"Terri Duzem, public-funded student of the 1980 class at The Alpha College of the First University, possessed an exceptional talent in Alchemy. In his second year, he completed the Registered Wizard assessnt ceremony. During his third year, he published an important thesis regarding Divine Substance as the first author and beca an invited guest at the International Youth Alchemist Conference..."
The puppet seed to return to the stage hosting the Hunting Competition, pacing back and forth on the large desk, spinning the slender cane with its thin fingers. Its words and the tapping footsteps created a pleasant rhythm:
"...Then the school established an independent lab for him—the Duzem Alchemy Laboratory. Oh, there’s a small detail here. The paper that Doctor Duzem completed back then was co-authored with Professor Montreya... Perhaps that’s why they’re eting tonight? A simple greeting between two long-lost friends?"
"Back to the main point, at twenty-one years old, Terri Duzem, already a ’Doctor,’ entered the Great Arcana Sequence of ’Magic Wand,’ code-nad ’Star,’ representing the future hope of the wizarding world. He should be the youngest in nearly thirty years to receive the Great Arcana title... oh no, maybe the second or third youngest?"
At this point, the puppet flicked its slender fingers in so frustration, mumbling calculations: "Eighteen is less than twenty-one, so Zheng Qing from Jiuyou Academy should be the youngest Great Arcana in nearly thirty years... and Su Daxu from Qingqiu, hmm, twenty-three? Twenty-four? How old is she this year?"
It rolled its eyes towards the old man behind the desk, its wooden face full of curiosity.
Elder Ruoyu pretended not to hear the question.
After a significant, aningful silence, the puppet chuckled, spinning the slender cane again, wandering around the desk: "...In short, a few years later, Doctor Duzem violated the Wizard’s Codex by using an almost heretical Alchemy Array to drain the life force from all creatures in a Secret Realm world for illegal life formulation, attempting to create a deity. After the school issued a ban and confined him, very few know about it now."
"As far as I know, because of that experintal accident years ago, Doctor Duzem’s soul suffered great harm. Besides symptoms like premature aging, he should have no hope of advancing to the Great Wizard for life... and after the Black Prison Battle, although Doctor Duzem, who successfully refined the Philosopher’s Stone, maintained his independence and safety through mutual compromise of different forces, gaining so freedom, his future fate is still hard to say..."
Not knowing what he suddenly thought of, the puppet sighed slightly, shook its head, stopped walking, took off its top hat, pulled out a wooden carved goblet, pretended to drink a couple of sips, and then raised the cup, adding: "To freedom... that’s all I know about Doctor Duzem."
After losing the only source of sound, the vast office returned to tranquility.
Perhaps due to the deepening night, the darkness in the room beca more profound. The Fairy Fire on both sides of the distant door had shrunk to the size of a pea, flickering precariously in the endless darkness, seeming like they would be extinguished at any mont.
Elder Ruoyu sat in the broad high-backed chair, hands folded, gazing motionlessly at the narrow and brilliant starry sky outside the side window, as if he had already fallen asleep.
After a long ti, long enough for the puppet to consider pulling out a pillow and blanket from its top hat, the old Wizard behind the desk finally stirred.
"Indeed, it is hard to say."
He withdrew his gaze from the starry sky and refocused on the puppet, his voice flat as he continued where the puppet left off: "Destiny and freedom, these beautiful words originally represent the most sincere hopes of Wizards. Just like Doctor Duzem. He originally placed his hope on that giant skeleton—if I’m not mistaken, he nad it Giant Zero Three—hoping to break free from the shackles and advance to the Great Wizard by creating a sufficiently powerful extraordinary life or, in other words, a true ’god.’"
"No doubt, it’s a straightforward path. The road he attempted was initially a path for Great Wizards to progress to Legendary Wizards, just like the ancestors of werewolves and the Blood Race. And Doctor Duzem, with his outstanding talent, simplified this path, attempting to break through his locked Great Wizard rank using it."
"A highly creative idea." The puppet listened with great interest, unable to resist courageously comnting.
"Indeed, very creative."
The old Wizard wasn’t offended, even nodding in approval, yet shook his head: "The only issue is ’destiny,’ or more specifically, ’fortune.’"
"For ordinary Wizards, fortune is a scarce and abstract concept. But for high-tier Wizards, fortune isn’t so nebulous... One possible speculation is that, because of that illegal and cruel life formulation years ago, an imnse grievance perpetually surrounds Doctor Duzem, not only causing great harm to his soul but also damaging his fortune, causing his luck to never be very good."
"So is that why Old Rat Head took the Giant Zero Three?" The puppet grew bolder.
Elder Ruoyu looked again at the small window, sighed softly: "It couldn’t be called ’taking,’ let’s just say it was fate’s folly... Talent is no match for fortune, nor could natural gifts rectify the wrong path. The more talented one is, after taking a wrong step, the farther away from the destination they are... now he’s like a dicine gatherer on the edge of a cliff."
"A dicine gatherer?"
"A dicine gatherer can see the beautiful snow lotus on the distant mountain peak, but upon approaching, he’ll find it growing on a steep cliff. At the mont of reaching for the flower, he is very likely to fall off the cliff to his death... But would that stop him from reaching? After traversing mountains and rivers, overcoming countless hardships, when the flower is within reach, could he still withdraw? Taking a step back ans losing everything, only being left with life. Taking a step forward, even if he falls off the cliff, he’s clutching that flower."
The puppet unconsciously took off its hat, spun it quickly with a finger, murmuring: "If it were , I’d rather be alive."
The old man behind the desk responded with Aristotle’s words of a different choice: "So live to eat, while others eat to live."
The puppet put on its top hat, looked solemnly at the old Wizard behind the desk.
"Do not judge others lightly!" It imitated the old priest of the Atlas Academy, drawing out its tone, haphazardly piecing together words from the Bible: "Do not judge others, lest you yourself be judged; for as you judge others, so shall you be judged."
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