Witch, don't be so lazy

"You have to pay a certain amount of gold coins every month based on your status. New members should pay three gold coins, that's all. You don't even have to sign a contract. I told you, Mammon is very lenient. Anyway, once you're in, they have plenty of ways to make you pay up willingly."

Hans held up the gold coin in his hand. "Toss it, and you'll be inducted. There's no magic involved, just a formality."

Pick up the gold coin.

In the front, there is a person sitting in a pile of gold coins with a smile on his face; in the back, there is the same person looking at the yellow sand on the ground with a look of astonishment on his face.

"To keep on getting and to keep on losing is the sin of Mammon, greed."

Throw it up, drop it.

The sound of gold coins is crisp.

Hans smiled, stood up and walked into the store, knocked on the wall, and with the sound of a mechanism, the dark door opened.

Like an invitation.

----

----

I have a little fever, it seems familiar, everyone take care of yourselves!!!

Chapter 20 Recommendations and New Tricks

Why is it authentic again?!

Anke followed Hans and stepped on the gray-white stone bricks. The first thought that flashed through his mind.

Like the tavern in the Adventurer's Guild, the small door of the shop hides a path leading underground.

Of course, Anke was not too surprised, because she had long guessed that there was something special about Hans' workshop. Although she didn't know about the Mammon Society before, she could still sense some clues.

For example, there are only two stores selling magic props in Cedar Town, one is the famous Winter Magic Store, and the other is a small, shabby store with no reputation. It feels wrong just thinking about it, especially when the owner is a formal wizard.

If we insist on explaining that Hans doesn't like signing contracts with various forces and just wants to be a wild wizard, open a small shop and live a free and easy life, then there is still one question that cannot be answered.

Where does business come from?

As mentioned before, Hans' store has a bad reputation, an awkward positioning, the attitude of the owner is terrible, it has not been in business for long, and it closes on time at night, making ordinary townspeople reluctant to patronize it.

Anyway, from what I observed while working at Encore, only three to five people came into the store every day, and they were probably just browsing around, curious about the magic props, and had no intention of buying anything.

If you want to use Hans for fun, not to make money, uh, just look at the old guy's greed for money. Just cheat others, but don't cheat yourself.

So in Anke's guess, Hans at least has other sales channels, and he can sell the magic scrolls anyway. Otherwise, why would he hire workers? It can't be to promote the flow of wealth.

Of course, everything is explained now.

With the support of Mammon, the top black market, it is easy to sell some magic items.

……

"Slow down, slow down, why haven't you arrived yet?"

An Ke leaned against the wall, breathless from exhaustion.

"Almost. If I hadn't been waiting for you, I would have been here earlier. I'm still young, and my legs and feet aren't as good as an old man's."

Hans' words were full of sarcasm, but Anke didn't have the heart to argue with him.

She now wanted to take back what she had just said. It was similar to the Adventurer's Guild. At most, they had a hall and dozens of rooms in a tavern, but the Mammon Guild was actually building a dungeon.

I don’t know how long we walked along the way.

The passage is dark and narrow, winding and with countless forks that make people dizzy, as if the entire area has been hollowed out to create a grand maze.

It was literally a maze, because Hans reminded Anke to follow closely and not to wander around randomly, because some roads were dead ends and there were traps. If you got caught in it, you would at least get hurt.

What can I say? It is indeed an organization from the dark world.

at last.

We arrived at our destination, a beautiful house.

Tall wooden display cabinets, Baroque-style orange carpets, velvety armchairs, and classical-style stove lamps on the walls on both sides.

"Uh, the Mammon Society's stronghold looks a bit stingy?"

Encore looked around. Although the decoration was nice, the place was a bit small. If there were too many people, it would seem crowded.

“Just a place where it’s safe to talk.”

Hans rolled his eyes. "You don't even have a mask or a cloak right now. If I take you to the hall or the black market, would you dare?"

Of course, he didn't dare to do that. Even before he learned the magical disguise methods, Anke didn't plan to go to the black market.

"What about them?"

An Ke looked at the strange waiters in front of him. They were wearing red tuxedos and black turbans. All the exposed parts of their bodies were wrapped with white bandages. Even their faces were not visible, only their deep eyes were exposed.

