Fanatics of the Magic Academy

Chapter 124 The Priest

Seeing that Rose seemed to fall into a brief silence, Finn waited a while, and when Rose came back to his senses, he continued, "I think you should also know that a cultist escaped from that observation point near the South District and killed several nobles who were playing there."

Rose knows this all too well.

As Rose's understanding of the workings of the Magic Federation's social system deepened, she came to realize what kind of group the nobles were at that time.

It is a product left over from the Age of Gods. At that time, the emerging supernatural group of magicians united some nobles of that era in order to overthrow the already mature system of gods and promised them status in the new era.

After the Dawn War, many of these nobles gradually integrated into the Magic Federation's supernatural system, carrying on some of the family-based ideas from the previous era into the present.

Moreover, this system enjoys high stability due to the political legacy left over from the "Dawn Wars".

These noble families had a clear division of labor: magicians focused on learning magical knowledge to provide their families with military strength, security, and political power, while ordinary people were trained in management and finance.

In fact, this division of labor is quite advantageous. These noble magicians have the support of their entire family, and as long as they have talent in brain development, they will almost never have any mental problems.

Ordinary people, or those who only learn basic magical knowledge, are in positions of managing finances and allocating resources. Their status will not decline due to instability of mind, and they have a high degree of stability compared to magicians.

The nobles who were playing in the "observation point" were ordinary people who had failed in the competition for management and resource allocation, but had a certain amount of family support, funds, guards, and social status.

Since they lost the competition, they could only indulge in pleasure. Their mission was simply to survive, and their families couldn't be bothered with them.

That's why Rose was able to kill them so easily and escape.

Rose nodded in understanding, then said without any pressure, "I know, and that cultist was about the same age as me. At that time, I was quite active in the Southern District, and I was even targeted by someone from the Arbitration Tribunal who tried to test me, causing me a little trouble."

Finn couldn't help but laugh when he heard this amusing anecdote: "Then he must have been thoroughly humiliated by you."

Rose shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I just cut off his arm as a lesson."

Finn nodded. From his perspective, Rose was a mage proficient in the [Flesh Manipulation] type of magic. Among all first and second-circle mages, the [Flesh Manipulation] type of mage performed the best in skirmishes, so this performance was within Finn's expectations.

Finn continued to steer the conversation back on track, saying, "Those nobles who come to such remote places to enjoy themselves generally don't have much power in their families, but the problem is, they are nobles after all."

Unlike us magicians who are divided according to the social division of labor, they care a lot about blood ties. No matter how useless or abandoned someone is, they will not let them be killed at will.

Therefore, after those nobles were killed, the matter escalated significantly. Nearly 20 fourth-circle mages, and possibly even a fifth-circle legendary mage, secretly fueled the flames, appealing to the Arcane Council and demanding an explanation.

Finally, under the decision of the Arcane Council, the matter was determined to be that the person in charge of the "observation point"—a low-ranking fourth-circle mage—had contacted nobles for the sake of his own status and had arbitrarily raised believers. That fourth-circle mage was immediately imprisoned. It is said that a month after that mage was imprisoned, his rank dropped to the second circle, and he almost went insane.

Besides him, many other magicians working at the "observation point" were also labeled as "accomplices" and were dismissed or imprisoned.

Silas, a third-circle mage who once worked at that observation point, escaped punishment somehow because he wasn't deeply involved and, given his resourcefulness, came to this area to lay low until he could make a comeback.

Rose nodded, indicating that she understood.

Finn sighed, his aged, cloudy eyes revealing envy. "Alas, it has to be a third-circle mage. Having undergone a life leap, as long as their sanity doesn't drop too severely, they can forcibly overdraw their lifespan to develop their brain, ignoring mental issues to a certain extent and forcibly returning to the third-circle realm. Then, by using the recovery of their realm, they can restore their social status and slowly replenish their sanity. Although doing so almost completely eliminates the possibility of improving their sanity in the future, and their lifespan will regress to the level of a second-circle mage, at least they can return to magical society. Alas, I can't envy that."

