I made up magic and taught a world-destroying witch?

Chapter 90 Schools of Thought, Starting with Idealism

Mia carefully took the two broken pieces of wood and squatted down to examine them. She first put the broken parts back together, then looked at the wood grain inside, muttering something to herself and occasionally gesturing with her hands, as if she was thinking about where to start.

Joseph watched for a while and decided it was best not to go over and say anything at a time like this.

After all, it's like a student trying to understand something by sitting by the river watching fish; the more someone is loudly instructing them, the less likely the fish are to take the bait.

Joseph turned his head and looked at Grace standing beside him. Now that they were out practicing today, they couldn't just teach Mia while Grace watched the whole thing with her eyes wide open.

This does not align with the balanced approach that a mature mentor should possess.

The problem is, how should her guidance techniques be taught? His demonstration at the training tower was actually not appropriate enough, because his knowledge of guidance techniques was closer to something very idealistic.

It's basically about touching your companion before doing something, and then your companion suddenly feels like they're in a good mood that day, so the next action might go more smoothly. It sounds a lot like touching a lucky charm before going out.

But then again, what he's doing now isn't superstitious? He's already gone this far, using personal experience to understand magic and complete memories to repair wood. Adding intuition borrowed from the future doesn't seem too excessive.

Try to think positively; his new magic is purely idealistic!

Joseph turned to look at Grace, who had been standing next to Mia watching her examine the two pieces of wood. Upon noticing Joseph looking at her, Grace immediately straightened up slightly.

"gentlemen?"

"Grace," Joseph said, "if I were to blindfold you and have you carry a full glass of water from the drawing room to my office without spilling a drop, what would be your first thought?"

Grace was surprised that the gentleman would ask this question so suddenly, and thought about it seriously for a while.

"What if I hit a table corner?"

"Anything else?"

"Someone might walk around the corner of the stairs, and there might be things on the ground. If the cup is too full, it will spill if you walk too fast."

.

"Yes." Joseph nodded. "Yes, that's it."

Grace paused for a moment, and Joseph tried to continue his somewhat incomplete thought: "You haven't even started yet, and you already have many paths in your mind. At the same time, the concerns you will encounter along these paths are the fog between you and your goal."

The angler, who was cleaning up his broken fishing line nearby, slowed down a little when he heard this.

He had thought the demonstration was over, but to his surprise, the great magician started lecturing again.

Grace looked at Joseph thoughtfully.

"The guiding spell can't deliver the water for you, nor can it clear away all the obstacles you might encounter," Joseph continued. "It can only part the fog for you, giving you a fleeting glimpse of a more suitable path."

"Just like the restoration technique that Mia is learning, objects have their own complete form in time. So every unfinished thing also has its possible form when it is successfully completed."

Grace asked thoughtfully, "So, besides the potential problems I've considered, there's also a way I can safely place the glass of water on your desk, avoiding the things on the floor."

"That's right," Joseph felt even better seeing Grace pick up on his thoughts so quickly. "Those possible paths have long been intertwined, like a huge net. Whether you call it fate or possibility, what you call it doesn't really matter."

"What the guiding technique does is borrow a wisp of intuition from it, so that you can see a little more clearly which step is more appropriate before you actually make a choice."

"What if there's no way to succeed?" Grace suddenly asked.

"Guidance only reveals possibilities; it doesn't create a result that didn't exist before. For example, if there's a cliff in front of you, guidance can't make you jump over it in one step."

But if there's a sturdy bush on the edge of the cliff that you hadn't noticed due to fear, the guidance technique might subconsciously make you reach out in that direction before you fall.

"But what if there's nothing at the edge of the cliff?" Grace asked.

"Then you can't catch them," Joseph said. "You cast a channeling spell, but your companion still failed, which means that there might not have been a path to success within the scope of what you could do."

If it can't help you see success, that's an answer in itself.

A sea breeze blew in from outside the floating bridge, gently lifting a few strands of Grace's light golden hair. She recalled the countless days she had spent trying to sense magic.

Each time, the court sorcerer told her to try again, that maybe the next time would yield results. But after the next time, there was always another. Everyone told her to take the same path, but no one told her that perhaps that path was never meant for her in the first place.

It wasn't until her husband appeared that he led her in a different direction.

Grace looked up and gazed intently at Joseph: "So, sir, you showed me another way."

Joseph: "————" Why are they suddenly putting this on him again?

At the time, he was mainly focused on project funding and didn't think about fate or another path. However, it's undeniable that he didn't try his best, since the result is what it is.

"More or less." Joseph nodded.

The light in Grace's eyes brightened a little more.

Joseph reached out, and a purple thread, tied into a bow, gently landed on Grace's palm. Grace instinctively held her breath.

"You can come up with a model, or you can guide it with your own ideas. You just need to hear a clearer voice from those possibilities," Joseph said.

The atmosphere seemed perfect now, and it would be a shame not to say something impressive, so he continued, "Hear the echo from the future, and then use it to guide your way."

After saying that, even Joseph himself fell silent for a moment, as if it were a bit too idealistic. It sounded like a fortune teller who took money and specialized in telling clients they would meet their true love next month.

But Grace clearly didn't think so. She said softly, "I understand, sir."

The fisherman squatting nearby had a rather blank expression.

He was just a fisherman who had only broken a rod that night and was trying to catch some unknown creature. First, he encountered an academy professor who bought the broken rod for ten silver coins, then stood in front of him and gave a lecture that sounded incredibly expensive. These words, which he usually found distant and unapproachable when heard individually, were now spewing out like they were free.

Could this be a gift from fate? He seriously considered whether he should find another broken fishing rod.

Just then, a sound of small stones tumbling in the water came from under the pontoon bridge.

The fisherman paused, then immediately looked down and peered under the crack in the wooden plank.

"The tide's out?" He frowned, then looked at the water in the distance. "No, it's not time yet."