When the waiter respectfully brought the tableware and skillfully brewed the black tea, one could faintly smell the rich aroma of tea and a light scent of medicine.

"Oh, don't worry, they're Pale Squires, all dead."

Damn it.

Anke squinted his eyes and carefully looked at the waiters standing quietly beside him.

He stopped what he was doing and stopped adding sugar to the tea. He just stared at the cutlery in his hands, feeling a little desperate.

...They just touched it, and now I'm touching it again. It's a bit too unlucky...

Hans took a sip of tea, ignored Encore's wonderful expression, and said casually:

"They meet the requirements while alive and are willing to sell their remains and souls to the Mammon Society. After death, they are transformed into magical creations through various means. They can only perform simple tasks and cannot carry complex information. The risk of leaking secrets is similar to that of alchemical puppets, and the maintenance cost is lower, and they can be used until their souls collapse."

He paused, "If you have concerns, you can just let them go."

...I don't have any concerns, it's just that Encore is quite traditional and I can't accept overly fancy services at the moment.

After sending the pale waiter away, the room felt less gloomy.

Let’s get down to business.

……

Candlesticks burned quietly, and the air was filled with a faint scent of incense.

Hans crossed his arms and looked directly at Anke.

"If you want to combine spells properly, you naturally have to consider all aspects of the caster's conditions. Since you're from a commoner background and can't afford expensive auxiliary items, I recommended the inexpensive and versatile Mage's Hand to you."

He continued, "Luckily, you've shown remarkable talent in the practice of the Mage's Hand. Following this line of thought, it makes sense for me to continue recommending telekinesis magic to you. Isn't that reasonable?"

An Ke nodded, it was quite logical.

"Before I make any recommendations, I'd like to ask you, what do you think of telekinesis?"

In response to Hans' questions, Anke began to organize his words.

"Well, I think telekinesis magic is pretty good. First of all, it's cheap to practice, and it's flexible and concealable. Moreover, once you reach a certain level of proficiency, your lethality is also quite impressive. Even the future path is very clear. As long as you continue to meditate and improve your mental strength, the power of your magic will steadily increase."

The point is that practice is convenient and inexpensive.

Hans listened patiently, nodded slightly, and then asked:

"If telekinesis has so many advantages, why hasn't it become a mainstream school of thought, and is instead relegated to the hodgepodge of chaos schools? There are even so few mages who practice telekinesis?"

Well?

An Ke was stunned for a moment, and her brain started to work rapidly.

The first thing she thought of was that magic was difficult to learn, which had discouraged many people. However, this reason was not valid because other magics were also difficult to learn.

Apart from anything else, divine revelation is a magic trick that is generally recognized to require talent, but this does not prevent astrology from being a prominent discipline in the magic world.

"Could it be that the problem lies with the improvement of mental strength? Could it be that meditation becomes less effective as time goes on, or is there some invisible bottleneck?"

Anke asked tentatively.

Telekinesis, the so-called materialized mental power, is essentially the product of a mixture of magic and spirit. The importance of the former is self-evident. No matter in which school, the more magic the better. The problem probably comes down to the latter.

An Ke then added, "Because both the book and Mr. Mott mentioned that a mage's advancement is a transformation of form, soul, and character. Perhaps when stuck at a certain stage, one's mental strength will reach a so-called bottleneck, limiting the power of telekinesis magic?"

Hans raised an eyebrow.

"You're quite perceptive. Although you haven't touched upon the crux of the matter, what you've said is indeed one of the flaws of telekinesis magic. An overly powerful soul can overwhelm a weak body. However, for most creatures, rather than worrying about their soul exceeding the limits of their form, their primary concern is how to enhance their mental strength."

Hans said calmly, "This is also the first point I want to remind you."

"Indeed, your current attainments in meditation are quite impressive, and your natural mental strength far surpasses your peers in the academy. However, the problem is that simply outperforming mediocre individuals is meaningless. If you want to go further, your opponents will also be geniuses, and their talents may even be beyond your reach."

"I'm not exaggerating, I'm simply stating the facts. Compared to other extraordinary races, humans don't have a spiritual advantage... Naga, vampires, elves, dragons... In terms of soul strength alone, even mediocre ones among them would be geniuses picked out of a million among humans... Although there are ways to improve talent during the Spirit World Tour, other races can also enter the Spirit World, so the gap is not widened."

