Chapter 131

After reading the materials He Xi Aoliken asked him to read, and finishing the "after-class exercises" and "after-class thinking questions" he "assigned," Gao De pressed his answer sheet under the notebook and left the rune workshop silently.

"Read the materials on the table first, and you can leave after reading them" — this was He Xi Aoliken's instruction.

Gao De acted strictly according to the instructions.

Thus, after he left, the large rune workshop fell into a long silence.

Until a long, long time later, a subtle sound broke the silence of the workshop.

It was the sound of the door of the small room inside the workshop being gently pushed open.

Immediately after, an old man leaning on a cane walked out.

The old man was wearing a very simple and old-fashioned gray robe, with no patterns on it, simple to the point of being crude.

His hair was already gray, but it was combed meticulously.

There were wrinkles on his forehead, and his eye sockets were slightly sunken, but the blue eyes within were not turbid, as deep as a lake.

The old man's expression was slightly tired.

He was already old, his energy was not as good as before, yet he was doing the most energy-consuming thing.

He is He Xi Aoliken, the mentor Gao De was assigned to.

He hadn't accepted students for a long time.

And no one was willing to be his student.

Although he is a third-circle magic user.

Although his status in Sairui Academy is: Senior Mentor, Director of the Rune Department, Chief Rune Mentor.

Although the field he excels in is rune construction, which is known as the "crown of Runology."

Although he is the only rune master in the entire Saint Xi En Principality who can manufacture third-rank rune constructions.

However, the "rune logic and calculation" he is dedicated to researching is regarded as nonsense by other mentors in the Rune Department, and even by the few high-rank rune masters in the entire Saint Xi En Principality, as a dead end leading to a cliff.

In fact, it's not just that.

A long time ago, in the place where rune technology was most developed on this continent, He Xi Aoliken's research had already been regarded as a fantasy and had been denied more than once.

And all students know that following such a mentor will only lead to "wasting time" like him, then "having no way out," and even failing to graduate.

And He Xi would not provide any resources to students.

No one in the Saint Xi En Principality understands why He Xi Aoliken, who should have had a limitless future and could manufacture third-rank rune constructions at a young age, would be immersed in such a wrong path and unable to extricate himself.

Not improving his magic user rank, not improving his Runology level, not trying to manufacture fourth-rank rune constructions that could change the ecology of the Saint Xi En Principality and allow him to ascend to the sky in one step if successful, but instead putting all his time and energy into something that even a "layman" knows won't work.

Fifty years ago, He Xi Aoliken could easily manufacture third-rank rune constructions.

Fifty years later, he has made no progress.

Other mentors in the Rune Department persuaded him, Dean Xie Er En persuaded him, and even King Jieluos XIII of the Saint Xi En Principality had personally persuaded him.

Everyone hoped he would give up this wrong path and return to the right track.

But He Xi Aoliken was like the water gold ore in the mine under the hard labor cliff, shining with gold, yet smelly and hard, silent, and no one could change or shake him.

And his research results are just like his personality, smelly and hard.

Translated into easy-to-understand words, it is "no matter how much time is spent, there is no substantial progress."

"It's time for someone to be dissatisfied." The already very old He Xi Aoliken muttered.

He knew that the academy had forcibly stuffed a student to him this time in the name of the former dean's recommendation letter, just to knock and remind him.

Since arriving at Sairui Magic Academy, for a full fifty years, He Xi Aoliken has put all his energy into the seemingly dead-end topic of "rune logic and calculation," and has had no harvest so far.

As a famous figure in the rune world of the Saint Xi En Principality, he gradually disappeared from people's sight.

Just like the sweeping monk hidden in the Shaolin Temple, just silently sweeping the floor, hiding his martial arts.

The academy has long been dissatisfied with his actions; these years, the continuous reduction of their Rune Department's funding is a sign.

For this reason, other mentors in the Rune Department also have many complaints.

Everyone hopes he can do what he should do, the right thing — manufacture rune constructions.

