Fanatics of the Magic Academy

Chapter 115 Communication Avoidance Defense: The Truth Behind the Newcomer's Misunderstanding

After closing the box, Rose put it away and didn't rush to leave. Instead, she chatted casually with "Dora" Finn.

Because when Rose was selling the potions, he showed a desire to communicate with Rose.

Rose didn't feel obligated to offend the other party, so she went along with what he was saying and started chatting.

It started with small talk, but then the conversation turned to pharmacy.

Ever since witnessing Rose's demonstration of "Silent Thunder," Finn has wanted to communicate with Rose.

Finn had spent his entire life immersed in pharmacy, and he had never seen pharmacy done like this before.

Rose's current pharmacology level has reached that of an amateur pharmacist, and casual conversation will not reveal his true skill level.

Because the learning speed in dreams is about 10 times that of other magicians, Rose learned in just over two months what a normal magician would achieve in about two years of non-stop study.

Finn also clearly realized that Rose was an unorthodox person; some of his knowledge and ideas related to pharmacology were quite strange, yet inexplicably reasonable.

How could it not be strange? Most of Rose's pharmacology foundation comes from the knowledge of the ancient dragon believers 2 years ago.

This part was simply "magicalized" according to Rose's own understanding, making this knowledge seem less abrupt, but it was still a great shock to Finn.

Although he was eventually banished to the slums in his old age, the fact that he could still become a core member of the gathering even in the slums shows that his understanding of potionology was quite profound.

His understanding of pharmacology also greatly inspired Rosset.

Although the two only had a superficial exchange in the field of pharmaceutics, they both felt they had gained a lot.

Finn was drawn to the alchemy approach of the ancient dragon followers, which was completely different from the magician's potion-making system. Rose, on the other hand, often explored on his own, trying to figure out how to replicate potions from 2 years ago using the technology of this era. Finn's orthodox alchemist ideas greatly inspired Rose.

The two talked for half a day, which, in Rose's perception, was four hours.

Finn smacked his lips and sighed, "Mr. Rose, if you had honed your skills in potion-making when you were young, you would have a place in Lovelia today."

He said this because he believed that Rose's unique understanding and thinking about pharmacology were solely the result of Rose's own research.

He immediately realized that what he had said might be a blow to a magician who had fallen into the slums, so he added, "Of course, Mr. Rose, that's not what I meant. I just admire your unique understanding of potion-making."

Rose shrugged, indicating that she didn't care at all, and said, "It's fine, I'm doing just fine right now."

Finn used his trait, True Sight, to scan Rose's unusually dense body and skin as smooth as a six-year-old's. His lips twitched; he didn't think Rose's current mental state was good.

He quickly imagined that Rose was likely a genius in his youth, but had been treated unfairly and chosen the wrong path.

Ultimately, it was battered by reality and ended up like this.

Finn sighed and said, "Well, Mr. Rose, if you wish to delve deeper into pharmacology, I can offer you assistance."

Rose looked at Finn's old face with some surprise. Because of the special property of the Eye of True Sight, it was impossible to see the emotions contained in Finn's eyes, but Rose could see the "loneliness" and "sorrow" squeezed out from the wrinkles and folds of his face.

Rose fell silent for a moment.

He had seen this expression before, on Kenneth's face. When Kenneth was teaching him the [Cyclic Fireball] rune for the last time, and when Rose left because it was getting late, Kenneth seemed to have the same expression.

Yes, Keaton was able to conclude that Finn could only last a year by summarizing the patterns of other wizards' deaths. Finn was also a veteran wizard from the slums, even more senior than Keaton. So how could he not know when his level of rationality would drop?

It's very likely that Finn knew, but he chose to bury his head in the sand like an ostrich, trying to forget and avoid thinking about the fact—in short, he was escaping.

During his conversation with Rose, he was suddenly transported back to his youth when he first studied pharmacy. The peculiar theories and thoughts he encountered there sparked a longing for the future, but this longing also made him realize the despair of the future in an instant.

Ultimately, this led to a temporary break from the avoidance-based psychological defense system he had previously built.

But he was a shrewd old man, and after a brief moment of reflection, he immediately returned to his previous state.

Because if he is certain that his sanity will collapse a year from now, then his current sanity will be irredeemably destroyed by this method of maintaining his sanity through escapism.

Finn noticed Rose's surprise and assumed that Rose didn't have the energy to study.

In the Magic Federation, although knowledge is power, the time required to learn it is deadly.

Especially for these magicians who were cut down in the slums, most of them were struggling to maintain their sanity, let alone take time off to learn a new skill.

Finn felt he was really old, or perhaps the magician in front of him, who was disguised as a child, possessed some kind of magic that made him misspoke twice in a short period of time.

He then added, "Mr. Rose, I didn't mean anything by it. If you don't have the energy or the capacity, you can simply pretend that what I just said didn't exist."

Rose shook her head and said, "No, Mr. Finn, I'm more than grateful. I am indeed very lacking in knowledge about potion-related subjects and want to improve in this area, but the problem is that I can no longer take out a loan to study a new major at the magic academy, nor do I have the time. According to the loan company's predictive model, they won't lend me a single penny."

So if you'd like to share your knowledge with me, I'd be very grateful. I can trade you some of my self-developed sanity stabilizers.

