The Wizard's Secret Journey

Chapter 235 Speculation and Request for Aid (4k)

Generally speaking, there are two main ways for wizards to construct a mental power model in their mental sea.

One method is from one end to the other, such as from head to toe, or from bottom to top. The advantage is that it is easier to operate, like building blocks one by one, with a clear sequence. The disadvantage is that it is slightly slower than the other method.

Another approach is to build from the whole to the parts, like constructing a house, first building the main framework and then adding various details. The advantage is that the construction speed is faster, but the disadvantage is that it requires a higher degree of control over the model.

Regardless of the method used, the resulting mental power model will be no different; they will simply follow different paths but lead to the same destination.

Lynn initially used the first method to construct the healing runes.

Both methods can be used to create a witch array. Lynn had always used this method when replicating the Black Moon Rune, and it was for this reason that he used the first method when he tried to create the Black Moon Healing Rune in his mind just now.

Taking a deep breath, Lynn closed his eyes again and began to try to construct the Black Moon Rune in his mind using the second method.

Unlike sorcery models, the Black Moon Rune has a clear main framework, so Lynn found it difficult to get started for a while.

However, he had already replicated the healing runes many times and was very familiar with their structure, so he quickly got a clue.

'The healing rune resembles a small tree with a straight trunk but crooked branches. I can start by drawing the trunk and then add the more complex branches and leaves.'

Lynn concentrated his mind, and tiny points of light suddenly appeared in his mental sea.

However, he had only just begun, and before the main structure was even successfully built, the entire unfinished model collapsed again. The turbulent flow of mental energy caused Lynn to groan and open his eyes.

After a long while, he let out a long breath, still feeling lingering fear.

The negative impact of this model crash was even greater than before, and even with his strong and resilient body, he was unable to attempt it again for a short period of time.

"What exactly is the problem?" Lynn stood up and paced back and forth in the meditation room.

The bright crystal above his head emitted a constant light, illuminating his pensive young face.

After several unsuccessful attempts, a thought inevitably crossed Lynn's mind—

"Could it be that the Black Moon Runes are a branch of knowledge independent of the wizarding system?"

Lynn suddenly stopped, his eyes flickering. He thought of the strangeness of the Black Moon script and became even more convinced of his deduction.

Knowledge outside the independent wizarding system is not surprising. After all, the Gunn wizards conquered countless worlds, and new worlds were discovered and conquered every day. The knowledge systems contained in each different world would have some differences.

However, thanks to the inclusive nature of the wizarding system, most of the otherworldly knowledge that wizards acquire is optimized and adjusted, except for some completely worthless knowledge, and thus incorporated into the wizarding system.

However, if Black Moon Runes are a branch of knowledge independent of the wizarding system, it means that the wizards of Black Moon Academy have not incorporated this knowledge into the wizarding system.

There are only two possibilities: either they can't do it, or they don't want to.

Lynn sat down again, picked up the healing rune replicated in mithril and examined it carefully, sighing inwardly:
'If it's the first case, if even the wizards of the Black Moon Academy can't incorporate the Black Moon Runes into the wizarding system, then my idea of ​​modifying it into witchcraft now is probably just wishful thinking.'

I just hope it's the second scenario.

'Black Moon Academy did not integrate Black Moon Runes into the existing wizarding system simply because it did not want to.'

As for why they don't want to do it, perhaps it's because, like the Black Moon script, the Black Moon Academy values ​​the secrecy of the Black Moon runes, which can prevent other academies from stealing this precious knowledge.

'If that's the case, then the Black Moon Rune's value rises even further. The reason is simple: if it were just ordinary knowledge, the Black Moon Academy wouldn't need to hide it like this.'

After putting down the "healing" rune, Lynn comforted himself.

'Perhaps Blackmoon Academy did incorporate Blackmoon runes into the wizarding system, but I just haven't found the key.'

After thinking it over, Lynn shook his head, putting the jumbled thoughts to the back of his mind.

Which hypothesis is correct remains to be seen and requires further research.

'Unfortunately, given my current mental state, I'll need at least two hours to recover.'

