"Is the future uncertain? In other words, you saw Perrin's future and then changed it?" Xiao Chen was a little worried. If he was facing an omniscient person, it would undoubtedly be a scary thing. No matter who they are, they have some secrets that they don't want others to know, let alone them, the time travelers.
Ikasa shook his head and said, "The past and the future are a web woven by the threads of cause and effect. All we do is follow the threads and look forward a little bit." Seeing Xiao Chen's confused face, he pointed to the coffee table and kettle beside him and said, "What will happen if I knock over this coffee table?"
"Well, the teapot will fall onto the grass." Xiao Chen replied.
"Yes, this is the prophecy." Ikasa pointed to his gray hair and asked, "What did these hairs look like when I was young?"
"They certainly weren't white when you were young."
"Yes, this is history." Ikasa smiled and said, "You must be thinking that these things are understandable to everyone. It is the simplest inference, right?"
"Indeed." Xiao Chen scratched his head and thought, what kind of prophecy is this
"But will it know?" Ikasa asked, pointing at the white parrot perched on a treetop not far away.
Xiao Chen glanced at the shaking parrot and said, "If this was just an ordinary parrot, I'm afraid it wouldn't be able to make such an inference."
"This is the difference between humans and parrots. Humans are better at reasoning than parrots, so they know more than parrots. And the magicians of our Spirit Eye Tower may know a little more than ordinary people, which makes people a little surprised. This is the ability of the Spirit Eye Tower. But we can't see clearly the accidents caused by the entanglement of various cause and effect lines."
"For example, when the teapot fell, I caught it with my hands." Xiao Chen now understood a little.
"Yes, or maybe I had white hair when I was young."
"I now understand a little bit about the prophecy about the future. You can infer and calculate more based on the current situation and the power of magic. But why do you talk about the past and the future together? Isn't the past something that has already happened and has been determined long ago?"
“If there were no people in this world, the past would indeed be fixed and unchanging. But with the existence of people and their observation, the past events are given present meaning.”
"You're saying that how we view the past determines what the past is like?"
Ikasa told a story: "There was a young man who grew up in a harmonious family. His parents were still alive and he lived a peaceful life. For him, the past was just some memories of life. But one day, he found out that he was not his biological father. On the one hand, many of his adoptive parents' actions in the past had different meanings in his eyes. On the other hand, he also had the idea of looking for his biological parents. At this time, has the past changed for him? What if he further discovered that his adoptive father was the murderer of his biological parents? Maybe he would look at the past with hatred and plan to take revenge. What would he think if he found out that his biological parents were actually brutal bandits and his adoptive father killed them to stop them from killing more innocent people?"
"It is an objective fact that the adoptive father killed his biological parents, but the three different understandings of the same past will completely lead to different behaviors in the present, and ultimately different results in the future." Xiao Chen said thoughtfully.
"Yes, the past affects the present just as much as the future. We don't actually know much more about the past than the future. This is because our observation ability is really limited. Even with the help of the 'Insight Hole', we can only see more and farther. There is no omniscient and omnipotent existence, not even 'God'."
"A hole of insight?"
"It's the blue ball of light you saw when you came in. It's a gap in the web of time. It allows us to peek into some things more easily."
"When I just came in, your eyes became like that ball of light. Did you see my past and future?"
"From the moment you said the word 'Dream Tower' to Perrin, I saw something in you. Now that you are standing in front of me, I am even more certain of it. This is also the real reason why I invited you here for the second time."
"Tower of Dreams..."
"If you are not the inheritor of the Dream Tower, my disciple only needs to tell you not to use magic recklessly in the cities within the kingdom, and then register in the house outside. There is no need to bring you to this small world. The Dream Tower, speaking of the Dream Tower, it affects the past and the future, and it concerns the lives of many people."
Xiao Chen couldn't help but get nervous. On the one hand, he had only read the Dream Tower's "Shadow of the Sea of Consciousness" and didn't know the details of the Dream Tower. He mentioned the name at that time just to scare the other party and make himself look reliable. On the other hand, if the Dream Tower was really that important, he was afraid that the other party would have bad intentions. He didn't think he could be a match for a white-haired old wizard.
Ikasa saw what Xiao Chen was thinking and comforted him, "Don't be nervous, I won't hurt you. If I really have any ideas about your inheritance, there's no need to beat around the bush. I've seen something in you. You didn't originally belong to this world, but now you're closely connected to it."
Xiao Chen's heart started beating wildly. The old wizard could actually see his background. Even though he always had a good attitude, he was confused at this moment.
