I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

Chapter 181 The Dilemma of the Three Sewer Heroes, The Birth of Gold

Evan nodded: "It's really cool, and it's also very convenient."

As he spoke, he took a sip of his tea.

The warm liquid slid down my throat, carrying a rich flavor I had never tasted before in the material world.

Armitage took a sip of tea and then continued his explanation.

"For many years I have been researching the future directions of three professions."

"Based on what my colleagues and I have summarized, the core problem for these three professions is the lack of standards."

"Standard?" Evan looked up.

Armitage nodded: "Because there are no standards, all sorts of concepts are converging on these three professions."

"Now I'll ask you a question: what is a witch?"

Evan blinked, opening his mouth several times, unable to quite explain what a witch was.

Armitage calmly stated, "Any woman can be a witch."

"This word, which originated in the Dark Ages, is itself a product of people's hatred for evil."

"As long as people are gripped by fear, as long as people see something unknown, and then through simple guidance from the church."

""

"Any woman in the vicinity can become a witch at any time, and then die in flames bearing all the people's curses and scorn."

"This is what has been crammed into the profession of witch over the years."

"It contains all of people's fears and hatred, making its path forward full of venomous thorns and madness."

Ivan immediately recalled what he had read before about medieval witch hunts and various legends about witches.

I discovered that this thing is almost entirely unrelated to any positive vocabulary.

The ignorant people back then were more willing to believe the theory that killing one person would allow everyone else to live happily ever after.

Armitage continued, "Now I'll ask you another question: what is a mage?"

Evan immediately said, "Of course, a mage is someone who knows magic."

Armitage countered, "What is magic?"

"Just as I told you in class before, magic can represent all extraordinary powers."

Ivan thought about it carefully and nodded: "It seems that's indeed the case."

Armitage continued, "So in that ignorant era, as long as you could do something that others couldn't, you could be called a wizard."

"Swindlers who cheat and deceive, merchants who pretend to be gods and ghosts, and alchemists who turn stones into gold—these can all be called sorcerers by the people."

"All knowledge, methods, and even unknown natural phenomena related to the extraordinary can be categorized as belonging to the realm of the mage."

"This makes the profession of mage encompass all of people's desires and fantasies about the extraordinary, filling its path with distorted desires and fantasies."

Ivan memorized this information, then asked eagerly, "Doctor! What about Witchers? These standards should be easy to set, right?"

Armitage countered with a half-smile, "What standards do you consider a Witcher to be?"

Ivan immediately replied, "Of course, it's the people who hunt monsters."

Armitage then asked, "If a hunter uses his trap to kill a monster while hunting in the mountains, and the villagers venerate him as a monster hunter, do you think that's reasonable?"

Ivan nodded: "Of course it makes sense."

Armitage continued, "A butcher, enraged that his livestock had been attacked by a monster, killed it, and his neighbors, seeing this, worshipped him as a monster hunter."

Do you think this is reasonable?

Ivan blinked, lost in thought.

Armitage continued: "If a merchant is attacked by a monster while on his business journey..."

"He fought desperately to save his own life and killed the monster. Afterward, he took the monster with him to do business and promoted himself as a demon hunter. Do you think that's reasonable?"

Ivan fell into deep thought.

"Most ordinary people are in a daze, fearing the unknown and monsters."

"But as soon as they find someone willing to step forward and deal with the unknown, they are very happy to make him their leader and then bestow upon him the title of hero."

"The original essence of the Witcher was simply those patrolmen in the village who protected children from wild animals."

"As time progressed, monsters appeared, and people's fear of those monsters gradually led them to promote monster hunters."

"In those times when people were terrified and disoriented by monsters, they would cling to anyone who could offer them shelter."

"And so the Witcher was born in this process."

"They were not born into the noble knightly class, but rather from the common people at the bottom of society."

"It has been stuffed with many concepts such as hero, brave man, strong man, and wandering knight."

"This also gives modern witchers an essential spirit of chivalry and heroism, and they will do their best to help the weak."

Evan considered Hill and Richard's qualities and nodded in agreement.

Armitage's explanation continues.

"Therefore, the entire profession of Witcher embodies people's fantasies and expectations of heroes who fight against monsters, beasts, and even bad guys and killers."

"Your path is filled with the curses of monsters and the fear of people."

"These are the reasons why witches, mages, and witchers don't last long."

"These crammed, complex, and distorted concepts will become a huge obstacle to your advancement."

"It's alright before you become a master, but when you're ready to advance from master to higher level, you'll know how crazy and twisted it gets."

""

Evan nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly asked, "Wait! Doctor! I can understand that Witchers are cursed by monsters when they hunt them."

Why do people still fear witchers?

Armitage sighed, "You must have heard the proverb, 'The dragon slayer becomes the dragon himself.'"

"Heroes who are able to hunt monsters gradually gain great power, which leads to a sense of self-awareness that surpasses that of others, resulting in the enslavement of ordinary people."

"At the same time, people simply need a hero to step up and protect them when their own survival is threatened."

"But once the threat is over, they'd rather the hero leave or die."

At this point, Dr. Armitage said meaningfully, "After all, people don't like being ridden on by a hero and ordered around."

Ivan sighed, "Human nature! It's really complicated."

Armitage nodded: "It has always been so; humanity can unleash unimaginable brilliance in times of crisis."

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"It can also reveal indescribable madness and ugliness amidst various calculations of interests."

"In fact, both of these situations can often occur in the same person."

