Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"Just a little bit more."

Vivian sat upright at the table, a quill pen hovering in the air before her, writing crookedly on a piece of paper: Charles Mello...

"Keep going." She frowned, pushing herself harder, and fine beads of sweat seeped from her fair and smooth forehead.

The quill pen trembled and swayed, struggling to write the two words "right there," and then the swaying became more and more pronounced.

"What about next? What about my brother?" Vivian couldn't help but stand up and ask anxiously.

"Snap." The quill pen finally gave in and fell onto the paper, splattering a patch of ink.

"Sigh, another failure." Vivian slumped back into her chair, a sense of helplessness washing over her.

Immediately afterwards, the solid wood desk began to wobble slightly, and the amplitude of the wobbling increased.

Vivian immediately struggled to her feet, using the handrail for support.

But the ink on the paper flew up, like thin black ropes dancing in the air.

Vivian was horrified when she saw the several ink lines swaying in front of her like evil creatures. She tried to escape, but her mental energy was almost completely exhausted, and she fell to the ground after taking two steps.

The flying ink lines coiled directly towards her calves, tightly binding her, and Vivian felt herself being pulled toward the paper.

"No, teacher, teacher, save me!"

She struggled desperately on the floor, but to no avail.

Just as Vivian was falling into despair, a stream of water burst open the door with a "bang," engulfing her, Moxian, and the solid wood desk.

An aged voice rang out: "Sleeping elemental spirits, heed my request and imprison them."

With a loud crackling sound, the water quickly froze into ice, freezing Vivian and her desk into an ice sculpture. But the ink lines also stopped moving, slowly melting into tiny specks of ink.

"Teacher, teacher, let me out!" Vivian said happily.

A water-based leopard pattered over to Vivian and squatted down in front of her. "Let it freeze a little longer."

"No, teacher, it's so cold," Vivian pleaded, blinking her big eyes.

The leopard didn't answer; it just stared quietly at the ice sculpture on the floor.

"Teacher, how about honey-glazed grilled fish for dinner?"

"You little rascal, don't try to tempt me with that." The leopard turned its head away, no longer looking at Vivian.

However, after a cracking sound, the ice disintegrated, and Vivian stood up, rubbing her knees. "Thank you, teacher."

"Tell me, why did this magical turbulence occur?"

"I'm just practicing diligently," Vivian said, her eyes darting away.

Water Leopard didn't speak, but the papers on the desk flew up and floated in front of him. "Just as I thought, didn't we just do a divination the day before yesterday? Your brother is still alive."

"But teacher, I don't know where he is or how he is now." Vivian twisted her hands, not daring to look down at the leopard in front of her.

"You can't act so recklessly and almost lose your life."

"Teacher, I had another dream last night. My brother and I were at the beach. He gave me a seashell, it was pink and very pretty. But when I looked down at the seashell, he put a crab on my head."

Vivian spoke in a deliberately casual tone, but tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh, you child."

The water leopard crashed to the floor with a splash, turning into a puddle of clear water. Then, an old mage with a long beard, wearing a pointed mage hat and a blue robe, slowly rose from the water.

"I know you're anxious, but you can't be so reckless."

The old monk raised a finger, and the overturned high-backed chair slowly floated up and landed behind him.

"My old bones and legs, I had to run all the way up from the basement." He rubbed his legs as he sat down in a chair.

"Teacher, please help me." Vivian came up behind the old mage and reached out to massage his shoulders.

"Vivian, your teacher is asking you, do you remember why you wanted to learn magic?"

"I remember, seven years ago, you performed a magic experiment for everyone at Sunshine Plaza, demonstrating the existence of a magic field. At that time, I wanted to become a magician."

There exists an invisible and intangible energy field in this world. Mages rely on this energy to release magic, so it is also called a magic field. In that demonstration, the old mage successfully made dozens of radial stripes appear on a pile of gravel in front of thousands of people, thus presenting the magic field to the general public in another way.

"Originally, it was just to fulfill your father's request and put on a performance for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of his deep-water port. Unexpectedly, it found me a good candidate with an elemental harmony score of 82."

"What's the use of 82? Arcane magic is so slow to learn," Vivian pouted.

"You little brat, even your teacher is only 71!" The old mage stomped his foot in anger. "I'm asking you, since you've been studying magic for so many years, how many schools of magic are there?"

"Four: Evocation, Arcane, Divine, and Dark Arts. Oh right, and those bloodline sorcerers are also one faction."

"Then answer me again, what are the three components of magic?"

"Energy, medium, and model."

"Knowing this, you still dare to rashly enter the realm of arcane magic, especially the more difficult branch of true knowledge."

"But teacher, didn't you say I have a high talent for magic?"

"You're so great! Your talent lies in elemental coordination, and you have equal strength in all four elements. This is a rare occurrence that happens only once every hundred years on the entire continent."

The old mage stretched out his hand, and a magic book three fingers thick flew into his hand from the desk: "An Introduction to Arcane Arts? You dare to cast divination spells after learning so little? You're really delusional."

Vivian took the spellbook and whispered, "I've already read it all, and I'm quite proficient at using the Spell Hand."

After saying that, the gloves she had placed on the table floated into the air, flew to the old monk's shoulder, and began to knead in place of her hands.

"Save your mental energy." The old mage grabbed the gloves and tossed them back onto the table. "I'm asking you, what are the energy and medium for shaping magic?"