"Although plane travel is a strange thing, it has happened before. Where you come from is not important." Ikasa completely ignored the identity of the traveler, and asked with a hint of excitement: "Where did you get the inheritance of the Dream Tower from, and what inheritance did you get? These are the big questions related to this world. I hope you can answer my questions truthfully, so that I can have a more accurate foresight about the future."
Xiao Chen looked at the old wizard's expectant and serious eyes, and could vaguely feel that he had no ill intentions. He slowly calmed down. The inheritance of the Dream Tower actually had little to do with the school, and their foundation was not in an ancient book, so he hesitated a little, but decided to tell the truth: "I got the Dream Tower's "Shadow of the Sea of Consciousness" and read it."
"It turned out to be the Scroll of Shadows of the Sea of Consciousness, the first of the three sacred books of the Dream Tower. However, the prerequisite for reading the Scroll of Shadows of the Sea of Consciousness is to cultivate the spiritual power to the bottleneck of concentration, and then complete a special concentration through the Scroll of Shadows of the Sea of Consciousness to form a meditation world and become a low-level magician with 'initial spiritual consciousness'. Have you cultivated to this level before you got the Scroll of Shadows of the Sea of Consciousness?"
Xiao Chen said: "No, since you have seen our origins, I am not afraid to tell you. In the world I came from, there is no magic. I gained magical power after reading that book."
"What? You read the Scroll of Sea of Consciousness when you didn't know how to use magic, but you didn't die of mental collapse? Instead, you succeeded in concentrating your mind? Incredible, incredible. There must be some special conditions that I don't know about." Ikasa was amazed. "Then what did you see in your spiritual world after reading that book?"
"There is an endless sea and I am on a boat in the sea."
Ikasa stared at Xiao Chen for a long time with the eyes of a monster, and then said excitedly: "Quick, use the magic you used to attack Perrin to attack me with all your strength."
"What are you doing?"
"Quick! Don't hold back."
Xiao Chen had no choice but to cheer himself up and release the fear in his heart with all his strength. With a wave of his hand, the violent mental power carrying the terrifying aura rushed towards the old wizard.
Master Ikasa looked calm at first, but frowned after a moment. After a few seconds, he had to take out a light green crystal from his sleeve and put it in front of him. But after more than ten seconds, the crystal also broke with a crack. The old wizard's face became more and more gloomy, veins on his forehead bulged, and fine beads of sweat appeared.
At this time, Xiao Chen's power had spread out. The white parrot that was originally perched on the tree was startled and flew away, but after flapping its wings twice, it twitched and fell to the ground. Then, bursts of rapid and short bird calls and insect chirps came from the surrounding bushes.
Xiao Chen's mental power still surged like a flood. In his opinion, he was a complete novice, a real rookie. Although some of his secrets were seen through by the other party, he still had to show as much strength as possible, so that he would have more initiative. Moreover, Ikasa looked like a master and was also known as a great magician. He must be able to take on his spells easily.
But he was so absorbed in his work that he didn't realize that Ikasa was almost at his limit. Xiao Chen already had a mental power far beyond that of an ordinary mage. In the past two months, he had seized every spare moment to meditate. With the help of the Secret Law Inheritance Ring, his mental power had already improved by leaps and bounds. When he exerted his full strength, Master Ikasa, who was not well prepared, was in trouble. His mental defense line was already shaky, his hands were shaking, and his face was frighteningly pale. If he hadn't been sitting on a low stool, he would have almost collapsed to the ground.
Finally, when Xiao Chen had finished releasing this magic with great satisfaction, he found that Master Ikasa opposite him was leaning on the coffee table with both hands, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" Xiao Chen was shocked and rushed forward to support the other person. However, Master Ikasa waved his hands and took care of his breathing.
After a long while, he raised his head with a serious face and said to Xiao Chen: "Now I understand that you really went easy on Perrin. I almost fell for your magic."
"You mean, I'm strong enough to fight you?" Xiao Chen asked in disbelief.
Master Ikasa glanced at the crystal fragment in his hand and said, "No, I didn't cast any defensive magic just now. I just used my mental power to block your attack. It's like an adult who was punched by a child and was almost knocked down. Even if the adult is not wearing armor, it is enough for the child to be proud. If I really want to deal with you, I have many ways to take you down before you use magic."
He put the fragments into the pocket of his robe, then pointed at the white parrot that had fallen to the ground in the distance, and the parrot woke up. But when it saw Xiao Chen, it screamed and flew away in panic.
"Master Ikasa, I'm so sorry. I didn't expect the noise to be so loud. I have poor control over magic." Xiao Chen's old face turned red and he apologized to the master.
Ikasa smiled and said to Xiao Chen: "You are a genius. Even when the Dream Tower was at its most glorious, the Tower Master would have accepted you as his disciple at all costs."