The young junior Mage Mary trudged up the stairs leading to the magic laboratory. The Magic crystal lamps embedded on both sides of the hallway emitted a constant bright glow, but this brilliance did nothing to dispel the unease in her heart.
Lately, all the apprentices in the entire tower have been enduring the sa unease—the old mage’s ntal issues seem to be developing in a new, worsening direction. The eccentric and brooding old man seed to have been triggered by sothing in the last "connect," first making the apprentices demolish the ntal protective arrays in the tower day and night without rest, then without hesitation tearing down one of the three magic laboratories completely. He set up a large number of incomprehensible new experintal devices inside, locking himself in the new laboratory day in and day out, researching things that the apprentices couldn’t understand or dare inquire about. He began talking to himself more frequently, mumbling incoherently, and sotis even breaking into uncontrollable laughter in the laboratory...
He seed to have gone completely mad.
Now, the apprentices’ only solace is that the old mage’s new madness seems to leave him with no ti to punish others. Not a single apprentice has been whipped or scolded in these many days. The old mage seems to have completely imrsed himself in his own chaotic ntal world, even forgetting that he still has a group of apprentices.
So Mary feels she must be the unluckiest among all the apprentices at the mont—because the old mage, Daniel, in his madness, still rembered her and sent a servant to inform her to find him in the new laboratory...
Is it a new crazy experint? Or a punishnt descending out of nowhere? Or perhaps just a random summons from the old mage in his delirium?
At the end of the stairs, a slightly dimly lit hallway gave way to the magic laboratory. A servant in a black short robe ca down the corridor and bowed slightly before Mary, speaking in a stiff, low voice: "The Master is waiting for you."
"I understand," Mary nodded and walked past the servant.
The servants in the mage towers were all slaves bought by the old mage, and except for the eerily gloomy old butler of unknown age, all the servants had undergone neural surgery and spell brainwashing. These stiff, emotionless "living dead" attended to the lives of the old mage and all the apprentices and served as experintal materials when necessary.
Mary once feared them, also felt sympathy for them, but now, she felt only numbness towards the living dead servants, looking at them no differently than she would at a magic artificial intelligence.
Anyway, everyone in this tower is more or less the sa.
She walked down the corridor, pushed open the door to the new laboratory, and saw the old mage already waiting inside—he had his back to the door, seemingly staring dazedly at sothing on the experintal table.
Mary took a deep breath, entering the laboratory: "ntor, you were looking for ?"
The artificial nerve cords behind the old mage twitched slightly, and then he turned around, fixing his brown-yellow eyes on the female apprentice: "Mary, just in ti, co over—close the door."
With a heart full of trepidation, Mary walked over and examined this newly renovated laboratory.
The racks that used to hold animal samples and Magic Potions had been moved elsewhere. The original stone alchemy tables were nowhere to be seen, replaced by a large experintal table in the center of the room, several long tables, and cabinets for storing magic materials at the sides. This new laboratory looked completely different from the previously eerie and terrifying place, more like a relatively normal magic laboratory now.
The young female apprentice stepped up to the work table, just about to ask her ntor for instructions, when she saw nurous sheets of drawings and many scribbled notes full of calculations spread out on the table.
"You, you are the best at mathematical abilities among all my apprentices, so I chose you—to help complete the mission entrusted by the master!" The old mage looked at Mary and commanded in an indisputable tone, "Grab these and solve these problems first!"
Solve problems?
Mary was baffled, but, not daring to disobey her ntor, she took the papers and began to carefully read what was written on them.
She found it sowhat challenging; although the problems on those papers could be solved using mathematical abilities, the wording was vastly different from the magical concepts she had encountered before. Nevertheless, she pressed forward with determination.
She then began attempting to solve the difficult task of calculating the Rune Domain range using her understanding.
Halfway through solving, a bony finger suddenly extended from the side, startling Mary, followed by her ntor’s voice coming from the side: "Idiot! Where is your square symbol?!"
Mary’s forehead beaded with cold sweat, but the expected electric shock or whipping didn’t arrive. The ntor rely said coldly, "What are you waiting for? Correct it! Do you want to get the problem wrong?!"
Hurriedly, Mary corrected her mistake and continued working.
But she still struggled greatly—she understood the mathematics, but those definitions and formulas were too novel and abstract for her.
The difficulty in understanding the problems added extra challenges for her, causing errors in things she would normally do correctly. Soon, she once again heard her ntor shout beside her: "Do you have no brain?! The theoretical value is 277! The actual interference value has already exceeded it! And you’re still going?!"