"Of course, I know what you're trying to say. As long as the Natural School reaches a high level of cultivation, they can also use various methods to strengthen themselves and directly transform into a transcendent race. There's nothing wrong with the logic, but the problem is - since you've already achieved such a high level of attainment in the Natural School, why waste your energy on telekinesis magic?"

Makes sense.

An Ke scratched his face: "Isn't this the most fatal flaw of telekinesis magic?"

"Of course not."

Hans sneered, then, in front of Anke's expectant eyes, he stretched out his hand and said, "One price, two gold coins."

Damn it.

We knew that this old guy had bad intentions. How could he say so much for no reason? After whetting our appetite, he will definitely charge us money.

Fortunately, Miss Anke still has some money on hand, so she endured it for the sake of magical knowledge!

Pay VI eight house Lin dead Lin V zero dream money.

Hans seemed to have wound up again and continued, "Think about it, compared to other schools of magic, is telekinesis magic lacking something?"

An Ke frowned, not only because he was heartbroken, but also because he was thinking seriously.

What's missing from telekinesis magic?

Hans reminded him, "This isn't just a problem with telekinesis; it's a dilemma faced by the entire Chaos School. Instead of leveraging their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses, telekinesis is using its flaws to challenge others' strengths."

Chaos School, its shortcomings, weaknesses, and strengths.

Encore Reiguang Ichinokugo: Qiusiwukunshan: "Affinity, elemental affinity!"

"good."

Hans clapped his hands and smiled. "Whenever people mention the Chaos School, their first impression is inevitably one of strangeness, changeability, and complexity. But whether it's emotional magic, blessing magic, curse magic, even divination magic from before the Astrology School split, or all sorts of other bizarre magic... they all share the same commonality: they can't increase affinity with any element."

"Judging from your expression, it seems you've figured it out. Affinity can be seen as the ability to mobilize the free magic energy in the world. For example, the power of Fireball from other schools of magic, such as the Sun School, depends on the caster's skill level, the amount of magic energy consumed, and ultimately, the caster's affinity with the element of fire."

"The effects of low-level magic may not be obvious yet, but as the mage's rank increases and the scale of the spells increases, the importance of elemental affinity will increase dramatically."

"It's a simple truth. No matter how powerful a creature is, even if it uses special means to achieve a magic cycle, the magic it can release in a moment is ultimately limited. However, the magic power of the world is almost infinite."

"If two sides engage in a battle, with magic clashing against magic, and others can mobilize the elemental magic around them while you can only watch, the outcome is self-evident."

An Ke pursed her lips.

No wonder the Chaos School is all about developing in the direction of weirdness and fantasy, without magic that is known for its direct destructive power.

She sighed. "So, telekinesis is like comparing your own weaknesses to someone else's strengths."

"So, as I said before, the Mage's Hand, as the original trick, has a very simple concept and structure. Even the subsequent telekinesis system is very primitive."

Hans took a sip of tea and said lightly.

In the world of magic, there are certainly ancient and powerful things, such as ancient runes, but there are also things that are gradually falling behind the times.

This is indeed a fatal flaw.

It's like you are using Jin Yong's martial arts, using your internal energy to unleash each move of the martial arts. After you succeed, you go out and see that the world outside is like a garbage mobile game. The mechanisms and values ​​have already expanded to the level of The Legend of the Two Heroes of Tang Dynasty and Storm Riders. Others have already achieved the unity of man and nature and broken the void, while you are still a primitive man. What's the point of comparing?

"Of course, you don't have to be so depressed."

Hans consoled him, "At least before reaching the second level, telekinesis magic is quite useful. Others haven't developed their elemental affinity yet, and you can convert your mental energy into combat power. You're really taking advantage. As a junior apprentice, it's hard to say whether you can reach the second level when you're old."

Tsk.

The first half of the sentence did comfort Encore, it would have been better if the last sentence had not been added.

There was silence for a while.

An Ke asked, "What trick do you want to recommend?"

Hans smiled, like a cunning fox that had caught some meat, and stretched out his hand again.

"You know what I mean. Three gold coins, no bargaining."