"The energy comes from the power of the elements, and the medium is the magic field," Vivian replied, while inwardly thinking that this was also why energy-shaping mages liked to stay in places with a high concentration of the corresponding elements and didn't like to move around, just like you always lived at the bottom of the sea.

"What about the arcane school?"

"Energy comes from the magic field, and the medium is oneself."

"Since you knew that, you still dared to experiment? Don't you know that these arcane people spend their free time meditating to train their mental strength, while your usual training consists of elemental coordination and energy modeling? How dare you rashly cast such powerful arcane magic?"

The old mage looked at him with exasperation: "We compete on who can eat more, they compete on who can sleep more. With your meager mental energy, it's simply not enough to be exploited. If you want to learn arcane arts, meditate for 20 hours every day."

"Huh? When will I be able to learn my wind-riding flight technique?"

"Flight?" The old mage glanced at Vivian. "Stretch out your hand."

"teacher……"

"Stretch it out." The old monk's tone left no room for argument.

Vivian tentatively extended her hands to the teacher, deliberately covering her forearms with her sleeves.

The old monk rolled up her sleeve, revealing blue lightning bolt-shaped patterns on Vivian's forearm.

"You...you..." The old mage was so angry that his words were broken. "Your plague just ended a week ago, and now you're doing it again."

The plague is a sequela left after resonating with the magic field. Everyone who practices magic suffers from it. On a fixed day every month, magic practitioners will experience a range of symptoms, from general weakness to muscle spasms and then to intense pain, which lasts for an entire day. There is no good way to deal with it. Right now, the only option is to endure it by taking paralyzing potions and healing potions.

The sign of the plague is the appearance of blue lightning bolt-shaped patterns on the arms.

"You know perfectly well that if the plague strikes three times in a month, you'll only end up dead."

Vivian silently withdrew her arm and lowered her sleeve.

A few seconds later, she slowly raised her head, looked directly into the old monk's eyes, her green pupils filled with determination: "He is my brother."

"Alas—" the old monk sighed deeply, "You can't do that. If something happens to you, who will help him?"

"Teacher, isn't there a more convenient way to learn?" Vivian pleaded.

"A convenient method?" The old mage chuckled, and a book flew out of his ring, flipping to a page with a "whoosh." "Take a look."

Vivian took the book and read it quickly: "I came to their capital city, where the building materials were pure white marble, and the ground was spotless. I was amazed that such a beautiful, pure white city seemed to float in the air."

"The streets were full of pedestrians, and they were very clean, at least cleaner than me. There were even people riding magical beasts by, and I couldn't help but wonder how they tamed such evil creatures."

"The guide called me over and asked if we should go to the magic academy now. I finally remembered the purpose of my trip. This city is so beautiful, it's breathtaking, and being in it makes you forget everything."

"My guide told me that learning magic is easy, that the high elves teach magic to other races, but the magic academy isn't here."

"Ah, what a beautiful city! Could the magic academy be in an even more beautiful place? I can't help but wonder."

"My guide interrupted me. He said that if I want to go to the magic academy, I need to cross the boundary wall. I need someone to guide me. If I go by myself, I will get lost in space."

"I'm very curious, where exactly is that place?"

"He said that place is called the Tower of Babel, and it's in time."

"The Tower of Babel?" Vivian stared wide-eyed at the old mage. "How do I get there, Master?"

The old monk didn't speak, but simply gestured for her to look at the cover.

Vivian flipped to the cover and saw the title: Spencer's Fantasy Travels.

"This, fantasy?" Vivian was full of questions.

"Yes, it's fantasy, so do you understand? There are no shortcuts, there's no quick way to master magic." The old mage raised his hand, and the fantasy travelogue flew back into his ring with a whoosh.

"What should I do, teacher?"

"Sigh, I'll write to Afif later and ask him to come over again." The old monk couldn't bear to see Vivian's disappointed look, so he had to think of another way.

"The high-ranking arcane mage who performed divination the day before yesterday?" Vivian's eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Yes, remember, stay far away from that old pervert."

Vivian nodded. When the archmage arrived, he was wearing a long pink nobleman's gown studded with pearls, a top hat, and a gold cane engraved with patterns. His long beard was braided into a plait that hung down in front of him, with a pink bow tied at the end.

He looked like a flamboyant old aristocrat.

Moreover, Vivian had heard that his magic tower was built in the red-light district of the capital, and this was the first time she had ever heard of a high-ranking archmage building his magic tower in such a place.

After the old monk finished speaking, he chanted another incantation, transformed into a water leopard, and walked out of the room.

"Don't call him Little Fishman. Clean your room yourself."

"Also, go check on that little bastard in the basement in an hour."

"Oh, okay, teacher," Vivian replied. In the basement of the teacher's magic tower, there was another extremely talented fellow, a "monster" with an earth elemental affinity of 93.

The leopard disappeared through the doorway, leaving only a few small puddles of water on the ground, but the old mage's aged voice still echoed: "Honey-glazed grilled fish, sea bass, sprinkled with sesame seeds."

"Oh." Vivian pouted and got up to tidy up the room.

"Sea bass is easy to prepare, but you need to prepare the sauce in advance."

"Prepare one for the teacher," her bright eyes lit up, "I'll eat two."

"I wonder how my brother is doing now."