As he said this, he looked at Evan intently.

"I hope you can maintain this mindset in the future and not let some local issues negate the whole picture."

"I have met many upright, sunny and cheerful people like you. They all once had great enthusiasm and a strong sense of justice."

"Then, while traveling and gaining experience, he witnessed a great deal of human evil in a certain place, and began to deny the entire world."

"Then, driven by extreme fanaticism, he embraced the evil god, believing that only by destroying everything could humanity be saved."

It's clear that the person who fell into depravity for this reason must have had a good relationship with him.

Ivan remained unfazed, still smiling: "Doctor, please rest assured about this. I'm not the kind of person who wants to save the world with fairness and justice in mind."

"I have a fairly flexible moral bottom line, and I also have a fairly flexible double standard."

"I also like all kinds of beautiful women, and I have all sorts of selfish motives."

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"Simply put, I'm just an ordinary person. If I'm paid, I'll help out; if I don't have money, I'll agree to help if I can offer some emotional support."

"I won't do anything that endangers lives, but I'll help others within my capabilities."

Armitage couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Good! As long as he's a normal person."

"Then I'll continue."

"Compared to the complexity of your three professions, the concepts related to other orthodox professions are much simpler."

"A knight is a knight. He inherently possesses noble attributes, and each one of them is a nobleman specifically used for warfare."

""

"Their posture, status, and functions are all quite clear."

"A psychic is a psychic, someone who can communicate with souls."

"He is more like a prophet; their concepts are both very pure."

"Although there are all sorts of scammers inside, their roles are clearly defined."

"The former communicates with the soul, while the latter predicts the future; this is also the expectation people have for these two professions."

"Others include monks, judges, and factory owners, all of whom have fairly clear roles, characteristics, and functions."

"Therefore, their journey was relatively free of impurities, with few twists and turns and few obstacles."

"There will be some forks in the road, but overall it's all one main road leading forward."

Ivan nodded repeatedly, and many of the questions in his mind were answered.

He finally understood why the three masters of the sewers were called the lowest of the low, and he also roughly understood the basic operating principles of these professions.

After Evan had processed this information, Armitage leaned back in his stone chair and reiterated it.

"Population is the foundation of all the extraordinary! Only a sufficient number of human desires and subconscious thoughts can support the operation and existence of the extraordinary."

"That's why we're working so hard to protect the borders of the Dreamland and prevent monsters from entering the human world on a large scale."

"Back when monsters roamed the land, the population was very small, and the sparse population could not support a systematic supernatural power."

"The current order is the result of the efforts of generations."

As he spoke, Armitage's face was full of determination.

"This is why we are naturally opposed to monsters."

"Monsters crave bestiality and chaos; they believe in the law of the jungle and pursue their instincts."

"They hate the order of the world and crave the most primitive killing and hunting, so the fewer humans there are, the better for them."

"This is why all the monsters in the Dream Realm are so eager to cross over into the material world."

"We humans, on the other hand, are the opposite."

"Extraordinary professions require the desire and subconscious support of the population; the larger the population, the stronger our power."

"And the larger the population, the greater the desire for order, which is the core reason why gold, as a symbol, came into being."

Ivan's heart skipped a beat, and he asked curiously, "Could it be that the Golden Sequence, which now surpasses the other four symbols, was originally allowed to be born by everyone?"

Armitage nodded: "Yes, the extraordinary power of the material world dissipated along with the monsters."

"In this process, there are naturally many organizations with all sorts of ambitions who yearn to rule humanity through supernatural powers."

"At the same time, everyone hopes that humanity can reproduce and grow rapidly, thereby enhancing the power of superhumans."

"Then, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, a large influx of people into the cities led to a rapid convergence of their desire for order and money."

"Other factions and professions also need a relatively fair and stable faction with the functions of managing city operations and promoting population development."

"And so, with the tacit approval of all other factions, gold was born."

Ivan, suppressing a laugh, asked, "Before its creation, didn't those big shots imagine that the emergence of Gold would suppress all other professions?"

Armitage laughed and said, "Of course we thought of that, so gold was born with inherent flaws."

"The mortal world can possess extraordinary power, but that power must be controlled by mortals."

"Thus, the lifespan of all three capitalist professions was locked at seventy years old."

"And their extraordinary powers are locked onto the symbols that match their identities."

"Factory owners can't live without factories, financiers can't live without money, and judges can't live without their positions."

"At the same time, their power will also change due to various economic cycles, social unrest, and population fluctuations."

"Furthermore, due to their lifespan, the quality of their offspring is generally uneven."

"Take those factory owners who are currently at the height of their success, for example. Although they have the ability to make money extraordinary, not everyone has that kind of business acumen."

"Of ten factory owners, only two or three are able to successfully pass on their factories to the third generation."

Evan nodded in agreement: "That's true. If a hard-earned business is ruined by a rich second-generation spendthrift, it will quickly decline."

Armitage nodded: "Yes, even relatively stable judges are the same."

"Judges lose power not only after leaving the city, but also after being impeached and removed from office."

"The judge's extraordinary power lies not in the person, but in the position."

"Furthermore, without a long enough lifespan, one cannot see that far ahead, nor can one befriend time and make long-term predictions."

"This leads to a short-sightedness in all three professions on the path to success, with everyone looking to make the most of every minute."

"They only care about themselves and not the future, especially after they turn sixty and their lives begin to count down, they naturally become crazy."

"This is the difference between long-lived and short-lived species."

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