Just when Benjamin was a little confused by those eyes, on the other side of the iron door, the owner of those eyes suddenly spoke:
"Don't make any noise. Jessica was sent away by me just now, but she will be back soon. I won't be here long."
It was a gentle woman's voice. Benjamin sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.
"Who is this person?"
He asked the system in his mind.
"It's your mother." The system replied.
“…”
After the system's "friendly" reminder, Benjamin finally remembered that the owner of this voice was Marie-Claude's wife, the old lady's daughter-in-law, and Benjamin's biological mother, who had spoken once before in the living room.
His mother dismissed the guard maid and secretly came to see him.
According to the introduction of the simplified version of memory before the system, Mary is a good wife and mother, and her temper is also known throughout the royal capital. Growing up, Benjamin had never seen her angry, nor had he seen anyone get along badly with her—except, of course, the old lady.
And even if the old lady didn't like Mary and often made trouble for Mary, Mary never really fought back. Instead, she endured all the vitriol from the old lady without saying a word. It can be said that she is a model daughter-in-law of this era.
When facing Benjamin, Mary did not become disappointed or indifferent because Benjamin was useless. She treated Benjamin and Grant equally and took good care of them both. This is already rare. You must know that even between two similar children, partiality is very common, let alone the situation in Benjamin's family.
Thinking of this, Benjamin no longer hesitated and spoke immediately, pretending to be pitiful:
"Mother, you are finally here."
Although he didn't say anything to complain, his miserable tone and weak voice alone were enough to show how pitiful he was.
I hope I can inspire my mother’s endless compassion.
"Yes, your father just went out, and I had the opportunity to come here to find you. Come on, you must be very hungry. I asked the cook to make some more pieces of bread, and I brought them over for you. You can make some first. Pad your belly to get through this period." Sure enough, Mary lived up to Benjamin's expectations. As she spoke, she delivered a small paper package through the small opening on the door.
Benjamin suddenly became excited. He took the paper bag and opened it tremblingly. I saw two pieces of soft and warm bread lying quietly among them, and a faint aroma of wheat mixed with the aroma of milk spread out.
Ah, it’s food!
Benjamin burst into tears on the spot.
Only mother is good in the world, and a mother's child is like a treasure.
Although he wanted to gnaw on the bread in his hand immediately, he still suppressed his hunger, looked gratefully at the pair of blue eyes on the small mouth, and said, "Thank you, I'm almost starving to death."
Mary smiled on the other side of the door and continued: "Don't worry. When your father's anger subsides a little tomorrow, I can ask him for mercy and he will probably let you out. Don't worry, your father will too." I definitely won’t keep you here for too long.”
When Benjamin heard this, he felt reassured and felt more at ease. If he is locked up here for too long, it will have a huge impact on his plan to learn magic. If he goes out early, he can then ask Jeremy to dig out Anne's belongings for him.
He didn't want to stay in this place for too long. It's nice to take a break, but it gets boring over time. Just like this moment, even though he had been locked up for less than two hours, he was already tired of potatoes.
If he stays for a few more days, his brain will sprout, right
"Okay, Jessica will come back if you stay any longer, and I have to go. Be careful, don't let them find out that someone has been here." Xiaokou's eyes moved away for a while, as if he was observing the outside. Condition. Soon, Mary came back and said this to Benjamin.
"Okay, goodbye mother," Benjamin replied, full of sincere gratitude.
"Goodbye, dear."
Following the sound of soft footsteps, Mary closed the small opening of the iron door and left the basement. After watching Mary leave, Benjamin immediately began to enjoy the bread in his hand.
The portion of bread was not too small, but Benjamin was so hungry that no matter how large the portion was, it would not be too much. After a while, there was only an empty paper bag and scattered bread crumbs in his hands. And he also touched his belly happily and burped contentedly.
He crumpled the paper bag into a ball and hid it in the deep sea of potatoes to avoid being discovered.
Then, after a full meal, he lay lazily on the pile of potatoes, closed his eyes, and sank into the depths of the world of consciousness.
He wasn't about to sit around in the basement and waste time. There is nothing to do anyway, so why not study your own consciousness space and the blue "triangle" character. Without the guidance of others, it does not mean that you cannot be self-taught.
In fact, wasn't the process of his understanding of magic a self-taught one
Of course, Benjamin also thought about whether to practice the only magic he had learned - water polo. From what is written in general novels, the easiest way to exercise a special ability is to use it repeatedly. However, his current location is so close to the cathedral. As Michelle said, the "Cleaners" can sense magic within a certain range. If they alarm the people of the church, they will still die.
Even if he wanted to practice magic, he could only practice it in the conscious space.
He had used the Water Ball Technique once before in his conscious space. Michelle standing next to him didn't feel anything at all, so there shouldn't be any strange movement in the church several blocks away.
