Being pressed underground for a thousand years would make anyone feel extremely depressed, so from the moment Maka met Haierbo, he found that the other party's desire to speak was obviously extremely strong.
This is natural. Rather, it is a miracle that this old guy has not gone crazy after spending thousands of years in darkness.
Therefore, although Maka was somewhat upset, she did not stop the other party's speech. After all, it's rude to interrupt someone suddenly...
All right! In fact, he just felt that it would be more likely to immediately anger the old guy in front of him.
When there is no dispute between the two parties, Maka never likes to take the initiative to provoke - especially when there is no benefit at all on his side.
Therefore, after Haierbo mentioned some of Merlin's past events, he casually talked about a lot of random topics. The content of these topics is naturally inseparable from the eras he lived in, and most of them are related to magic.
Regardless of the old man's reputation as "the most influential dark wizard in history", it can be seen from what he said that at least as a wizard, he is indeed worthy of his status.
"But to be honest, this guy seems a bit like Grindelwald..." Maka thought to herself while listening to the other party's nonsense casually, "Oh no, based on age, it should be Grindelwald." Is it right to be like him?"
Maybe talking alone is a bit boring after all. If no one responds, there seems to be no difference between having one or two people in front of you and being buried underground.
Therefore, as he spoke, Haierbo slowly stopped on his own.
"... Young people today are exactly the same as in the past," Haierbo suddenly changed his subject, and the smile on his face faded slightly, "Do they always lose patience quickly when listening to their elders?"
In response, Maka could only shrug slightly.
"I think I am patient enough among my peers," he said calmly, "If you are willing to continue talking, I don't mind listening for a while."
"Humph..." Haierbo chuckled twice, then shook his head, "You are listening, and you don't show any impatience on the surface. But your soul tells me... Young man, you seem to be a little absent-minded. ah?"
When Maka heard this, her heart skipped a beat.
"Really?" he said, "Of course, maybe a little bit... No matter how you say it, those topics of yours are not that far away to me! If I always listen to things that have nothing to do with me, I'm afraid Not only the 'young people', but also the elderly may not be able to listen to everything, right?"
"Oh, there is some truth in this..." Haierbo nodded and said, "Although I have never liked that little girl Rowena, there is one thing she said rightly - in the face of the vast truth of the world, age It is never the only criterion that distinguishes intelligence from talent.”
As he spoke, he looked at Maka again, and then continued: "Just like you, young man, your soul is very interesting, huge and stable, which has almost broken through the rules of the soul for humans. Definition... I have to say that you are being favored by this world... "
There is something abnormal about her own soul, a fact that Maka has gradually begun to know recently.
That's why he can easily use all materials, all production techniques... and even the wands that everyone has; that's why he has super-standard magic flame reactions when using floo powder; that's why he can never He casts the Disapparation spell normally, but can only rely on his modified Portkey to wander around the world.
But this was a conclusion he gradually came to through a series of detailed studies. What he didn't expect was that Haierbo in front of him could see something was wrong at a glance.
I don’t know anything else yet, but in terms of understanding the rules of the soul, this old guy is definitely far ahead of Maka!
"Okay, enough talking. There's nothing you can do if you don't like hearing the old man's nagging..." At this moment, Haierbo casually dusted off his robe and said leisurely, "Then, let's see if that child can help me see the light of day again." For the sake of you, I will give you a chance to choose—"
Having said this, he waved suddenly, and Maka's brows suddenly frowned. Because he discovered a very important fact that he had never thought of.
That is…
Just as Haierbo's hand that looked like a dead branch fell seemingly casually, an extremely familiar thing immediately appeared next to him. Of course Maka knew that thing, because it was the ancient magic mirror that he had sealed in the center of the underground palace earlier!
"It turns out... that the floor-standing round mirror that Greenwald found was actually Haierbo's thing?"