With this in mind, Lynn simply stood up, left the meditation room, and headed straight for the watchtower.

During this period, except at the very beginning, he basically did not pay attention to the affairs of guarding the watchtower; Samuel and the Golden Thorn apprentice handled all the arrangements.

"What brings you here?" Samuel was in the watchtower, looking at Lynn as he walked in with a surprised expression.

"I ran into some problems with my research, so I came out for some fresh air," Lynn replied, then glanced at the projection in front of Samuel and asked, "What are you doing?"

“I’ve run into some problems, what…” Samuel said instinctively, but quickly shook his head, “Never mind, I probably wouldn’t understand anyway.”

He pointed to the screen and said, "You've come at the right time. Both of the outposts next door just sent messages today."

Lynn leaned closer and saw that there were indeed two messages, one from the McKinley School watchtower of 16-7 and the other from the Pablo School watchtower of 16-9.

However, the two messages contained completely different contents. The message from the McKinley School watchtower at 16-7 was a simple greeting, extremely polite in its language, roughly saying, "Dear Lords Lynn and Samuel, we are McKinley School apprentices who came here with the Horsens School in the airship. The McKinley School and the Silver Ring School, which are also allies of the Academy, are now neighbors. We hope to have more support in the future."

"How did they know about us?" Lynn asked curiously.

“You forgot, they saw us at the camp before.”

"No, I mean, how did they know we were from the Horsens school?"

“I guess they ran into our apprentices during their patrol and recognized the school’s insignia,” Samuel speculated. “I’ve recently heard the apprentices discussing the McKinley School next door.”

"I see." Lynn nodded. He had indeed been a hands-off manager these past few days, using the pretext of setting up the witch array, and had forgotten about patrolling. He had asked a foolish question.

As for the message from Pablo's Watchtower at 16-9, it was a request for help, sent exactly two minutes earlier. No wonder Samuel said it arrived just in time.

The distress message was simple: they had traveled a long way and encountered several dangers along the way. Although they were fortunate enough to be rescued by a nearby outpost, the apprentice carrying their supplies had died, and his storage ring had been "lost." They were now extremely short of food.

“If you hadn’t come, I probably would have gone to get you right away,” Samuel added, then asked, “Do you think we should help them?”

"The storage ring containing supplies is missing?" Lynn squinted and shook his head. "I don't think it's lost; it's more like the outpost took it." "That's what I think too," Samuel nodded.

Lynn thought for a moment and said, "Let's pretend we didn't see it for now. I don't think Pablo's apprentice is asking for help from just one of our watchtowers."

“That’s what I think too. We don’t have many supplies ourselves, especially food. In the future, the apprentices may have to find ways to hunt in the surrounding area. Where can we find supplies to help them?”

Samuel sighed and couldn't help but complain, "Silver Ring Academy is really too stingy."

Although Silver Ring Academy regularly supplies the watchtowers with basic necessities like food, the quantities are pitifully small. For example, if the food were divided among each apprentice, it would only last them two or three days at most.

Silver Ring Academy's supplies are only distributed once every half-month.

If they relied solely on the supplies from Silver Ring Academy to survive, every single one of these wizard apprentices would starve to death.

Just as Lynn and Samuel finalized the decision, the watchtower received another message from Outpost 16-5.

According to the rules of the Silver Ring College, all watchtowers are under the direct jurisdiction of the nearest outpost, and Outpost 16-5 is the closest outpost to Horsens Watchtower.

Therefore, strictly speaking, they are the superior organization of the watchtower where Lynn is currently located.

"Immediately bring enough food to sustain at least 100 people for half a month to aid outpost 16-9."

The message from outpost 16-5 was brief, a strongly worded order.

Samuel read it aloud softly, his brows furrowing. "Why would they force us to provide aid? Just because we're nearby?"

Lynn was also a little annoyed. As he looked at the information, a thought suddenly occurred to him: "The 16-9 watchtower is closer to Camp 16. The Pablo School apprentices should have been sent to Camp 16 at the beginning."

