this is the last place where the Holy Magister Alan Kanter worked, the birthplace of modern alchemy, and the holy place of magic, where you can not only see some miracles in magic, but also work and study with some researchers, and I hope that through these studies, it will help you in your studies and make you a real magician in the future. This is a quote from the director of the museum at the welcoming ceremony.

After the ceremony, the group had lunch and then visited the exhibits in the museum under the guidance of the museum staff in the afternoon. The museum is a three-storey building with three floors above ground and seven floors underground, the three floors above ground are built in modern times, and the seven floors below ground were built back then, digging hundreds of feet deep into the solid rock, such a huge project is not easy to accomplish even with today's technology, and how the Holy Magister did it back then is still a mystery. When this underground structure was first discovered, it was sealed with a huge rock, and to open this rock, it was necessary to use the tidal force of the highest full moon night of the year to store the tidal power into a crystal through a complex water magic array, and then convert the water magic power into earth magic power that can move the rock through a more complex magic frequency conversion array. Such a set of magic arrays, even with the magic technology mastered by modern humans, cannot be copied, so there are still many people in the magic museum who have been studying this magic array for many years, and there are some well-known figures in the magic world of the continent.

The underground part of the Museum of Magic is not open to the public, and even if York and his party have a school connection, they can only visit the part of it that is related to their major, and of course they will have the opportunity to work in the underground part with researchers for a period of time, which will be an invaluable opportunity and experience.

A group of people visited only to find that the weather that was still sunny at noon suddenly became dark clouds, the wind suddenly rose, and the dark clouds on the sea in the distance seemed to have merged with the sea water, rolling violently, among which the lightning crossed the sky, bursts of thunder rolled in, and a tropical storm came when it was said to come.

The students, who were going to go to the beach to relax, had to rush back to their residences to escape the rain. York looked at the time, there was still a little time before dinner, so he prepared to go to the museum's library, where he might see some magic books that were not available in the house.

York showed his magic academy ID at the door of the library and easily entered the library, where several people were already flipping through the books, and they seemed to be oblivious to York's entry. With curiosity and the idea of exploration, York browsed through the collection of books on the shelves row by row, there were not many books in the library, York almost browsed through, and did not find any books on the theory of microscopic magic that he was interested in, there were several general books on microscopic magic that York had read when he was in school. York was a little disappointed, but when he reached the end of the bookshelf, he found a ladder leading to the ground, and there seemed to be another floor underneath. York walked down the ladder and found that it was a smaller library, less than a quarter of the size of the upper floor, and there were only two magic gas lamps hanging on it, making it seem that the entire basement was dimly lit.

The books in this basement seemed to be rarely borrowed, and the books on the shelves were covered with dust, and York looked at the last row of bookshelves all the way, and found that the books on them had a dull yellow husk, indicating that these were old books that had been preserved for a long time.

York finally stopped by an old book called "Principles of Magic". "Principles of Magic" is the first brilliant work written by the Holy Magister, and it is the earliest work on magic theory in human history, and his appearance marks the beginning of the magic age in human history. Nowadays, almost everyone on the mainland knows this book, the book that every student has to study while studying, so York is no stranger to this book. What caught York's attention was that the old book was much thicker than the one he had studied. Of course, York knew that the book he was studying was an abridged version, and that it had been hundreds of years since the Principles of Magic came out, and that many different abridged versions had been produced to meet the needs of different learners. York had read several versions of Principles of Magic in the library, each with some differences, so now he wanted to see if there was something he hadn't read before, which might help him.

York pulled the old book out of the shelf, dusted off the cover, and opened the first page, and York was visibly flustered. There is only one line on the first page: "It is magic, not God, that governs the world, and all faith in God is false and vulnerable in the face of magic" is a passage about faith, and it is clear that the person who wrote this passage thinks that magic is a more important thing than faith in God. This is different from the other "Principles of Magic" that York has read before, and the other front pages read: "Faith is the source of all good deeds, and the stumbling block of all evil." As a child of a Christian family, York remembered the description of faith in the book "Principles of Magic" very clearly.

Just when York was surprised why the description of faith in this old book was so rebellious, a voice suddenly came from behind him: "Young man, it's closing time, what is the need to come back tomorrow." ”

York was startled by the sudden sound that almost knocked down the bookshelf next to him, "Oops... You... Who are you?" said York, rubbing his aching shoulder, looking back at the person who was speaking.

In the dim light, a tall old man stood in the passage between the bookshelves, the old man carried a gas lamp, and the soft light reflected the old man's smiling face, and York noticed a scar on the corner of the old man's forehead.

"Hello young man! I'm Carlos, the curator here. The old man kindly identified himself.

"Carlos, no, hello Mr. Curator! My name is York. York reached out and shook the old man's hand.

"You're welcome, York, you're a student here today?" the old man seemed to see through York's identity.

"Yes, it's raining outside, so I came in and looked at it, and I found it," Yorkie said, tucking the book in his hand, "This Principia of Magic is a little different from the others. ”

The old man read the title of the book in York's hand clearly, and his eyes narrowed.

