A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 586 Naïve is not a compliment

Richard waved his hand, and the emperor's handwritten letter vanished into ashes.

"Do you think a naive person can be a good monarch?" Richard squinted, his gaze sweeping over the city that had been razed to the ground.

Franz shook his head firmly: "Definitely not."

"Why?" Richard wanted to hear the reason.

"Hmm... When we were in military school, my classmates and instructors all liked that His Majesty was a ruthless person, ruthless to civil officials and nobles, and ruthless to enemy countries."

"If he's naive, then he's probably not ruthless enough."

"I don't care about anything else, I only know that if the army thinks the emperor is no good, then it must be a terrible and dangerous situation."

"Perhaps, but not necessarily. There's a saying that naive people can be cruel." Richard thought of a city being destroyed, and the emperor probably knew about it all, or even did it on purpose.

Wilhelm II, a prince with a complex mix of traits: naivety, cowardice, cruelty, irritability, arrogance, and a touch of cleverness. He was not yet ready to inherit the empire, and perhaps by now he had realized this, choosing to retreat at the last minute to preserve his core power base.

Richard then pondered a second question: "Can a naive person become a good general?"

Franz stroked his stubble: "What exactly constitutes naiveté? Is it not being ruthless enough towards the enemy, and not being ruthless enough towards one's own people?"

"How come you only know how to be ruthless..." Richard began to suspect that he had received some strange ruthless education at the military academy: "You could say he's someone who fantasizes a lot, and all his fantasies are about the good side."

"Oh, that won't work either. The instructor said we can't think too highly of us trainees, just as we can't think too highly of our subordinates when we lead troops into battle."

"You have to think the worst of everything to get good results." Franz suddenly said, as if struck by a thought, "General, are you saying you're naive?"

Before Richard could speak, Franz quickly said, "Then it's better to be naive."

"Those instructors are freaks, and so are the other officers. Only you are very kind to our men."

"Your instructor is right. A general shouldn't be too nice to his subordinates. Otherwise, they'll end up like you, spouting nonsense and not knowing how to respect their superiors."

"I'm sorry. I just thought you were like my older brother."

"Rorschach?"

"That monk named Andrew Lie told me that the eldest brother treats his younger brothers exceptionally well, and no one is unhappy working for him."

"But my older brother is particularly ruthless to people he hates. If someone is targeted, he will use both overt and covert methods to deal with them, causing them to either suffer a mental or physical breakdown, or even their family to be destroyed."

During the cooperation with the Forest Tower, Andrei would occasionally travel between the two towers and exchange large pieces of equipment with Bain. Rorschach would ask Andrei to bring Franz some food, drink, and money along the way.

Recently, Andrei has become obsessed with gangster novels and has successfully instilled some strange ideas into his older brother's younger brother.

If Rorschach knew that Franz described him as some kind of mafia boss or the top dog of Lanster, he would definitely kick Andrei along with him.

Richard chuckled, "Your older brother is impressive. Everyone knows he's good to his own people and ruthless to his enemies, but it's not easy to actually do it."

"The more people you have, the better, provided there are enough benefits to distribute, and that they are distributed well so that most people are convinced."

"Being ruthless to the enemy requires absolute power; otherwise, what's the use of just talking? In the end, you'll still have to compromise."

"Oh," Franz seemed to understand a little, but also seemed not to understand.

Tower of the First Flame.

Despite the snow and ice, the heat emanating from the tower revealed a patch of tundra around it, where some animals moved about warily yet greedily.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, the animals looked around in alarm and panic, then scattered in a flurry.

At the base of the tower, the primordial flame flickered violently, threatening to go out at any moment. Few mages remained inside; the rest frantically adjusted the gas supply to the furnace.

The tower contained various brass pipes and circuits, which originally operated in an orderly manner, flickering with the rise and fall of the flames. These facilities, and indeed the entire tower, were built around the legendary First Fire.

It looks like a branch that never burns out. It is said to be a sacred tree from the mountain of heaven, which was struck by the first lightning created by the Creator, which produced fire. It was then stolen by a hero who was half-human and half-god and given to mankind.

The device surrounding it not only provides more fuel to sustain combustion, but also amplifies its effects, acquiring heat, sacred attributes, and so on.

"Abnormal magic fluctuations!"

"The temperature is dropping!!"

Everyone tensed up instantly; their most important mission was to protect the flame.

It is not only a node of surrounding magic, but also the core of the Tower of the First Flame's unique spells.

*Pfft.* It really went out.

The mages who witnessed this historic moment were all stunned. They couldn't understand why this was happening, and they couldn't imagine that the First Flame, which had endured countless years and whose history was almost equivalent to that of intelligent life, would be extinguished in their own hands.

Then the spark was ignited, and everyone's hope was rekindled. Could it be that the embers could be rekindled?

If that's really the case, then let's pretend nothing happened until Master Sakya returns. We still need to make a report, but it won't be a big problem then.

According to the records of the Tower of the First Flame, the flame does indeed have periods of weakness, especially during the War of the Gods, and there are also times when it is active. In short, each change means that something big is happening in the world.

Unfortunately, it did not rise as they had hoped. Instead, the surface of the flame gradually turned grayish-white, a sign that it had cooled and burned out.

When the many spellcasters were in utter despair, something even worse than the flame going out happened—its grayish-white surface cracked open, and a viscous black liquid flowed out.

The liquid evaporated at an extreme speed the moment it appeared. Before anyone could react, some inhaled it, and others were sprayed all over. Any skin exposed to the special vapors instantly rotted.

Looking at the original location of the fire, the black water has melted through the base of the tower, leaving only a strange, deep well that seems to lead straight to an endless abyss.

Screams of agony filled the air. The other mages and apprentices in the tower who had escaped the first ordeal immediately cast protective spells on themselves and attempted to launch a rescue.

All of this was in vain. They did not expect the second cataclysm to come so soon. The fire they wanted returned, but this time it was Netherfire from the abyss.

It was cold and thick, just like the flames on the corrupted archmage's body, alternating between dark blue and emerald green, quickly filling the entire tower, and along with the refined remains of the spellcaster, it began to leak out into the outside world.

Centered on the original site of the Tower of the First Flame, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the tundra, with fire creeping and flowing between them.

Wherever it goes, all living things are burned and twisted. They cannot die completely, and are burned and healed again and again in the flames. Many mage apprentices also merge together. Now, cold-climate creatures such as moose and snow rabbits have joined in, giving birth to monsters that have lost their fixed form.

The world has suffered another wound.

The cracks weren't limited to just one; from beneath the earth, the former central imperial city of Upfer, which had just been ravaged by artillery fire, came angry roars.

(End of this chapter)