As long as He Xi Aoliken is willing to put his energy back into "rune construction," it won't take much time; as long as he makes this decision, the Rune Department can restore its former glory. But he still goes his own way.

"I don't have many years left. Things I didn't care about when I was young, why would I care about them now?" He Xi Aoliken said softly.

He didn't understand why the academy didn't understand this truth, but he understood that he had reached the last years of his life.

Having spent so much time and energy, his research still hasn't made breakthrough progress.

However, He Xi is not disappointed.

Decades of time are really unremarkable for the development history of Runology.

What's more, what he wants to do is to completely subvert the entire rune system that has developed for thousands and tens of thousands of years.

Decades of time, the power of one person, facing this "great achievement," is as unrealistic as a grain of sand wanting to fill the sea.

History has long proven that to achieve subversive or leapfrog development in a system, either it requires the wholehearted and painstaking research of several generations or even more than a dozen generations, or an epoch-making figure like "Li Oumeng" who created the eighth-circle magic appears.

And He Xi does not think and does not expect himself to be such a figure.

He just follows his heart to study what he thinks is right, and then leaves something behind, so that after he dies, he will also leave some materials and directions for those who come later.

However, so many years have passed, and those who follow him have never appeared, and even those who agree with him have never existed.

Seeing that the time left for him by heaven is running out, his mood has also undergone some subtle changes.

If there is no fellow traveler, or rather, no one who agrees, then after he dies, I am afraid no one will ever remember his research.

By then, everything he spent his life's energy to obtain, I am afraid that in the eyes of others, it will be just a few absurd words on draft paper.

It will be thrown away in some garbage dump in the academy, decaying with rotten food residues, covered with worms.

The old man sighed slightly; he anticipated this possibility, but had no way to do anything to prevent this from happening.

The old man thought while walking to the workbench in the center of the rune workshop.

Although this student named Gao De was forcibly stuffed to him by the academy for the purpose of knocking and reminding, he has actually always been a very responsible person.

No matter how this student came, since he worships him as a mentor, He Xi will teach him some things about Runology.

Of course, the premise is that the other party is willing to learn and can learn it.

He actually hasn't accepted students for a long time and has forgotten how to teach a student.

So he specially took out two hours last night to flip through the introductory books on Runology that were almost blurred and faded in his memory.

Then he organized some materials for "Gao De," which can help him initially understand the profound subject of "Runology" in the shortest time.

But He Xi scanned the workbench and didn't find the materials he prepared last night.

He thought carefully, and then knocked on his cane with some annoyance.

"I'm old and confused. I was busy coming over for testing in the morning and forgot to bring the materials, and subconsciously thought I brought them."

Afterwards, He Xi thought of another question.

Since the materials were not brought over, what was the new student named Gao De doing just now? Did he leave just like that without seeing the materials and without asking himself?

He Xi frowned slightly. He could understand Gao De "retreating in the face of difficulties" after reading the materials, but he could not accept this kind of "leaving without saying goodbye."

"Sigh!" He sighed again, feeling that it was meaningless to care about this at such a time.

But the experience of suffering countless hardships to learn "Runology" when he was young made He Xi instinctively reject this behavior of not cherishing the opportunity to "learn."

Thinking this way, he began to organize the calculation draft papers scattered randomly yesterday.

After organizing and classifying, He Xi closed his handwritten notebook, preparing to take it back and re-copy a few copies.

Copying a few more copies, perhaps it can ensure that one or two of them will not be thrown into the garbage dump?

The old man felt that his idea was a bit ridiculous, but he was genuinely preparing to implement it.

However, after picking up the notebook, the old man discovered that under his notebook, there was actually a draft paper pressed.

"Did I forget to collect and classify the calculations made on which day?" He thought, while his eyes subconsciously fell on the draft paper, on the handwriting that clearly did not belong to him.

Thus, the pupils of this calm old man expanded for the first time in a long time, and his eyes, as calm as a lake, suddenly rippled.

(End of chapter)