Presumably, there is a mural of this ancient mirror in the underground palace of Haierbo's tomb. Then, he should at least imagine the possibility that this mirror might be owned by Haierbo.
Maybe not a sure thing, but there's always value as a hypothesis, right
While Maka was frowning in thought for a moment, Haierbo's finger had already lightly touched the center of the magic mirror.
And just for him, the last soul rule rune used by Maka to seal the ancient mirror was immediately dispelled and disappeared, which made him suddenly shocked.
However, the picture of soul-sucking that Maka expected did not appear.
"Choose one! I only want the soul of one of you two. Either one is fine -" Haierbo still had a smile on his face, which even made people feel a little kind, but what he said was Extremely cruel.
"In terms of the delicacy of your soul, I still like you better... The favored young man..." He smiled, "However, I can still give you a chance to choose, because this is the reward you deserve. "
Haierbo was still smiling, and his smile was surprisingly peaceful, but this made people clearly feel the full malice behind his smile.
He was like... like a cruel beast that was trying to tease its prey for fun before eating.
Behind Maka, Enns suddenly felt his scalp numb. Because he discovered that he, who didn't understand the conversation between the two at all, could hear the words just now clearly, as if the other party had directly conveyed the meaning into his head.
"Professor Maclean—"
However, at this moment, Maka suddenly relaxed his frowned eyebrows.
He still didn't look at Enns behind him, but spread out his hands, moved his gaze from the ancient mirror, and looked at Helbo's old face calmly and naturally.
"Well, is that why you are called 'despicable' Haierbo?" He nodded to himself, "By inducing negative emotions in 'food', you can make them more 'delicious' '…Is that true?"
"oh?"
After hearing this, the smile on Haierbo's face faded slightly, but soon became stronger.
"Are you trying to say—"
"It doesn't matter what I think, because isn't that your original intention?" Maka said with a smile on her face, "The two options you gave simply don't exist. , what you want is just the process of us being forced to make a choice."
"Interesting, really interesting..." Haierbo raised his hands and patted them twice, as a sign of appreciation for Maka's words, "So, in the final analysis... do you choose or not?"
After talking so much with this old guy, Maka finally got to know him a little bit. If he had to say it, there was only one thing he understood most right now - today's encounter was obviously not going to go well.
"Actually!" Maka still maintained the smile on her face and said in an indifferent tone, "I never like to choose the options that others arrange for me, because... I also like to give questions to others. People!"
Before he finished speaking, the staff he had held in his right hand from the beginning suddenly burst out with an icy blue light, and the cooling rune took shape in an instant.
In just the blink of an eye, the absolutely terrifying low temperature enveloped hundreds of meters around him in the blink of an eye, turning all the mud and rocks outside the tomb passage into pale frozen soil.
But in the next second, Maka's hand holding the staff suddenly shook, and the cooling rule runes collapsed silently.
"Astonishing, young man, you are truly astonishing!"
Haierbo clapped again, and it was obviously more serious than before. The applause echoed in the tomb passage that had completely turned white.
"Unexpectedly, the initial cooling beam condensed by the power of the rules is not your highest understanding of the rules. However, what surprises me the most is-"
As the old guy spoke, he looked over Maka's shoulder and looked at the position behind him.
That's right, just before Maka constructed the cooling rule rune, he activated the door key that had already been handed to Enns.
And now, the little guy has probably returned to the gate of Hogwarts safely, right
"Speaking of accidents, I'm actually pretty much the same here!" Maka glanced at her right hand, which had stopped shaking at this time, and said thoughtfully, "The rules of the soul are indeed hard to guard against. It's just that it surprised me even more. The thing is—Your Excellency Haierbo, you clearly know that my soul is very 'abnormal', and you also clearly know that I have understood some of the rules of the soul..."
As he spoke, he suddenly paused the ground with his staff, and raised his gaze from his right hand again, gently falling to Halbo's sleeves and the hem of his robe.
"... Is it really enough to use only this little strength?"