Witch, don't be so lazy

The alarm clock hits 4:30, and I'm trying my best to keep my attendance! The osmanthus cake is all gone~ I'm back in bed for a nap, good night~

Chapter 18: Meaning (4080)

"Please keep your prize."

The researcher in white clothes smiled and handed over a black badge with gems, dolls, and feathers painted on it.

Obviously, this is a token of the Queyu Workshop. The three patterns each have their own meanings.

Gems are a symbol of the Golden Dawn, as their most outstanding achievement is the Philosopher's Stone. Of course, the extended meaning is "obtaining all precious things through alchemical mastery."

The puppet is even more obvious. As the Grand Master of Alchemy, His Majesty Kumo excels in the fields of automata and golems. Naturally, the Queyu Workshop is also known for its strengths in these two areas, hence the use of this as its symbol.

As for the feathers, there are different opinions. Some say that it is the same as the Iris Workshop, worshiping the kite bird that symbolizes miracles through feathers, while others say that it implies the sublimation of skills as light as feathers.

Of course, according to Momo’s original words, “Because the Amona Society is using the feathers of the King of Condors to make alchemical props, I was too lazy to think of a name, because I was tempering the feathers, so I just used it directly.”

"Oh, yes, thank you."

Anke took the badge and looked at it with some curiosity.

The Cuiyu Workshop should have the ability to record information and identify identities. In theory, if someone comes to make weapons, they have plenty of ways to confirm it.

They even gave him a badge as a token of trust. Could it be for the sake of ritual and commemoration?

She also noticed that her badge was black, while those on the staff were red.

"Black means collaborator."

Momo seemed to notice Anke's confusion, poked the girl's face, and said with a smile:

"Little Anke, take this and show it directly to the teaching assistant for 'The Art of War and Alchemy'. You can skip the tedious steps, like completing all the electives, passing the promotion assessment, and interview, and you can directly enter the junior class."

"Well, but I still suggest you exchange some knowledge crystals and sit in on some classes that interest you, because they are quite valuable."

An Ke was stunned for a moment, then heard Momo lower her voice and say, "Also, if you meet someone wearing a red badge, you can show them the black badge and they usually won't give you any trouble."

For an instant.

As if an electric current flashed through his head, An Ke suddenly realized the true meaning of the golem test held by the Cuiyu Workshop.

This is of course a test, but testing the golem is just a by-product. The real purpose is to test, screen and make friends with the new generation of talents who are worth looking up to.

In fact, if you think about it a little more, you will understand that if you really need to test the golem in all aspects, there is no need to find these freshmen who have not even attended the college.

As a super city in the south, Black Rock City controls the Silent Legion and governs so many cities. It really needs people to test it. A large number of mages can be easily found, and they cover all major schools and can be selected from weak to strong.

In the final analysis, this is just for investment, or to put it more nicely, for connections——

All students who need to transfer in Black Rock City and go to Pandgar are 100% born in the areas under the jurisdiction of Black Rock City. Even if there is no guarantee that they will join the Silent Legion in the future due to problems with their talents and ambitions, it is completely possible to establish a good relationship with them early on with this relationship.

Because of this, Black Rock City deliberately chose the Quenching Feather Workshop as the testing party instead of the Silent Legion, and the badge given was also the badge of "Quenching Feather Workshop Collaborator". After all, any spellcaster in the North will need to deal with alchemy in the future.

Even if students later joined other factions, other factions would not be able to say anything because it was completely reasonable in name.

Wow, this is really quite convoluted.

An Ke even thought a step further. She glanced at the field and found that the people from the Queyu Workshop were all looking at her and even whispering to each other.

To be more precise, I was observing the interaction between myself and Momo.

No matter how low-key and unknown she is, people with a certain status in the Quenching Feather Workshop and the Silent Legion will definitely recognize who Momo is.

At this moment, in front of everyone, Momo's attitude towards herself was clearly revealed.

It was as if they were loudly declaring that their relationship was not simply that of admissions officers and new students.

No wonder they insisted on dragging me over to participate in this thing, it was obviously to help out.

"...Sister Momo, thank you."

While An Ke was moved, she couldn't help but sigh that the eldest lady of Black Rock City was indeed... wise but appeared foolish, or in other words, she was just a little out of touch in daily life, but she was extraordinarily sensitive to many things.