“他们想要从那里来到16-9哨塔，一定会经过16-5哨站……难道巴勃罗学派学徒口中，救下他们，却拿走他们物资的哨站就是16-5？”

Samuel was taken aback, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that Lynn's words made some sense, and he agreed with a hint of anger, "That is indeed possible."

Wizards are inherently cold and indifferent to each other, so even if Outpost 16-5 received a plea for help from the Pablo School apprentices, it would most likely ignore it, just like they did.

After all, the duties of the outpost did not include ensuring the supply of materials to the watchtower.

However, the 16-5 outpost's unusual request for their assistance is likely a sign of their guilty conscience.

“What should we do, Lynn?” Samuel asked, frowning.

Lynn pondered for a long time, then shook his head and said, "If we aid the Pablo School apprentices, our Golden Thorn apprentices will have no supplies to use. Let's use the excuse that we don't have enough supplies to decline."

“But wouldn’t this cause the outpost to have a problem with us?” Samuel asked hesitantly.

“The outpost is staffed by first-tier wizards, but don’t forget, we are first-tier wizards as well.” Lynn shook his head. “I guess it’s because we’ve only been here a short time, and outpost 16-5 doesn’t know we’re here yet, otherwise they wouldn’t be communicating with us in this tone.”

A first-tier wizard and a wizard apprentice are two completely different concepts.

Strictly speaking, the strength of Outpost 16-5 on paper is only that it has a few more Tier 1 wizards, and there is no fundamental difference between it and Outpost 16-8, which has two Tier 1 wizards.

"Okay." Samuel felt a little more at ease and immediately began editing his reply.

"I'm sorry, outpost 16-5 doesn't have many supplies either, and we really can't provide any extra supplies to outpost 16-9."

Lynn shook his head and said, "Although we are not afraid of them, there is no need to be so forceful. Besides, you did not reveal our identities."

Samuel was exasperated and promptly stepped aside, saying, "You do it."

Lynn nodded and began editing the message again.

He softened his tone slightly, emphasized his and Samuel's status as first-tier wizards, and then sent the message.

Outpost 16-5 must have been guarded by wizards all the time, because they sent a reply a few minutes later.

As expected, the tone of the outpost was noticeably gentler this time. First, they expressed their understanding of the Horsens School's lack of supplies, then explained that the previous orders had been issued rather hastily without paying attention to etiquette, and finally asked Lynn and Samuel to come and sit at the outpost when they had time.

Samuel smiled as he watched, and Lynn breathed a sigh of relief, saying calmly, "It seems the wizards stationed at the outpost are all intelligent people."

They are not afraid of antagonizing the outpost, but it would be better to resolve the conflict amicably.

The outpost likely considered the same point, since they were all "colleagues" guarding the Gray Forest ruins together.

Although Lynn and Samuel, two first-tier wizards, might not be of much use when faced with overwhelming invaders, it is always better to be on good terms than to be on bad terms.

"I wonder if the outpost will request other watchtowers to assist the Pablo School watchtowers," Samuel muttered to himself.

"Perhaps. After all, if what we suspect is true—that the Pablo School's watchtowers are short of supplies because the outposts have embezzled their resources—then they'll probably try to make up for it," Lynn said casually.
"However, it's not necessarily true, after all, it's just a small matter."

Ultimately, these were just daily necessities for the apprentices. If it weren't for the fact that they were in the Graywood Ruins, where obtaining resources was extremely difficult, the wizards at the outpost probably wouldn't have even bothered with those supplies.

Samuel nodded, then shook his head and said, "Anyway, it's none of our business."

“That’s right.” Lynn nodded, and continued to handle some matters with Samuel in the watchtower, which could be considered as fulfilling his duty.

After catching his breath for a while, and feeling that the damage to his mental sea had almost recovered, Lynn returned to the Black Falcon.

Samuel originally wanted to go back to cultivate, but at this moment, he discovered that the watchtower had received another message.

This time, the message requested passage through the 16-8 watchtower area.

As for the source—

It turned out to be the McKinley School watchtower next door.

(End of this chapter)