Rose had heard of this method before. In the Magic Federation, first and second-circle mages were easily killed, but in the third-circle realm, they were not so easy to kill. Generally speaking, third-circle mages would only be killed out of the magic society when their physical weakness affected their brain development.

Like Kenneth, but at least he can live to old age, unlike first and second-circle mages who are kicked out of the magical society and become marginalized while still in their prime.

Third-circle mages can be considered elites within the Magic Federation.

In fact, based on Rose's understanding of Finn, Finn's status in the Magic Federation at his peak should be equivalent to half a third-circle mage.

His unparalleled achievements in pharmacology, his extremely rare and unique trait [Eye of True Sight], and his peak second-circle high-level magic cultivation meant that he was only gradually phased out of the social division of labor in the Magic Federation as he entered old age.

And because he was a pharmacist, he didn't have to worry about the cerebral palsy medical insurance policy designed by the Magic Federation. He enjoyed a comfortable life in his old age before slowly sliding into the slums.

In theory, he lived a much more comfortable old age than Kenneth, although he eventually succumbed to madness and inevitably faced death, but he was still far better off than most mages of the same rank.

Rose asked with some doubt, "Mr. Finn, did you know Mr. Silas before? I feel that you know Mr. Silas a little too much."

Rose raised this question because Finn knew too much about Silas. Rose, a magician based in the southern district, was unaware that a magician had settled there, but Finn already knew in advance and warned Rose.

Also, although Finn has a lot of influence among the slum wizards, he is still a marginalized member of society. Why does he know so much about Silas?

Finn seemed to sense Rose's confusion and replied, "Well, Rose, I had contact with Silas about eight years ago. At that time, I had just established myself near the slums, and Silas was the priest at the observation point near the South District."

"Priest".

.?

Rose seemed to have heard this word somewhere before. Under the influence of his high level of rationality, Rose's brain worked quickly and finally found a clue in his childhood memories. At that time, Rose was only three years old. He had the most basic understanding of this world. He knew that this world was a world where "magic is supreme" and he had also seen believers being sent to the stake.

He couldn't hold back any longer, realizing he'd gotten himself into trouble, so he asked his mother in a coquettish tone, "Mom, why do we have to secretly believe in gods? Why can't we be magicians?"

In Rose's memory, her mother gently picked her up, pinched her little face, and said, "Little Rose, you must have never seen a miracle before to ask such a question."

"miracle?"

Then, a fanatical expression appeared on the mother's face, crushing her gentleness, and she said, "Yes, Mom and Dad's lives were saved by the priest's miracle. Without the priest, there would be no little Rosey today!"

As my thoughts returned, Finn's aged, rugged voice echoed in Rose's ears: "Hmm, Father." When I first learned this, I thought I had traveled back 5000 years. Later, after some cooperation and casual conversation with Silas, I learned that his job was to lure people near the slums into believing in gods, and then use their faith, which had long lost its extraordinary nature, as a bond to keep those ordinary people running the "observation point." The believers had some characteristics similar to magicians, exhibiting phenomena similar to rune psychology. Therefore, in order to efficiently convert believers, some magicians were often put in the role of "priests." When people living in the slums were in danger, they would perform miracles, which were actually magical means, to save them from their predicament, thereby breaking their ideological imprint of "magic supremacy" and making them naturally able to believe in gods.

In fact, based on my understanding and knowledge, Silas sometimes secretly caused the plight of these lured slum dwellers in order to achieve his targets. This method is undoubtedly efficient because it can accurately grasp the psychology of these slum residents and perform miracles when their psychological defenses are most vulnerable, thereby luring them into the observation point.

Silas had previously worked near the slums and was quite familiar with the South, which is probably why he chose to settle there. Of course, the South may also be safer now.

After all, as a former third-circle mage, even if his sanity has now fallen to the second level, he is still young and can still return to the magical world.

It's estimated that after a year or two, once the storm has passed, he will start making moves. With his not-so-stable third-circle mage level, even if he changes his appearance, he can still obtain a decent position, thereby stabilizing his own rationality.

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