Anyone who really thinks she is stupid and easy to fool will probably be in trouble. Well, if you have to say it, Miss Anke has already suffered losses.

"Hum~"

Momo hummed twice in triumph, and patted Anke's head, "Momo, let's go. If little Anke runs around again, Momo won't show mercy~"

Although it was a lazy remark, it made Anke suddenly serious:

"No! I've already reflected deeply on this!"

too frightening.

Is the bullying in the small dark room actually the result of showing mercy?

It's definitely white and black!

······

The staff were busy recording data and tidying up the venue, while the freshmen of the Royal Academy followed their teacher out chattering.

They seemed to have forgotten their previous failure and were discussing Encore's performance and the power of the golem with excitement and surprise.

Of course, if they noticed the regretful expression of the teacher in charge, knew the true meaning of this test, and knew what they had missed, perhaps their expressions would be different.

After all, there must be forces from Black Rock City within the Royal Academy. There may not be many of them in the Silent Legion, but there must be a large number of alchemists from the Quenching Feather Workshop.

Alchemy and gold, just by listening to the names you can tell that they go well together.

But it’s better this way. If they can’t even get past the most basic golem, it means that this class’s strength and talent are not good enough. It’s something that I can’t reach in the first place, so it’s better not to know about it, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Just as An Ke was daydreaming, she noticed footsteps and gazes in front of her and looked up.

Zealand.

When everyone stood together facing each other, An Ke suddenly realized that this natural golem controller was even smaller than herself, at least half a head shorter than her.

Her outfit also looked rather strange, the type that was unkempt. Her collar was half turned outward, and the coat on her left shoulder had slipped down, revealing the sweater underneath. The sleeves were very long, and her palms were tucked inside.

Her gray hair is messy, and she has to use bangs to cover one eye, making her look almost non-mainstream. It's a pity that her face is actually cute.

However, compared to the above, most of Anke's attention was on Xilan's barren chest, because there was a red feather-tempered badge on it.

It goes without saying that Black Rock City would be happy to make friends with and invest in such a powerful golem manipulator.

"Ten."

Xilan stared at Anke and crossed his index fingers to make a "ten" gesture.

“I don’t understand.”

Miss Anke answered sincerely.

"My highest record is operating ten golems at the same time."

Xilan curled his lips, fiddling with his bangs as he emphasized, "After I get promoted, the number will increase even more, and the golems I control will be even more advanced!" "Wow, that's really impressive."

Anko blinked.

It turned out that the child was not convinced and felt that he had only controlled five golems and was not giving his all.

She didn't say anything like, "You'd be unconscious in no time with five, and how long would it last with ten?" She just smiled sweetly.

"Then I wish you to be promoted to the second level as soon as possible."

This statement came out.

Xilan's little face drooped, and he looked very unhappy, and he made a barely perceptible "tsk" sound.

In addition to the fact that she is currently only at the first level, the more important reason is that An Ke actually pointed out one of the two fatal flaws of the golem operator.

This profession certainly has a lot of advantages. It can control higher-level golems, can use golems to achieve various functions, has very explosive combat power, is generally safe, and is easy to be cultivated by major forces... and so on.

But its flaws are also very serious.

First of all, most golems cannot be brought into the spirit world. There may be exceptions for high-level specially made golems, but don’t count on low-level ones.

Once the greatest support is lost, it is completely foreseeable how frustrated and powerless the golem operator will feel in the spiritual world.

Whether it is exploring the spirit world or touring for advancement, golem operators are extremely weak.

Secondly, this profession is typically strong in the early stages and weak in the later stages. Unless it transforms into something like a "puppet master", it feels like the upper limit is there.

The reason is very simple. Golems have the same shortcomings as the Chaos School, and have no elemental affinity. Although they can be stacked with a large amount of resources, on the one hand, they consume a lot of resources, and on the other hand, as other schools have risen in rank, there are simply too many ways to cut off their control.

The most classic one is the "Circle of Silence" that Hans once demonstrated, which feels like a complete match.

"Do you have anything else to do?"

An Ke looked at Xilan, feeling a little puzzled.

The man stared at her straight, doing nothing else but standing there curling his hair with his fingers, no one knew what he was trying to do.

"...Nothing much. I just found the official propaganda to be quite questionable. It's also true that a normal mage would take information confidentiality so seriously. Widely disseminating it must have other motives, whether it's political considerations or the purpose of spreading false information."

