In stark contrast to Professor Hector's ink-scented office, this ditation room soaked in mystery seed like another world.
The monotonous room had no extra furnishings, no fireplace, nor a bookshelf, only a round table made from a single piece of polished obsidian and a few cushions.
The only illumination ca from a crystal floating in the air.
The crystal emitted a dark purple glow, akin to the breathing of a living entity, shrouding everything inside in unpredictable shadows.
Sitting cross-legged on the cushion, Professor Arist Thorne kept his eyes tightly shut, inhaling and exhaling in rhythm with the dimming and brightening glow.
With each rhythmic breath, wisps of white vapor drifted from his mouth and nose, rging with the dark purple crystal, and then a purer breath was drawn back into his body.
During this process, his Spirit seed to transcend, and his corpse ghost-like wrinkled old face gained a touch of rosiness.
Quietly waiting in front of the elder, the young apprentice Skein stood with his hands lowered, eyes full of admiration.
Floating in front of Professor Arist was not so magic crystal lamp or enchanted quartz, but a mystical artifact from the void realm—sothing that would even make Professor Hector drool!
Just sitting beside it in ditation could make one feel the surging soul power, constantly gathering towards the Sea of Consciousness like a tide!
Of course, the energy in the void realm is not limitless.
It's said that the energy sufficient to raise the soul level of ten thousand ordinary people to Black Iron is barely enough to elevate one silver-level soul to Gold.
And for soone like Arist, a diamond-level powerhouse, the energy required for advancent is even greater.
His exceptionally pure soul is like a bottomless pit, never filled no matter how many crystals are poured in, and he can only try to extract more from the void realm.
At this mont, Skein was like a dog starving for three days and nights, watching his master sitting at the table with a stuffed belly.
To be honest, he had thought about discreetly taking a breath while Professor Arist was ditating, but could only dare to think about it.
The reason Professor Arist was willing to let him stand here was partly due to trust, and partly a test of his "self-control."
After all, this is a diamond-level powerhouse!
Just in this ditation room, who knows how many layers of restrictions and traps there are!
The temptation to advance to the Fine Steel Level is indeed alluring, but one must survive to leave here alive.
He definitely didn't want to burn everything like Junior Minos for the Academic State and die humiliated like a stray dog.
As Skein was trying to distract himself, resisting the temptation of the void realm's treasure, Professor Arist suddenly opened his murky eyes.
Skein almost instantly knelt on one knee, hiding his envious expression, displaying the humility of a servant saluting his master.
"Professor."
"Rise."
Professor Arist first cast an approving glance at the young man, then removed the monocle with little prescription from his nose and continued in a hoarse voice, "Tell , what did they talk about."
"Yes, Professor."
Skein nodded respectfully and began his report.
With an unemotional tone like a taut string, he repeated verbatim everything that happened in Hector's office—
From Prince Colin's casual inquiry about three million gold coins, to the precise inquiry into the "victim list," and the final tacit transaction.
As Arist Thorne listened to Skein's report, he absentmindedly polished the monocle in his hand while coldly reading the young man's facial expressions.
Without the lens's cover, the scholar's calmness in his eyes vanished, replaced by the shrewdness of a rchant and the sharpness of a politician.
Skein, a "Mage" of the Tower of Great Sage, apprenticed under Professor Hector Rain, was also a mber of the "Thorne Association."
Though his Extraordinary Power was rely Bronze Level, unnoticed in the talent-rich Academic State, he always managed to accomplish tasks beyond the capabilities of Gold Level powerhouses.
And more.
This young man excelled at discovering "potential" newcors and handling unexpected runaway events, decisively and without fuss, never dirtying himself.
With such a combination of capability and ambition, it's no wonder Hector, "timid, stingy, and pretending to be aloof," couldn't keep him. After all, Hector couldn't even feed himself, let alone others?
With just a crook of his finger, Arist had this young man understand the hint and swiftly defect over.
As to why he didn't directly recruit such talent under himself but left him "fostered" with that idiot Hector, obviously because it was not only more convenient but also safer.
If this youngster handled things poorly, it would be Professor Hector's oversight, letting him bite crazily like a mad dog, it wouldn't have anything to do with him.
Moreover—
Skein himself understood this well and loyally handed over the leash voluntarily to Arist, willing to serve like a horse or hound.
Arist valued this capability greatly and had already planned to chip off so resources from the vast void realm for him, allowing this loyal pawn to reach the threshold of the Fine Steel Level by thirty, then breakthrough to silver, soaring into the sky from there.
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