How can you become stronger if you don't build up bonds?

Lin Wei roughly knew what the abnormal energy that Zoreni was talking about was.

His energy level must have changed suddenly, going from level 0 to level 19.

However, no one is allowed to use divine revelation on Lin Wei without Green's permission; this is an ironclad rule in the Holy Church of Wallis.

In addition, Lin Wei's level has remained stable, so Zoreni didn't think in that direction.

Although there are many things to do, Lin Wei felt that it was the right thing to do first to go see Green.

I have some questions to ask him, and I also want to try out some new skills with him.

The underground level of the courtroom where the solitary confinement cell was located was some distance from the top floor of the Holy Law Tower, where that old man Green usually frequented. Fortunately, Lin Wei could freely use the small teleportation arrays within the church.

After finding the teleportation array in the courtroom, Lin Wei arrived at the fifth floor of the Holy Law Tower in one step.

The Holy Law Tower has seven floors and serves as a training ground for divine magic within the Papacy.

The first four tiers are respectively provided for use by deacons and below, priests, high priests, bishops, and other ranks.

From the fifth floor onwards, it becomes Green's private space, and no one may enter without his permission.

Since Green spent most of his time inside the Holy Law Tower, the church members assumed that he was always immersed in magic.

But only Lin Wei knew that this was all nonsense.

There's only one reason why this old charlatan likes to stay in the Holy Law Tower: it's the tallest building inside the Vatican, making it very convenient for him to sunbathe.

If he weren't worried about the negative impact, he would have preferred to move to another tall tower in Fengdu, the King's Tower, which symbolized the supreme power of the Wallis Kingdom and was a meter or two taller than the Holy Law Tower.

The upper three floors of the Holy Law Tower, which embodied a great deal of artistic and magical essence and the painstaking efforts of craftsmen, and was built at the cost of enormous resources, were completely useless and a waste in his hands.

Especially on the fifth and sixth floors, Lin Wei used more than him.

His true image is completely different from the rumors; the claims of being a divine messenger or having the heart of a holy spirit are all false.

In private, when he was with Lin Wei, he was a completely flamboyant and eccentric old man.

This was already evident when Lin Wei took his aptitude test at the age of 7.

Lin Wei later learned that his performance in casting the spell that day and his exhausted state afterward were all an act, all in order to attract the attention of this divinely favored person as much as possible, so that he could get closer to him later.

But what's even more incredible is how Lin Wei discovered the truth. This old guy used the same trick again when he was testing King Nado's first granddaughter, who was also Lin Wei's niece whom he liked very much.

He seemed to have completely forgotten about giving Lin Wei the test, and sneakily walked over to make a bet with Lin Wei, betting that Lillian would definitely come over with a small handkerchief to wipe his sweat, and then smugly boast about how good his acting was just now.

Lin Wei felt that he was a saint for being able to refrain from kicking him back then.

But then again, apart from being a bit frivolous, this old man doesn't seem to have any other flaws.

The Holy Church branch under his command maintained a very close relationship with the Wallis regime, and he personally was extremely friendly to the Wallis royal family.

The previous king, the current brothers Nado and Eugene, and Lillian, who is only 6 years old, are all his nominal students.

Even without Lin Wei, this suddenly appearing chosen one, his overall attitude towards the Kingdom of Wallis wouldn't have changed much.

Objectively speaking, Green has a very strong bias against the title of "chosen one".

But in Lin Wei's eyes, Green and he were more like close friends despite their age difference, and this relationship would still hold true even without the title of "Chosen One".

Of course, Lin Wei couldn't prove this point in the past, and even if he was wrong, he could only continue to be wrong.

With Green's strength, even if he were to plot something in secret, Lin Wei would be powerless to stop him.

But things are different now.

"Affection value" shouldn't be something that can be faked, right?

You'll find out exactly how to test it.

Lin Wei stood before the steps leading to the sixth floor and shouted upwards:

"Green, come down here, I need to talk to you—"

"Your Highness, won't you come up? It's the most beautiful time of sunset."

Green's somewhat hoarse voice came directly to Lin Wei's side.

"I don't like watching it."

"Oh well."

Five seconds later, Green's figure floated down the steps.

It's still the same Santa Claus style.