"Oh, what's the difference?"

"Here," York shows the first page of the book to the old man, "the description of faith is completely different. ”

"Is that so?" said the old man, taking the book and looking at it, "yes, this book is indeed different. ”

"Do you know why this book was written like this? Is it not the original version of the Holy Magister?"

"This is the description of the original book, without modification. The old man shook his head slightly.

"So what I read before was revised?"

"No, they're all original works of the Holy Magister. ”

"Dear Director Carlos, can you tell me why this is the case, these are two completely different, if not completely opposite, views. Unconsciously, York's words were tinged with honorifics.

The old man did not reply, but turned around and shuffled with somewhat heavy steps to the end of the bookshelf.

"It's time to get off work, let's go. ”

"Can I borrow this book?"

"Of course, any copy will do, but remember to return it on time. ”

I don't know when the storm has stopped, leaving only the sound of frogs one after another. Tropical storms always come and go as fast as they come, and although the eaves are still dripping with rain, the dark clouds are gone, and the sunset is reflected on the sea.

Director Carlos made his final rounds and exited the library gate, only to find York standing at the foot of the steps outside the gate waiting for him.

"Dear Director Carlos, if you know the answer to your question, can you please tell me?" York pleaded.

"York, it's time for dinner, and I think your classmates must be waiting for you to have dinner with you!" said the old man, walking out on his own.

"You may not know, the Holy Magister is my most beloved person, I have studied many history books about his old man, but I always feel that there is something missing in the history books about him, the book describes him as a god, not a man of flesh and blood, maybe this book can help me solve this puzzle. ”

Curator Carlos had already taken a dozen steps before he stopped when he heard York's words, and he turned his head and asked with a solemn expression, "Do you really want to know the answer?" ”

"Yes, Curator!. York nodded earnestly.

"It's okay, there are some things that should be known to more people, so that they know that the great man in their hearts didn't care about these halos at all, he just wanted to be an ordinary person, and he just wanted to grow old with his beloved. ”

The old man smiled and looked into the distance, the afterglow of the setting sun reflecting on his blonde hair, radiating an almost divine light.

That night, after dinner, York, a man and a woman, knocked on the door of Director Carlos's room in the backyard of the museum.

The one who opened the door was a woman who looked to be about fifty years old, although her face had left a faint wrinkle due to the erosion of time, but anyone could see that she must have been a great beauty when she was young, and now even if she is old, it is difficult to hide the charm of natural beauty.

"Old man, here comes the guests. The woman shouted into the room as she welcomed the three inside.

"Welcome, young man! Since you are here, don't be polite, you want to drink something, I have here the best tea from the Eastern Continent, it is a good thing to refresh your mind, I am afraid that when I tell a story, you will be drowsy!" Hearing the woman's shout, the old man came out of the back room and greeted the three of them warmly.

"Director Carlos, these two are my best friends, Mike and Jessie. ”

"It's an honor to meet you, Director Carlos. Like York, we are all admirers of the Holy Magus, so when York told us about the stories of the Holy Magus that you know a lot of that are not recorded in the history books, we came uninvited, hoping that it didn't cause you any trouble!" the girl generously introduced her intentions.

The old man laughed when he heard this. "Miss Jessie, you are too polite, you know, my wife and I live here, very few guests will come, today you come to us to welcome too late! ”

"Curator Carlos, it turns out that you also like to collect weapons. York walked to the corner of the living room, where there were some weapons, including a man-tall sword, a spear glowing with golden light, and a longbow carved with magic patterns hanging at the top, and York couldn't help but reach out and touch the bow in curiosity.

When the hand touched the bow, York felt a wild ancient meaning along the fingertips straight to the brain, the longbow seemed to become an ancient beast roaring angrily at himself, and the coercion that instantly filled the world swept overwhelmed, under this coercion York only felt dizzy, difficult to breathe, his legs were weak, and he almost fell to his knees, fortunately, the old man walked behind him at this time, and gently supported him on his shoulder, and the generous and warm feeling from the old man's palm dispelled the fear in York's heart, and finally did not kneel.

"What is this...?" asked York, somewhat alarmed.

"It's just a bow, a murder weapon. Aren't you here to listen to my story? Let's get started now. ”

The old man interrupted York and pushed him back to the couch and sat down. He sat on a wicker chair opposite, picked up a pipe next to him, plucked the tobacco in the pot, took two puffs, and set it aside. Then he calmed down a little before he said solemnly: "Today I want to tell you a true story, a story about the Holy Magister Alan Kanter, in fact, this story is more like a heart-wrenching legend, a magnificent epic. The story began more than 460 years ago, when the protagonist of our story was just a humble little magic apprentice..."

York had forgotten about Longbow, and he and the other two were completely absorbed by the old man's tone, and their thoughts seemed to travel back in time and space with the old man's words, more than four hundred and sixty years ago.