"Congratulations. ”

When Penny opened the door, his assistant Tangasa stood outside with a smile and politely saluted him.

"Fourteen days, Your Excellency has spent more time sorting out the foundation than all the red-robed mages in the past hundred years. Behind the apprentice, the voice of the ** master Nosnoah came: "Congratulations on becoming a real mage." ”

Penny smiled strangely.

For the past ten days, he has been closed, hiding behind a large number of magic arrays and enchantments to sort out his mind.

As long as the mind is idle, a lot of complicated information will be churning in the mind.

It is not easy to control one's own thinking, and the newly formed thinking system will be in an unstable state for a short period of time, and once it is disturbed and changed, it will affect the personality.

This situation is unavoidable, so many upper-level mages' surnames are a little stubborn and weird - if a spellcaster's self-perception has been fixed and he decides to develop his own methodology based on this self-knowledge, then the special surname 'stubbornness' will be born accordingly, even if there is a big change that is enough to turn the worldview of ordinary people upside down in this mage, his surname will not change drastically and fundamentally, or the rational spellcaster will not allow himself to have such a change - If this happens, the arcane mind that is based on the spirit will also collapse.

During this short period of time, all spellcasters must be careful with their emotions - if there is negligence, emotional out-of-control interferes with self-awareness, then the mage may become a psychopath with a lack of personality - such mages are not rare in all parts of Faerun, or rather, due to the unpredictable and unexpected stimuli they may receive, such mages make up the vast majority of the mage community - many high-level mages have mental defects, both explicit and implicit, and they cannot be changed.

After experiencing this process firsthand, Penny realized this deeply.

It's not surprising that anyone has some or less psychological flaws, but I'm afraid no one is as stubborn as a mage, and the mage himself will never deny these flaws in the process of self-knowledge— This kind of self-denial will make the self-basis that determines the methodology incomplete, and the power built on the basis of serious flaws, of course, is also full of loopholes, such a mage, when casting spells, the probability of failure caused by emotional interference is much higher than that of a mage with a relatively complete personality cognition, and it is naturally more difficult to develop.

Therefore, any mage who performs this procedure must try to know his own mind as closely as possible, and the reason why he is 'as good as possible' is because it is impossible to complete self-certification perfectly, no one can know himself completely and thoroughly, and all mages can only make as few mistakes as possible.

The more complex the personality and worldview, the more time and energy will be consumed in this step.

For example, Penny, who has a lot more things in his head than other seventeen-year-old mages, of course, has to consume a corresponding amount of time in this program.

Thankfully, there were no accidents, and the results of the personality reorganization didn't seem to go too far.

At least Penny didn't notice anything wrong with him.

And when he can keep his mind focused and stable, his emotions no longer rise and fall strangely, and he no longer has the urge to drowsy, the procedure is completed.

This process is very dangerous, and this is when the mage is at his most vulnerable.

Therefore, he has been hiding in the most hidden area of his home during this time, and the spell enchantment set up is also dense, almost sealing himself.

Now Penny finally understood why all the high-level mages he had ever seen were so stingy with the power of their spells.

Even without arcane arts, mages are always in danger, and the stronger the power, the greater the hidden danger, not only from the outside world, but also the internal scourge is more deadly - the most lethal thing is that this scourge can never be eliminated, it is immutable with the determination of the power base, and if you pursue perfection too much, it will only make this hidden danger bigger and bigger.

Penny smiled humbly at Nosnoah's compliment, but there was a sense of misalignment in his self-consciousness: the change in mood seemed to belong to someone else, and this would continue for a short time until the 'certified' thinking system was completely stabilized.

It didn't take much time, and in the blink of an hour the sense of dislocation diminished rapidly until it became imperceptible—a vagueness that could not disappear completely, as if even perfect systems were flawed, and the 'defined' personality was then the basis of power, and the slight difference between this definition and Penny's own personality determined the existence of such defects.

Some mages who do this step too crudely have serious flaws that can cause an incurable festering of their power base, and if this flaw is very slight, at most it will occasionally cause some minor disturbances, which can be ignored as long as the precautions are appropriate and care is taken to control their emotions.

Penny pondered for a moment, feeling that the process was still in good shape, "Thank you very much for your compliment, Lord Nosnoah. Penny saluted, "It's rare for you to be here, but I'm rude." ”

"Nothing is more important to a mage than the progress of arcane research. The teacher smiled: "What's more, it's such an important thing, you are very lucky and special, you know, the more things you have in your head, the more difficult it is to get through this pass." What's even more surprising is that you're still so young. ”

Penny blinked, still not knowing the reason for the ** master's visit.

This kind of mutual praise was not suitable for the red-robed mage, and as a junior, he felt that the best way to deal with such praise was to smile humbly.

If you are too proud, you will have a bad impression of this master.