Green was probably over 80 years old, with all his hair, eyebrows, and beard turned completely white. His eyes were always squinting, but his other features were very defined. He was just missing a few white fur trims on his red robe to be the old man who would give gifts.

"Your Highness hasn't come to chat with me for a while."

He always had a smile on his face. After snapping his fingers to place the two air stools, the two sat down facing each other as usual.

"Can you tell if I'm different today?" Lin Wei asked bluntly.

Green stroked his incredibly long beard, then suddenly cupped his hands in front of his eyes, making a tube-like shape with them:

"This is... there's no mistake, His Highness has leveled up! Level 19!"

He rarely smiled, but inside the phone, his smile lines parted, revealing bright, azure eyes:

"Could it be that His Highness possesses some mysterious, hierarchical power—?!"

"Stop pretending, you actually figured it out a long time ago."

Lin Wei ruthlessly exposed his pretense.

"Actually, what I've recently mastered is the power to detect lies, and I'm going to use it on you now."

"What?!" Green's voice suddenly rose eight octaves.

"Your Highness isn't going to investigate my past romantic relationships, is he...?"

"It's not that I can't ask, but tell me, how many girls did you date when you were younger?"

"Just one, two, three, four, five, six..."

Green started counting on his fingers to remember.

"A hundred, I guess."

"?"

Lin Wei couldn't be sure if this was nonsense; sometimes this old guy would just tell some truths that were completely unlike the truth.

"Green, give me your hand."

"Give."

Without any hesitation, he offered his aged right hand.

Lin Wei decisively raised his hand and covered it, activating his "Card Selection" ability.

[Name: Green Alberta]

【The Creator of the Dharma】

[Level: 19/∞]

HP: 2391/2391

[MP: 980/980]

……

and many more!

Lin Weicai noticed something was wrong after reading only a few lines.

Isn't this my own panel data?!

Except for the inexplicable "Creator Mage" listed in the section for racial and class characteristics, everything else is exactly the same.

What happened? Did the ability fail to activate?

Lin Wei had no idea what had happened.

Green's gaze swept back and forth between Lin Wei's face and their hands that were touching, his face full of curiosity.

"Wait a moment, don't say anything, let me think about it."

"I wasn't even going to say anything!"

"Then you shouldn't say that out loud!"

Green was still joking with Lin Wei as usual, and his demeanor didn't seem like he was deliberately playing a prank.

Lin Wei thought for several seconds, but perhaps because he was in a hurry, he couldn't come up with a solution at all.

Never mind, let's check Green's level of affection for him.

Admiration rating (Green Alberta): 80%

That's so tall...

An indescribable sense of security instantly flooded Lin Wei's body.

The old man truly reciprocated my sincerity!

Lin Wei tried to recruit Green into his ranks.

Green Alberta has been successfully recruited.

It was very easy to complete.

Well... there's nothing to rush about.

Lin Wei gradually calmed down and withdrew his hand.

From which angle should we begin our research...?

"Old man Green, would you mind telling me your level?" This was the first time Lin Wei had asked Green this question.

In the past, he and Green could joke around, but he always avoided topics related to rank.

On the continent of Alama, information related to levels is definitely considered a valuable intelligence resource, the kind that can be directly exchanged for money at intelligence dealers.

For top-tier combatants like Grimm, the specific rank information is even more confidential.

Lin Wei only dared to ask this question directly now that he was certain that Green was a good person.

Green tugged at his beard but said nothing.

"Uh, you don't want to talk about it? Well... never mind, forget I asked." Lin Wei still had a strong sense of boundaries.

"Ugh, ugh—" Green wiggled his beard again and made a strange noise.

"?"

Then, he raised both hands and pointed to his mouth.

Lin Wei raised an eyebrow, then suddenly understood something.

You f***ing...

"Speak to me!" Lin Wei was truly exasperated by this old man.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for lifting the ban—"

"Don't laugh again."

I didn't laugh.

Green's ability to suppress laughter was also top-notch; he cleared his throat:

"Your Highness, I'm not actually sure what level I am right now, but I should be at least level 60 or above," he replied seriously.

"What do you mean you're not quite sure either?"

"Well... if Your Highness wants to hear it, I'll try my best to explain..."

Ten minutes later.

"Did Your Highness understand?"

"..."

Where did you understand it?

Green rattled off a bunch of magical jargon, and even though Lin Wei's magical comprehension had improved a bit, it was still like listening to gibberish.

