Kaimeng University, Lecture Hall 108.
"If you were given ten times the extra magical power, but the price was that you would always be chased by an immortal snail, would you be willing? Raise your hands if you are willing."
This strange question almost instantly turned the entire classroom into a sea of joy. An elf student in the front row couldn't help laughing and raised his hand and said, "Professor, you should ask who would be unwilling!"
Standing on the podium was an elegant and graceful elf professor with shoulder-length black hair, sapphire-like green eyes, fair skin, crystal clear lips, a thin face, a tall figure, wearing a dark grey windbreaker and white gloves on his hands.
Facing the student's answer, he smiled slightly: "What if the magic power is changed to eight times, and the pursuer becomes a red wolf? Well, it seems that everyone is not very afraid of the most widespread hunter in the natural forest."
"What if the magic power is five times higher and the pursuer is a juvenile fish-slaying dragon?"
At this time everyone was a little hesitant - the juvenile Ichthyosaur could be said to be a silver killer. There was a joke that 'the sorcerer had no experience the first time, and he surrendered when faced with the sea of knowledge; the sorcerer had experience the second time, but he still had to surrender when faced with the fast, fierce and passionate Ichthyosaur'.
Of course, because this joke involves discrimination against men and women, it is basically not heard in real life, and this kind of joke with connotations can only be seen behind the curtain.
But almost everyone raised their hands. Professor Elf nodded and said, "What if we change to triple the magic power and the pursuer is replaced by a standard blood-crazed hunter?"
Now half of the people raised their hands. Blood Crazy Hunters are divided into hunter apprentices, formal hunters, and hunter captains, corresponding to one wing, two wings, and three wings respectively. Standard Blood Crazy Hunters are almost all two-wing level combat magicians, and two-wing magicians need to go through strict assessment and training to become Blood Crazy Hunters. Ordinary production-based two-wing magicians can hardly be the opponents of Blood Crazy Hunters.
"What if, instead, my magic power is only doubled, but I am always being hunted down by Titan Executioner-level virtual creatures?"
Everyone put down their hands, and an unhappy student couldn't help but say: "Professor, if I want, can you give it to me?"
"Of course I'm not that generous." Professor Elf smiled, "But the Void Realm can."
"The reward is an extra doubling of magic power, but the price is being hunted down forever by the immortal and powerful Void Realm creatures. This kind of "blessing" is very common in the Void Realm. As long as you are willing to pray to the Void Realm, the Void Realm will really fulfill your wish."
"Everyone has signed a student loan contract, right? The two parties to the contract pray to the virtual world to act as a notary and let the virtual world supervise the execution of the contract. Whoever violates the contract will be punished by the virtual world... This is actually the most common "gift"! "
A student raised his hand and asked, "But almost everyone can sign a contract for anything. Are people in the virtual world so easy to talk to?"
Professor Elf smiled and said, "Of course it's easy to talk to you, because you are the ones who need to abide by the contract, and you are also the ones who have to pay the price for breaking it. In this process, you don't get any extra benefits, but you have to keep paying. The virtual world has always been generous to this kind of 'harming others and not benefiting yourself' gift - of course, this is because the insurance industry has been developed for many years. It is said that signing a contract was also very troublesome a long time ago."
"But if you dare to ask for a "favor" from the Void Realm, the Void Realm will reveal a face more ferocious than a bank and fangs more greedy than loan sharks. For any magician who tries to take shortcuts, the Void Realm will give the most severe test."
"But 'rewards' and 'tests' are not static mechanisms. If the magician knows how to use the power of the virtual world correctly, he can greatly increase the amount of rewards and greatly reduce the difficulty of the test."
"Pray for blessings, adjust blessings, this is the power of the ritual faction."
The Elf Professor looked around the classroom and said, "Increasing the reward of one times the magic power to ten times, and reducing the pursuer from a Titan Executioner to a snail, this is not the nonsense of a fool, but a real miracle."
"Of course, praying for a gift does not mean that you can just shout a few words in the virtual world and get an immediate response from the virtual world. Even the operators of the Crime Hunting Office may not be able to provide such service quality. In fact, the ceremony of praying for a gift is very complicated. Not only does it require various magic spirits as materials, but it also requires the magician to test multiple magic factions. Therefore, it is a faction that requires many pre-requisites..."
Sitting in the back row, Adela held her face in her hands, her eyes fixed on the elf on the pulpit.
"Professor Schilling is so handsome..."
"Ah?" Freya looked at Adela in surprise. "I thought you were going to say something like 'Is there a reward that can increase my luck in gambling? The best test is to just lose my fertility.'"