"Actually, I do have some things that I need to discuss with you, the temporary consul. ”

"Speak. Penny raised an eyebrow.

This ** division came with secret work, if he opened his mouth to drive, he, a local official, naturally had to cooperate, this measure of course needs to be paid attention to - you can't get involved too deeply, so as not to get involved in some trouble because you are too involved in this shady work, and you can't ignore it, of course, you can't ignore it - after all, no matter from the organizational status or administrative level, you can't see enough in front of this ** division, although you have just made a progress:

He hadn't yet identified a specific name for his methodological foundation—or to say his true name—some spells such as summoning, mantra, and contract, which would have been needed when writing spells, and which itself contained some arcane powers from the caster himself - which was also' The roughest definition of 'real name', but unlike what is known to the outside world, it is not a big deal to be known by others, and it is meaningless to only know such a name if you do not have a deep understanding of the methodology behind this real name.

Of course, in the eyes of the layman who does not understand the mystery, mastering the name can control a mage, and most people with such naïve thoughts are killed by the mage they are trying to kill, and the mages who master the mystery will not be stupid enough to puncture this mystery.

After all, this is one of the mysteries of mage power, and the more mysterious the publicity to the outside world, the more conducive it is to the safety of the high-level mage community.

Just as most High Mages keep their knowledge of methodology a secret from their apprentices, the fewer people who know about these mysteries, the better.

Even though he didn't have such a name yet (I'd think of one when I was researching spells), Penny already had enough mental strength to take in the amount of information about the Five Rings spell.

From this point of view, his upgrade is complete.

"Oh, Master Mentor needs a guide who is familiar with the terrain of the mountains. Tangasa, the assistant of the division, coughed: "You should have such a person here." ”

"Mountains?" Penny raised an eyebrow and nodded to Nosnoah, "I should have such men in my army, I hope it won't disappoint you." ”

"Well, then let Tangasa bring me in a moment. Nosnoah narrowed his eyes and suddenly patted Penny on the shoulder: "Young man, give you a suggestion, this location is like a stove with a fire burning to you, you have such a talent, it is not difficult to get what you need, if you don't want to cause trouble, stay away from this place for three months." ”

"Oh?" Penny was stunned.

"The summit of Mount Serre has passed a motion to assemble troops in the summer, and in about four months it will be the front line of war. Nosnoah smiled, "Good luck." ”

As he spoke, he vanished in a flash of light, and Tangasa spread his hands at Penny, "Oh, Mr. Sean, please believe that he has good intentions. ”

"Of course I do. Penny nodded silently, looking at Tangasa a little strangely, "So, you're going to leave with you?"

Although he had only been in contact for a long time, he still had a good impression of this shrewd and capable mage apprentice.

"Of course. Tangasa picked the corners of his mouth: "We apprentices will go to the mountains with our mentors. ”

He glanced at Penny, "Well, I'm sorry, I don't know what we're going to do in the mountains." ”

"Understood. Penny nodded: "State secret." ”

"State secrets?" Tangasa Waner: "That's a fitting word. ”

With that, he stepped forward and approached Penny, "Well, seriously, I would suggest you don't stay here. ”

He spread his hands: "Every year in the war, a large number of red-robed mages die, most of them are middle-level like you, and they ...... You know, none of them were killed by the enemy, especially ......"

Tangassa pointed to the east, and Penny nodded knowingly.

In this complicated situation, for him, the trouble will only be a little more, not to mention the war, even in ordinary times, how can there be a small number of red-robed mages who will attack each other when they find an opportunity?

Remembering his enemies, who could be resurrected at any moment, Penny's mood became a little gloomy again.

Now Penny can let his emotions change naturally.

It wasn't until Tangassa left with that guide that Penny returned to his office and began to think about the information he had missed in recent times.

The ruins in the mountain have been handed down from ten years ago to the present, and no red-robed mage knows who is in control of it now, and related rumors are even more circulating.

If it is proved that there are illegal activities by monopolizing that place, including private forces, smuggling with enemy countries, even the chief will suffer a huge loss of prestige if it is exposed, and the more central problem is that there are now obvious people in the country trying to seize that place.

Panny tucked his chin and remembered his teacher, and he summoned one of his men to inquire about Jonwalt's whereabouts.

The answer he got made him a little stunned: "Left?"

"Yes, my lord, he has been out of port for ten days, and I want you to inform you as you are leaving, to return to Arta Bo as soon as possible, and not to try to look for him. ”

"Oh...... You go out first......"

The mage waved his hand to dispel the clerk, frowning deep in thought.

After a long time, he took out the magic ring used for communication, wiped it a few times, but received no response, and his expression became even more solemn.

He pondered for a moment, straightened his robes and gear, and walked out of the office.

(To be continued)