"Try a way that Lillian can understand," Lin Wei said, no longer pretending to be an expert.

"Little Lillian, okay, I understand."

"That is because my recent practice has taken a path that no one has ever taken before. Rather than studying and summarizing the various systems of magic, I would rather remove the concept of 'system' from the magic I know."

Lin Wei blinked twice.

Lillian can even understand this kind of thing now?

"You're not thinking of creating a unified theory of magic, are you?" Lin Wei casually remarked.

But to everyone's surprise, Green reacted violently, jumping up from his chair.

"So Your Highness thought of this before I did?!"

I've only recently come to realize that the more extensive one's knowledge of conventional magic systems, the more difficult it is to reach the realm of unification.

I've been having some self-doubt lately, wondering if this path is even feasible.

Now that Your Highness has given me guidance, I have gained confidence!

No wonder His Highness doesn't practice ordinary magic! I had some doubts before, but now I realize how foolish I was. His Highness clearly had the foresight to disdain learning it, after all, only a unified theory of magic is worthy of His Highness's divine favor..."

Green talked on and on, while Lin Wei looked embarrassed.

Here we go again...

Even his "Affection Value" increased by two percentage points, which shows that he really wasn't joking.

Lin Wei could only let him imagine it.

I hope I didn't lead him astray...

Magic and natural science shouldn't be too far apart...

In short, let's skip the topic of levels for now. He just mentioned that his current state is very unstable, so it wouldn't be surprising what the results of the Divine Revelation Technique might be.

"Stop for a second, Green, I have something to ask you."

"Your Highness, please ask." Green stopped abruptly.

"Just now, when I touched your hand, did you feel anything special?" Lin Wei asked earnestly.

Logically speaking, my [Summoning Protection] should have an effect on him, but Lin Wei's side can't see what the effect is.

"I feel better now."

"I wasn't talking about that!"

But Green doesn't seem to sense any changes, or rather, his current state has never been stable. It's like hiding water in the sea; it's normal not to be able to find it.

It's strange that there isn't even a racial synergy attribute; there's only a 'Creator Mage' with a strange face.

"Green, do you even consider yourself human?"

"As for this question... Your Highness is probably testing my cognitive reasoning skills on the impact of magic. Sometimes I can sense that rigid racial identity can be an obstacle in the training process..."

Alright, let's stop here for today. This old man is getting a bit carried away. We can talk to him about other things after he's digested the "inspiration brought to him by the chosen one."

This trip wasn't entirely without gains. Lin Wei was already quite satisfied with confirming that Green was still someone he could completely trust and recruiting him into his ranks.

They returned to the courtroom using the teleportation array, where Luya and Zoreni were already waiting patiently.

Besides them, Tina was also there. Her hands were tied with ropes, her eyes were covered with a black cloth, and a white cloth was stuffed in her mouth, making her look like she had been kidnapped.

"Your Highness, we are ready and can return to the Duke's mansion at any time," Zoreni said.

What are they preparing? What does it mean to do this to Tina?

His original plan was to have Zoreni wipe Tina's face and wash her hands, and then they would go back to the mansion together neatly.

Lin Wei glanced at Luya, who blinked at him innocently a couple of times.

It seems Luya couldn't stop it.

However, Lin Wei did not blame Zoreni. After all, from her perspective, Tina had the dangerous intention to suddenly attack people, so she had to be on high alert.

"Luya, untie her from all her restraints. Zoreni, go find a clean, damp towel."

"Well... okay."

Zoreni, as always, hesitated for a moment before taking action.

But for some reason, Lin Wei always felt that there was something deeper in the way she looked at him.

His Highness... he wouldn't really forgive Tina Highbury, would he...?

Zoreni was actually a little ashamed because she had just made the wrong assumption about Lin Wei.

His Highness... is truly too noble...

Not only did he not do anything to Tina, but he also held no grudge even when Tina hurt him.

This guilt transformed into a strange anger when dealing with Tina.

She could now finally understand Ale's absolute obedience to His Highness.

Alejandro González was right, and I was wrong.

"Um?"

Zoreni accidentally bumped into Lin Wei when she left the teleportation room.

Lin Wei then activated his card selection ability to open her detailed panel.

Then he saw Zoreni's "love rating" for him jump from 88% to 90%.

So, what happened...?