"Have you ever seen a magic circle where the magic symbols are not paired? Do you plan to attach that extra starting symbol to your own brain?!"
"Quartz sand is negative; it’s negative! Did you think it was Mithril and Adamantite? When it cos to designing magic circles, you’ll blow yourself up sooner or later!"
The ntor’s rebukes and roars rang out every so often, each ti making Mary shiver involuntarily, but gradually, she discovered sothing—the ntor was actually teaching her sothing.
Since the ntor beca completely absorbed in performing the "connect" ritual a few years ago, this was the first ti he was teaching the apprentices actual content!
While she was montarily in a daze, the ntor’s voice rang again: "What are you waiting for? You still have two major problems left! No food until you finish the paper!"
Mary hurriedly lowered her head and earnestly began reading the final two questions, but an odd feeling erged in her heart: Could it be... that her ntor hasn’t completely gone mad recently, but has actually made a trendous breakthrough in magic research, thus fully imrsing himself in it?
She knew that the initial cause of the old mage’s ntal issues was certain despairing and enormous challenges he encountered during his magic research. Decades of inability to overco them gradually turned this once powerful and wise, highly promising genius mage into soone sullen, eccentric, and coldly twisted — that bizarre and terrifying "connection" ritual only amplified his ntal problems.
Ten minutes later, Mary pushed the paper towards Daniel: "ntor, I’ve finished..."
The old mage glanced at her: "Have you checked it?"
"I... I checked it."
"Let see it."
The old mage snatched the paper from Mary’s hand and seriously read it from start to finish.
At that mont, whether it was an illusion or not, Mary seed to catch a trace of a smile on her ntor’s perpetually gloomy face.
"Hmm... passable," the old mage’s expression shifted fleetingly, and the next second he had straightened his face again, "It’s far worse than when I did it, and it took you twice as long."
However, Mary detected a different aning in his words: Weren’t these questions created by her ntor himself? Did he also solve them when making them?
Evidently, the old mage would not explain his words, and Mary didn’t have the courage to inquire about such details. She just listened quietly as the old mage continued: "Despite taking a long ti, you’re barely passing. Take these materials back, study them thoroughly, and teach those useless and idiotic ones hiding at the base of the tower—tell them that I will test them in three days, and anyone who doesn’t learn it will be turned into a living corpse by ."
Mary shrank her neck and couldn’t help but ask, "ntor, what are these things for?"
"These are great knowledge!" The old mage spread his arms, speaking excitedly, clearly in a good mood and patient enough to explain to his apprentice, "Knowledge bestowed by my great master! You must learn well. When you learn it, I will teach you how to build the Magic Web and simplify arrays—it’s a great honor for you to serve the master!"
Mary hurriedly nodded her head, starting to doubt her earlier optimistic estimate—her ntor might still be mad.
After contacting a terrifying presence and making a deal with it, he was indeed completely mad.
At that mont, the old mage suddenly furrowed his brow, then impatiently waved his hand: "Leave now, that’s all I can teach you today. My master is summoning , and I must respond imdiately."
Mary knew the "master" the old mage referred to was a terrifying mythical creature or a similar mysterious entity, so she didn’t dare to stay a mont longer, hurriedly nodding and retreating.
Before leaving the laboratory, she heard the old mage shout from afar: "Perform well, and you can have at for dinner!"
Mary bowed: "Thank you, ntor."
After the young female apprentice left, the old mage murmured so indistinct words, then hastily stood on a magic circle in the corner of the laboratory. After activating the surrounding alert and protective runes, his mind quickly emptied, and the nerve cords began to help him establish a connection with the surrounding runes.
The next second, he found his surroundings turned upside down, the space with its vast blue sky, endless water surface, and nurous tal platforms reappearing before his eyes.
Indeed, as long as he connected to the psychic network, he would inevitably be brought to this place—the Wanderers from Outer Realm’s control was absolute, with no breaches to exploit.
The old mage had long given up resisting, bowing respectfully to the golden-haired figure before him: "Master, what are your orders?"
"Let’s start with so papers," Gawain casually conjured up two sets of problems, "Let see how well you’ve grasped it."
Old mage: "... As you command."
Monts later, Gawain’s reprimanding voice began to echo:
"Where’s your mind? Did you forget the basic definition of address mapping?!"
"Who told you open ports couldn’t be masked!"
"Do you still not understand what the only valid encoding ans? It must always match the ntal frequency! If you continue to design the IP index like this, you’ll eventually burn your brain out!"
...
"Finally... Have you checked it?!"
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