"How is that possible? I always listen carefully to Professor Schilling's class!" Adela said angrily, "Of course I wouldn't mind if I had that kind of gift!"
At this time, the lecture hall was full of people, not only in the aisles, but also on the windows. Everyone came to listen to Professor Schilling's class. Professor Schilling could be said to be one of the most popular professors at Kaimen University. His academic, appearance, and teaching level were all top-notch. Unfortunately, due to his off-campus work as a congressman, he stopped being a resident professor a few years ago and only came to the school occasionally to give one or two lectures.
Besides that, the most popular thing about Professor Schilling is that his class is free! No tuition is required, and anyone can sit in on the class. Only a fool would miss a free lecture by a two-winged magician like this.
If Adela hadn't helped Freya save a seat, she would have had to lean on the window to listen to the lecture.
"… However, there are only a few magicians who can greatly leverage the power of the virtual realm. For example, the example I just gave of doubling a power to ten times, even a four-winged legendary magician would have to do his best to achieve it. Therefore, compared to "adjustment", ordinary ritual magicians prefer to use "conflict" to match gifts. "
"Suppose I now have two gifts. The price of the first gift is 'I will never be able to taste food', and the price of the second gift is 'I will be able to taste everything in sight'. What do you think will happen?"
The students looked at each other in bewilderment. Adela stood up and answered, "The two costs take effect at the same time, but the magician can taste the food by looking at it when eating. This means that the second cost weakens or even suppresses the first cost to a certain extent."
"Yes, this is the magic of "conflict", using the conflict between different costs to reduce the negative impact of the cost." Professor Schilling nodded in appreciation: "Of course, not all gifts can achieve such a clever combination. The more common combination is to gather multiple costs that will act on the same place."
"Suppose I have two gifts, the first cost is to lose my vision, and the second cost is to turn the world in my field of vision into a bloody quagmire. After I pray for these two gifts, although I will still lose my vision, I will not have to bear the second cost. This is equivalent to taking advantage of the virtual realm."
A student asked: "If I have ten gifts, and the cost is all related to eyes, then do I only need to pay with my eyes to gain the benefits of all ten gifts?"
"Yes, that's the idea." Xilin smiled and said, "Prayer, adjustment, conflict, ritualists can use clever combinations to gain the greatest benefit from the virtual world at the lowest cost."
Another student was puzzled: "Since the ritual faction was so powerful, why is it gradually declining now?"
Xilin said: "There are two reasons. The first reason is what I just said. The difficulty of entering the ritual faction is too high. You almost have to master multiple silver factions to perform the ceremony. Therefore, the minimum threshold for a ritualist is two-wing gold."
"Spell schools like this with high thresholds are often difficult to pass on. Once they are interrupted by an accident, they will be lost in history. Only when a magician obtains the inheritance from the virtual world and improves it can these treasures of the past shine again."
"The second reason is that the ritual faction is too dangerous."
A student laughed: "Even if the magic school is not dangerous? The water school that is good at healing can also kill people without being seen."
Xilin shook his head. "As I said earlier, although the Void Realm is stingy in granting benefits, it is very lenient when it comes to things that 'harm others and benefit oneself'. In certain forbidden rituals, a two-winged golden magician can pray for a destructive storm comparable to a full-strength attack from a four-winged magician by simply sacrificing himself!"
"We magicians can be greedy, take risks, and do whatever it takes, but we must survive and cherish life no matter what! The ritual faction goes against this direction. In addition, many gifts will cause physical and mental disabilities, making magicians extreme, violent, and contemptuous of life. Naturally, it will not be spread."
"There is nothing you can do about learning the knowledge of ritual factions in the virtual world, but in reality, any wise magician will prohibit the spread of ritual factions. Not only for the sake of social stability, but also because ritual factions can easily create crazy magicians. Except for evil and chaotic organizations, ritual factions are not good for any stable organization."
"I held this lecture to explain to you the dangers of ritual factions. If you encounter the inheritance of ritual factions in the virtual world in the future, remember not to be blinded by greed and use this dangerous knowledge with caution."
At this time, a student wearing a mask raised his hand and said, "Could there be someone in the Four Pillars Cult who controls the ritual faction? Could the natural disaster storms that occurred in the past be evil deeds caused by the Four Pillars Cult members?"
"… The Four Pillars Gods Cult has been completely banned by the Criminal Hunting Office, and all members, including the leader, have been arrested. My friend, you should read more news." Xilin said coldly: "The premise of your question is not valid."