The space of consciousness... is indeed a very wonderful existence.
Although they didn’t know how Michelle and the others learned magic, their intuition told Benjamin that they did not have such a wonderful space as the consciousness space, nor did they have concrete magic symbols such as blue characters. Their process of becoming mages is likely to be completely different from Benjamin's.
Amidst the accidental collision, he seemed to have embarked on an unusual path.
And this also made Benjamin more curious about the space of consciousness. Therefore, at this moment, he, who was locked in the basement and could do nothing, once again entered the space of consciousness.
In the vast space of consciousness, everything remains the same. The endless black environment, the light blue triangular characters... the entire space seems to have been finalized the moment it was formed, and it has not changed at all no matter how time goes by.
The one who has changed is Benjamin.
After learning the water element sensing method when he met the assassin, he could notice that he was more sensitive to the water element. Therefore, the water element swimming in this space became much clearer in his eyes. After thinking for a while, he left the consciousness space again, returned to reality, and observed the water element in reality.
According to observations, the water element in his consciousness space is much richer than in reality.
Then he returns to conscious space again. After pausing for a moment, he suddenly turned his back to the blue characters and ran wildly towards the boundless darkness of the conscious space. As the blue light moved away a little behind him, he could clearly feel that the water elements around him were drastically reduced, almost like a piece of blue-black gradient clothing.
Soon, there was nothing all around, and there was darkness everywhere.
Although this darkness did not make Benjamin feel uneasy, but had a strange sense of intimacy.
He didn't stop running either. Although his guess about the water element has been verified, he also has another curiosity: Does this space of consciousness have boundaries? What will happen if he keeps running like this? What kind of secrets are hidden in this deep darkness
It is human instinct to explore the unknown, whether it is exploring the vast space outwards or exploring the deep hearts inwards. People always want to know what there is in places they have never been to.
So he kept running towards darker places.
Then he ran away like a fool.
"Holy shit, what the hell is this place?"
After an extremely long marathon, Benjamin finally had to stop, holding his knees, gasping for air, and staring blankly at the boundless darkness ahead.
He originally thought that there was no physical exertion in the consciousness space. It’s normal to think like this. Physical strength is a practical thing. Where does mental strength come from? But what I didn't expect was that he was wrong.
He should believe Marx. Material is the foundation of spirit, and when spirit is greatly consumed or even overdrawn, material will also be consumed.
In this boundless space of consciousness, he ran for an unknown length of time and crossed an unknown number of kilometers, but he could never see a boundary. Nothing changed around him, only darkness, darkness, and darkness...
Until his hands and feet were sore and his limbs were numb, he could not see any sign that the end was approaching.
So, he had to stop and almost collapsed from exhaustion.
"Human consciousness is inherently boundless. If you want to find an end point here, you are basically wasting your energy." The system suddenly appeared again, and the mechanical voice without intonation faintly echoed in the darkness.
"I'm just curious," Benjamin replied.
"You're just full and have nothing to do." The mechanical voice came out with some inappropriate tone.
"..." Benjamin couldn't think of how to refute.
He had indeed just eaten and had nothing to do.
Eventually, Benjamin gave up the idea of continuing to explore the space of consciousness. He returned to reality and entered the conscious space again, and his position in the conscious space returned to the side of the blue character. Blue light shines, and the water element around him becomes full again.
He was still a little heartbroken that all the hard work he had been running for was in vain.
However, his attention soon shifted.
After all, he is a relatively optimistic person. If one exploration fails, then he will move on to the next one:
He stretched out his hand, pointed at the blue characters, and chanted the water balloon spell again. Along with the vibration of the characters and the gathering of water elements, a water ball gathered in his palm. He did not hesitate, and dispersed the water polo with a thought. Then, he chanted the water polo spell again...
Time and time again, he repeatedly used the Water Ball Technique in his conscious space. The light blue ripples spread like ripples, causing the water elements to converge and disperse like tides in this darkness.
Soon, he felt that the water element in the conscious space was much thinner, but he did not stop using the water ball technique, but instead sped up his movements.
When he recited the water balloon spell for the forty-fifth time, he found that there was no more water balloon in his palm. Not only that, but with a sudden headache, he was suddenly pushed out of the conscious space.
He returned to reality involuntarily for the first time.
Although his head was throbbing again and again, Benjamin could not conceal the joy in his voice at this moment:
"I see!"
"... What do you know?" After a moment of silence, the system spoke reluctantly, "Although I don't really want to take your words, I still have to reluctantly cooperate with you."
Benjamin didn't care at all about the system's ridicule. He was immersed in the excitement of exploration and discovery, as delighted as a child learning to walk for the first time, and as cheering as a student who failed a course for the third time and retakes it when seeing a score of sixty-one points.
He shouted loudly in his heart:
"I know the mage's training method!"