Fanatics of the Magic Academy

"So, Mr. Kenneth, how many years have you been carrying on your mortgage?"

"60."

"..."

"After all, as a third-circle mage, I need a villa befitting a third-circle mage."

Otherwise, even with my magical abilities, I'd be homeless and wander the streets if no one wanted to use me.

"..."

In conjunction with what was mentioned earlier, Kenneth paid off his mortgage at the age of 90.

It means that you bought a house at age 30 and have been paying it off until age 90, meaning you've been paying it off your whole life.

Then, right after paying off the mortgage, he was killed.

God's.

The fact that a third-circle mage would wander the streets was truly puzzling to Rose.

"Would a third-ring magician also end up homeless?"

"Rosé asked."

"Yes, because a mage's power comes from reason, but reason can slip away."

Age is one factor, but when a person experiences something they can hardly understand and feels a great sense of loss,

This person's rationality will drop significantly, but if they recover quickly, they can restore their rationality to its peak level in a short time.

However, most people find it difficult to regain their rationality in a short period of time when faced with drastic changes in their environment.

Kenneth recounted.

Rose said he understands that feeling, the feeling of losing your composure when something incomprehensible and unacceptable happens.

Kenneth continued:

"Just like me, once one of the top magicians, after his wife died of illness, he was reduced to living on the streets."

His rationality has plummeted to an extremely low level, even lower than that of a normal person.

However, a typical third-circle mage, if no one uses him, has no source of income.

The huge psychological gap will cause his rationality to plummet, dropping to the level of someone from the Second Ring Road.

Then he became resentful of being just a second-circle mage, and this resentment would further exacerbate his decline in rationality.

Furthermore, at this point, they often try to use drugs to improve their sanity, which only leads them further into an abyss of despair.

I've seen far too many examples like this. In the magic capital, it's common for third- or even fourth-ring mages to end up on the streets.

This is completely different from the magical world Rose had imagined.

He then raised the following question:

"Are magicians really that incapable of handling risks? Can't they survive in society if no one hires them?"

Yes, if it were a world made up of ordinary people, Rose could understand why this would happen.

But this is a magical world that embodies immense power.

Logically speaking, if a person has such power, why does he/she need someone to "use" it in order to survive in society?

Kenneth was somewhat puzzled as to why Rose would ask such a question.

He thought for a moment and said:

"You've never been to school, you don't understand."

"?"

Why are they starting to attack people?

"Because each school of magic has an extremely high learning cost; let's not even talk about anything else, just take vocabulary as an example."

Aside from the common vocabulary used in magic, my storm magic, once I reached the third ring, had over 9 entirely new specialized terms.

Kenneth explained.

"Huh? How much?"

Rose said she found it hard to understand.

"In society, most projects cannot be accomplished by a single school of magic; they require the cooperation of magicians from various schools."

The higher the level, the more this is true. At the first level, one can learn several different schools of magic, but at the second or third level, a person only has the energy to learn one type of magic.

Besides the knowledge barrier, each type of magic requires repeated practice to learn.

Practicing magic is extremely demanding on concentration; once that concentration is depleted, it takes about three days to fully recover.

Here, Rose was a little confused. Isn't concentration something you can achieve by eating, sleeping, or meditating?

It was only then that Rose realized what it meant in this world that he could regain his focus after a good night's sleep.

"So, now you probably understand, learning other magic on top of that is just too difficult."

Most projects require the cooperation of mages from different schools of thought to complete.

Therefore, even a third-circle mage cannot escape the social system.

Rose nodded in understanding.

Then he asked:

"Then why were you unable to support yourself after retirement?"

Since you know your pension is low, why not be more frugal and continue as before?

If you're frugal and cut back on spending, you might be able to hold out for a few more days.

Kenneth looked at the racetrack:

"Only an ignorant peasant like you would ask such a question."

Why are you attacking people again?

"Because you live in a community of a certain standard, you must fulfill your responsibility to maintain the overall image of the community."

For example, in the villa I live in, besides the most basic things like lawn maintenance,

They also need to maintain the magic pool in the house to power the magic array within it.

The consumption of this magic pool alone consumes more than half of our combined salaries.

If it cannot be maintained, other residents or community management may sue for damaging the community environment.

They will have to pay a huge fine in the future because this behavior will damage the community's image.

This could lead to a drop in property prices in the community, which would then be met with a collective attack.

"..."

Rose fell silent, as if he was gradually coming to understand everything.

Kenneth, now intrigued, added:

"Hey, didn't I tell you? I switched to a really cheap community that doesn't have a mana pool."

We weren't used to life without the magic pool back then, even though it cost money, it was really convenient.

So I built a makeshift magic pool to use for now, and guess what?!

Anger flashed across Kenneth's gaunt face as he continued:

"Those peasants actually said that my behavior would improve the community's image and make their houses more valuable."

Then those ill-mannered, low-class peasants smashed my magic pool while I was out!

After a moment of silence, Rose suddenly said:

"Most people in that community probably rent."

Kenneth thought for a moment, then a look of surprise appeared on his face:

"It seems so. How did you know?"

Rose fell silent; he had a general understanding of this world.

The reason he couldn't understand any of this before, and couldn't understand what Kenneth was saying, was simple.

He treats people like human beings.

If we look at it from a different perspective, the whole world becomes much easier to understand.

Treat everyone as less than human, and view them as stocks.

View all people as stocks, and those who hold the power of discourse as investors.

Everything is simple and clear: when a third-circle mage can't even afford the corresponding house, it means that the stock is starting to decline.

Then, as a stock trader, one would not continue to invest in or add to one's position in this stock.

In reality, this means that the person will be unable to obtain employment or investment.

This applies to people, and it also applies to communities.

A community is like a stock. When a household starts neglecting to maintain it, the community's stock price will drop, which translates to a decline in housing prices.

This would obviously harm the interests of those around them, and they would likely turn against that group.

In another low-priced community, most people can't afford to buy a house and have to rent.

If the stock price rises, their rent will also increase.

Then they will smash and oppose anything that raises housing prices.

This is equivalent to saying that good things must be good, and bad things must be bad.

Now, suppose a "good" person is killed and thrown into the "bad" category.

He will be doomed and will never be able to return to "goodness".

Because his environment and community will do everything they can to prevent him from moving up in society.

This world is governed by absolute rationality and reason.

Everything in the world—people, communities, and things—has been alienated into absolute values.

Even the most powerful magicians cannot escape this kind of alienation and slaughter.

Here, people are no longer people, but are measured by some kind of value.

The bodies of the homeless people in the slums are just a small part of this whole affair.

Rose felt a little cold in his hands and feet, and he asked one last question:

"Don't you have children?"

Kenneth was somewhat puzzled by Rose's leap of thought, but still answered:

"Yes, there was a boy, but when he turned 18, I gave him some money by law so he could support himself."

After all, back then we would have to pay huge mortgages and spend a lot of money to maintain the villa's environment.

I can no longer support an adult.

Just like my father gave me money so I could survive on my own.