Based on the information he had gathered about magicians over the past few days, Rose began to narrate, mimicking the actions of a magician from the slums.

Finn was visibly taken aback by Rose's words, and he was clearly more inclined to believe that Rose was saying those words to comfort the old man.

After all, he didn't know what the situation was like for a magician who had fallen into the slums.

Those who are ambitious and enterprising have already achieved that ambition and enterprising spirit in their youth.

This comfort warmed Finn's heart, which he hadn't felt in a long time. Especially since Finn now regarded Rose as an equal to himself, a smile appeared on his aged face as he said to Rose, "I see, Mr. Rose, then the potion is not necessary. If you need it, I will prepare some potion-related knowledge that I have summarized for you at the next gathering."

Looking at Finn's smiling old face, Rose was thinking about what Keaton had told him earlier: "So, don't be fooled by Finn's seemingly good condition now. He can still make potions and mimic others, but when that day really comes... he will eventually face his own destruction in madness. The whole process is almost irreversible and beyond redemption."

Rose was silent for a moment, then smiled and nodded at Finn: "Okay, Mr. Finn, thank you very much, and I look forward to our next conversation."

Seeing Rose nod, Finn couldn't help but smile and said, "Okay, Mr. Rose, knowledge always generates greater value through exchange, and I look forward to the next gathering."

Just as Rose was about to leave, Finn seemed to have thought of something and said to Rose, "Mr. Rose, I heard you're going to take over the South District, is that right?"

Rose nodded and said, "Yes, I plan to live there for the time being. What's up, Mr. Finn?"

Finn hesitated for a moment, but still said, "It's like this, Mr. Rose, according to the uncertain information I've received, a new mage has arrived in the Southern District. It seems that he was previously a high-ranking official, and his strength was likely at the third tier or higher. Although he has fallen to this state, he is probably only at the second tier level. However, since his life has undergone a sublimation, it's best to avoid unnecessary conflict."

Rose thought for a moment, then said, "Thank you for the information. I will keep it in mind."

Rose wasn't too concerned, because he didn't really intend to live in the South District. He was just creating a facade of life there to provide a buffer zone. If someone was watching him, he could get an early warning and most likely wouldn't have any contact with them.

Finn nodded. He was giving this reminder because Rose had previously killed one magician and expelled another from the South District, and he was worried that Rose might clash with the new magician.

Then, Rose turned and waved goodbye to Keaton, who, noticing this, gave Rose an exaggerated smile and nodded.

After that, Rose carried her suitcase and prepared to leave the party.

Seeing that Rose was about to leave, the remaining magicians at the gathering stood up and said goodbye to Rose.

After all, Rose's potion has extremely strong irreplaceable and strategic value, so it's always good to get some recognition.

Rose responded to each of them individually.

Soon, Rose left the party, and several mages observing from outside noticed that Rose was about to leave, so they sent out sanity fluctuations to Rose to say goodbye.

Rose responded to each of them.

Rose thought these magicians who were observing and communicating outside must be exhausted, because the weather was already very cold, and the magicians' physical condition was not as strong as Rose's, a believer.

Even with magic to keep them warm, could their concentration hold up?

Not all mages can have their mana fully restored after a good night's sleep like Rose. Most mages' concentration recovers quite slowly without the help of drugs.

Furthermore, they need to use their concentration to maintain sensory magic.

It's probably because they have some kind of flaw that they don't want others to see.

Rose has now fully accepted her persona in this circle: a second-circle mage proficient in flesh manipulation, soul studies, and potion-making, who enjoys disguising herself as a child.

Previously, one question that had been troubling Rose was that, in Rose's understanding, [Perception] mages possessed a very strong penetrating ability.

Just like Rose could previously penetrate a house and sense what was happening inside.

Therefore, while these magicians used perception magic to observe Rosena's amazing physical qualities, they should also have been able to observe Rosena's obviously small organs and underdeveloped bones.

Furthermore, these organs are very self-consistent and clearly not transplanted. Even if most magicians do not understand human anatomy due to knowledge barriers, why would Keaton, who is proficient in [flesh manipulation] magic, make a misjudgment?

The answer to this came after Rose learned about the theoretical basis of the "Ancient Dragon Followers of Glimmering Light." This is because the "Ancient Dragon Followers of Glimmering Light" build an internal circulation within their bodies. This internal circulation is similar to the cultivation techniques in Xianxia novels, forming a self-contained world within the body and having a certain degree of isolation.

For example, "Vitality Inflow" and "Ancient Dragon Meditation" are applications of this kind.

Therefore, after most of them sensed Rose's astonishing muscle density, they were unable to perceive it further, because the extraordinary characteristics of the Ancient Dragon Current and the inherent closed nature of this internal circulation isolated their perception.

Therefore, they concluded that Rose was a seasoned flesh-manipulation mage and then used some kind of reverse blurring technique against perception-based magic to interfere with it.

Because that's exactly what Keaton does. Don't be fooled by his boastful display of his face; if you try to observe it closely using perception magic, you won't be able to sense anything at all.

The inside of his face may have long been unrecognizable due to the "flesh and blood modification" surgery.

He didn't want people to see the deformed inside him beneath his seemingly glamorous exterior.