A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

"Roland? Roland! Wake up!"

A somewhat unfamiliar voice came from beside him, and Roland groggily opened his eyes.

"You're doomed. You dared to sleep in Teacher Jiang's class. You're probably going to get punished soon."

A gloating remark came from the earpiece.

Upon hearing this, Roland's eyes showed confusion.

Where am I? Who am I? Aren't I in the Crystal Maze?

Wait, a crystal maze?

Oh no! I've fallen into a hallucination!

Just as he was thinking this, Roland unconsciously stood up.

"Wow, she actually dared to stand up?"

"He dares to sleep in Teacher Jiang's class? I think this guy is something else!"

"Alas, my condolences."

Opening her eyes, Roland looked around and realized that she seemed to be in a lecture hall with tiered seating.

This scene seemed somewhat familiar to her, after all, she had received an education and attended classes.

However, due to her exceptional talent, Roland obtained her graduation certificate in just one year and was assigned to work at a research institution.

After that, after working for a while, Roland went to participate in the game organized by that adult.

Speaking of which, what was that person's name again? It seems, perhaps, that his surname was also Jiang?

Roland tried hard to think, but came up with nothing.

Since that's the case, I might as well stop thinking about it. It's useless to think about it; it's pointless.

"Feed? Roland! Roland!!"

Roland was a little annoyed that her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, but when she looked up, she saw those dark eyes.

She recognized those eyes; they belonged to Jiang Shuzhou, and that mysterious feeling remained unchanged.

"Um... Teacher Jiang?"

"That's right, you were actually daydreaming in class? I think you really don't want to live anymore. Do you even know what I'm about to talk about?"

Upon hearing this, Roland did not respond directly. Instead, his gaze drifted toward the blackboard, attempting to solve the problem at hand through self-study in a very short time.

Of course, she could also attack Jiang Shuzhou to escape, but her intuition told Roland that doing so would lead to something not so good.

However, Roland was stunned at first glance. The content was nothing she knew; she had never seen it before and had never imagined it.

This is illogical. Generally speaking, the content of such hallucinations should be things that one is familiar with, and this situation should not occur.

Unless... she hasn't left yet.

Roland thought to himself.

And then, that was it.

Seeing that Luo Lan remained silent for a long time, Jiang Shuzhou assumed she wasn't paying attention, shook his head, and didn't bother with her anymore.

"Alright, let's continue. Everyone, listen carefully."

"Turn to page 7891 of your textbook and read what it says..."

Ignoring Roland, Jiang Shuzhou began his lecture, completely disregarding the lives of the others.

"What happened? You weren't punished by standing in the corner?"

The girl sitting next to Roland looked at him with disbelief.

Based on her understanding of Teacher Jiang, she figured he would probably be punished by copying the school rules hundreds of times, and that he wouldn't be allowed to use magic.

Unexpectedly, I got away with it so easily?

"You're so lucky."

"By the way, what class is it again?"

Roland asked curiously.

"This is a world history class, it talks about world history, it's all important information, very useful."

"That's what the girl next to me said."

Roland nodded and began to listen attentively.

As a result, the more she listened, the more she felt something was amiss.

"The mages were born a very long time ago. Some say they were born in the early First Age, while others say they were born at the end of the First Age. In any case, the mages of today have long since declined."

"The high cost of learning and the risks of casting spells have made magicians a relic of the past."

"At the same time, a mysterious power from the Second Era, the Path of Dao, began to enter people's sight..."

Roland listened attentively and discovered that although the words were somewhat inaccurate, they did have some connection to actual history.

Who came up with this nonsense?

Roland frowned, but for some reason, he didn't say anything.

"The First Age, which we call the Unknown Age, was a time when people's freedom was held by a group of beings who called themselves gods."

"However, it is important to note that these gods require faith, so do not confuse them with the Supreme Being, although many people call the Supreme Being a god, but they are not the same."

"At least the Supreme Beings never bother to look at us, but they are never stingy with lending us their power."

Jiang Shuzhou spoke eloquently.

Roland, on the other hand, listened with a rather bored expression.

In her opinion, it was all an illusion.

In other words, she hasn't found a way to break the illusion yet, otherwise she would have already taken action.

"The Second Age ended in destruction and reshaping."

"From then on, the Supreme Beings returned to the stars, which people could see when they looked up. But the possibility of being able to see them by passing a test was gone forever. From then on, people never received special treatment from those Supreme Beings again."

It's still all made up, every gesture and movement is still nonsense.

The more Roland listened, the less he could bear to listen.

What kind of talk is this?

Just hearing these things feels like a betrayal of my rational thinking.

"If those supreme beings truly know everything, then why do they need us?"

Upon hearing this, everyone around was taken aback, and then they all laughed.

"I told you to listen properly, but you wouldn't listen! Don't you know that the threads of fate have long been severed, and the playwright's script only records the stories He directed?"

"Has the thread of fate been severed?"

"See for yourself, I'm too lazy to explain. I've said it so many times, and it's still the same old story."

"Do you know how to get out of the crystal maze?"

Immediately afterwards, Roland saw Jiang Shuzhou in front of him and suddenly paused. Then he turned his head and looked at Roland with a blank expression.

"The Crystal Maze is easy to navigate; it's just a straight crystal path from beginning to end. It's called a maze because it's a maze of the heart."

A labyrinth of the heart...

Roland fell into thought; she began to consider how to escape this illusion.

This place is so realistic that even she couldn't tell the difference.

It's better to run away sooner rather than later.

Roland thought to himself.

I wonder how Jiang Shuzhou is doing now.

Roland remembered Jiang Shuzhou.

Of course, not the one in class, but the one in real life.

So the question is, where is Jiang Shuzhou?

The answer is, Jiang Shuzhou is right here.

As the name suggests, the lecturer was indeed Jiang Shuzhou.

After all, things you make yourself won't work for you.

Therefore, Jiang Shuzhou remained clear-headed and was completely unaffected.

Right now, Jiang Shuzhou just wants to see these things.

After all, Roland's performance was quite interesting.