"Also, why are you wearing a mask to class? Can you take off your mask?"
Everyone looked over and found that the student who asked the question was wearing the same crow mask as the healer, as if he was role-playing. Freya also saw this scene, and she suddenly remembered that the cult leader seemed to have such a mask.
Could it be...
At this time, the classmate took off the crow mask and showed an apologetic face: "Sorry, professor, I like this mask very much, so..."
Xilin stared at the classmate, and suddenly covered his eyes with his gloved right hand, and put it down after a moment: "Don't wear a mask in class, it will distract me."
As the laughter and chatter rang out, Freya keenly noticed that someone was walking out. He was carrying a schoolbag, wearing a hood and a mask, and walked through the classroom. No one seemed to notice him. Except for Freya, no one paid attention to him.
Although she couldn't see the face clearly, based on the body shape and clothes, Freya was sure that it was Ash.
What is he doing here
... ...
...
After class, Freya returned to the apartment and opened the door, she smelled the fragrance.
"Welcome back, it's time for dinner."
"… I'm back."
After Ash put the food away, Freya couldn't wait to ask, "Did you go to Professor Schilling's class this afternoon?"
"Yeah, did you see that?"
"Why did you come to class suddenly?"
"Well, there are two reasons."
Ash picked up Xiao Xian who was eating cat food and said, "The first reason is to go to the university treatment room to find someone to treat Xiao Xian."
Freya was stunned: "Xiao Xian is sick?"
"Yes, it has congenital rickets. I saw it sitting on the ground this afternoon, looking listless. I thought it was not feeling well, so I took it to a doctor for treatment. The doctor said that if we want to relieve it of pain, it needs treatment almost every month."
Freya hugged the Scottish Fold cat in her arms distressedly: "Sorry, Xiaoxian, I didn't know... Thank you."
"Great! I was afraid you would blame me."
"Why would I blame you?"
"If it doesn't receive treatment, Xiaoxian won't know that pain can be dispelled, nor will it know how comfortable it is to be healthy. It may be difficult for it to endure pain in the future, and you will need to take it for treatment every month."
While browsing the videos to go with the meal, Ash said, "I'm afraid you'll blame me for causing you trouble."
"What's the trouble?"
"Isn't it troublesome to take Xiaoxian to see a doctor every month?"
"How could that be!" Freya shook her head. "How could I find it troublesome? It shouldn't have to endure such pain. It was you who saved it from the pain. I can't thank you enough."
Ash glanced at her and said, "That's good... I'm actually quite surprised that you don't accept any intimate relationships, but you can devote yourself wholeheartedly and selflessly to a cat."
"This is different," Freya muttered, "Humans are not as cute as cats, and Xiaoxian will not leave me. She is a friend with no expiration date."
Ash smiled: "When you make friends, do you consider the shelf life of this friend?"
"What else?" Freya said confidently, "If the shelf life is only a few hours, such as plastering, then you can be polite and act like a cute veela for a few hours; if the shelf life is a week to a few months, you can meet up during holidays to keep in touch, or talk about hobbies during weekdays; if the shelf life is a few years, then you need to talk about political views as soon as possible, and quickly determine whether the other person is the type you can make close friends with. If there is a fundamental conflict of opinion, you must immediately draw a line and have no contact except for work."
"So what conditions must be met for you to feel that this person's shelf life is a lifetime?"
Freya was stunned for a moment, lowered her head and pondered for a long time, then hesitantly pinched the Scottish Fold cat's paw and lifted it up: "It should be at least as cute as Xiaoxian, right?"
Xiao Xian was held so tightly by Freya that he couldn't breathe. He pushed the Veela away with his paws in disgust. Freya let him go and asked, "Taking Xiao Xian to see a doctor is the first reason. What's the second reason?"
"I was passing by the school, so I came to see how you were doing in class." Ash said casually, "Hey? The first episode of 'It's My Fault That I Say I Like Married Women' has already been released? Let's just watch this."
"I actually want to continue watching Cha Ka Tan Store..." Freya poked Chi Yan Lala Fei with a fork: "What's so interesting about the class?"
"It's nothing to look at." Ash rolled up the noodles with a fork, "So I took a look and left."
"This is incomprehensible." Freya muttered, looking at the Veil of Knowledge while eating the Red Flame Lala Fat Fish Roe Rice Bowl with big mouthfuls.
But her mind was neither on food nor on videos.
For some reason, the strange feeling in her heart became stronger and stronger, and even... a little happy.
Speaking of which, the shelf life of this cult leader is...
She forced herself not to think about it.