Xilan pursed his lips. "He's grown taller, and his face has changed slightly. He's not a pure Lieyang School scholar, nor is he a commoner in the true sense—"

"Wait, what do you mean?"

An Ke was stunned for a moment, then interrupted.

She admitted the first part, but the second part is too much.

Let’s not talk about wealth and glory at the beginning, but we can be considered to be a poor family with nothing but sweet potatoes to eat. Isn’t this common enough?

"Propaganda's favorite pun is to play with words and avoid the main point. No matter how poor your background is, once you are appreciated and cultivated by that person, you are already superior to 99% of the people in the North."

Xilan muttered a little, then glanced at Anke's face, thinking she was playing dumb, so he just pointed it out directly.

"Some things can be hidden from ordinary people and spellcasters without connections, but for a wizard with connections, that information is not difficult to obtain. Moreover, that person has already appeared openly in Shell City. He didn't deliberately change his name when he was in seclusion, and he didn't deliberately erase any traces, which means he didn't intend to hide completely."

"I was also skeptical at first, until I discovered that your shadow spell is indeed powerful..."

An Ke didn’t care much about what was said afterwards.

Only one thing echoed in her heart.

The old guy has screwed himself again!

Miss Anke has clearly relied on her own efforts (and the efforts of Tongbao) to get to where she is today. How come just because she has a little connection with Hans, it becomes his credit?

No wonder Xilan was not surprised that she left behind an illusion during the battle, because she felt that she had been led by Hans, so it was normal for her to know some shadow magic.

She was right. If one could be valued and trained by a fourth-level wizard, then it would be meaningless to boast about one's commoner origin, because apart from being a legendary disciple, there was no higher treatment than this.

But the problem is——

The old guy really didn't give me much guidance... Well, okay, he did give me some guidance, and I got a letter of recommendation. He even showed up during the magic test, but the treatment he received can't be completely equated with that of a disciple.

I haven't even gotten his magic, nor have I been taught it step by step, so it definitely doesn't count!

No matter what.

An Ke didn't know how to defend herself. She felt that explaining would be very troublesome and would reveal a lot of information, such as how she had suddenly transformed, how she had practiced so many magics in such a short period of time, and how she had transformed from an apprentice who couldn't even perform a trick into a second-level wizard.

This matter is too bizarre, and even if you attribute it to talent, others may not believe it. They just think there is a secret.

It’s strange to say, it’s okay for people who don’t know the inside story, Momo may think that she is the helper of the Lord of Dark Sun and Hans, and Hans may be classified as the helper of the Winter Witch, Antika, and Dark Sun. Then how do the omnipotent person, or the bigwigs in the tower, see themselves?

Like Hans, do you think it was a coincidence, or do you think that she cannot be considered a simple human being, but the reincarnation of a fairy who has lived for who knows how long?

Wait, now that I have the inheritance of the moon and have so many interactions with Feiman on Fairy Tale Island, what will the Tower Council think?

I don't think I'm a spirit, do I?... I don't think I'm a spirit, do I?!

Anke felt his mind was in a mess, but it quickly calmed down.

Previously, the North even dared to accept hostile spies and undercover agents. Even if they really felt that there was something wrong with them, it shouldn't be a big deal. Besides, the elves and the North are now an offensive and defensive alliance.

At most, I could create some tests and trials, and then observe secretly. Hmm, is this why the Almighty has never met me? Other legends, even the witches in the stars, when they have free time, will they take a moment to pay attention to my behavior?

Anke fell into deep thought.

"...Are you okay? I don't mean to belittle you. The fact that you are appreciated by the extraordinary wizard is a reflection of your personal talent and hard work..."

Xilan noticed that Anke had been silent, hesitated, and stammered to explain. She seemed not very skilled in comforting others.

"I'm just a little curious. If that's the case, why did you choose Sutur? Wouldn't the blazing sun and shadow conflict? Or is there some special way to balance them?"

"Is there any hidden story here? How did you meet Sutur? Is it painful to accept the fourth-level inheritance?"

"Is it related to past grudges? I heard that the person left the tower because of a big incident. Do you know what it was?"

"When you return to High Tower Academy, are you going to use Sutur's heir as your public identity and that person's heir as your hidden identity? Then, are you going to carry out a magnificent revenge and resolve countless years of grudges on your teacher's behalf?"