Chapter 199: Legacy (Two-in-One)

Leaving the Library Building, Gao De was in a pleasant mood.

Another big thing completed.

Gao De felt that apart from the start, his luck had actually been quite good.

Especially after entering Sairui Academy, he had met quite a few noble people.

Whether it was Miss Jielika, who gave him a large amount of financial aid, or Mentor He Xi Ao Ken Li.

"Time to go and tell the mentor the good news of advancing to the first circle," Gao De secretly thought.

Yesterday, after the successful rank advancement, he first went through the process at the Committee and then went to the Library Building.

After finishing these things, it was already very late, so he didn't disturb He Xi.

Such a big event should be told to the mentor in the first instance.

Therefore, Gao De headed straight for the Jia Wen Building where the Rune Department was located.

Walking into the building, he walked inside as usual.

However, the already deserted Jia Wen Building was today deserted to the point where not a single person could be seen.

It wasn't until he arrived at the door of the Rune Workroom that he discovered the door was actually tightly closed.

And in front of the workroom, he saw several people wearing the standard uniforms of Sairui Academy; they should be official staff of the academy.

They didn't have the entry permission for the rune workroom array, so they couldn't enter and were just waiting outside the door.

"Student Gao De?" Seeing the visitor, one of the middle-aged leaders asked.

"Yes."

"Informing you of one thing, Director He Xi has fallen ill..."

Gao De's hands clenched tightly.

The words "fallen ill" turned in his heart.

He couldn't say what the feeling was, just that there was an inexplicable sourness in his heart.

It might be because he clearly understood that for He Xi at this age, falling ill would mean something.

"Mentor... where is he now?" Gao De asked in a low voice.

When he left the Jia Wen Building, it just happened to be drizzling.

Gao De remained silent and hurried to the academy's medical office.

"Must do everything possible to treat Director He Xi! Director He Xi has worked tirelessly in the academy for so many years, and now he has even collapsed from exhaustion; it is the academy that has let him down!"

Inside the medical office, a middle-aged male magic user with a sharp and mean appearance was shouting, afraid that others wouldn't hear him.

It seemed to be the Vice Commissioner of the Academy Committee.

The spacious corridor of the medical office was crowded with people.

Gao De swept his eyes over, and he had seen many faces in the Jia Wen Building.

These were mentors of the Rune Department, and more than half of them were here.

Besides them, there were people from the Academy Committee.

"Why did you just arrive!"

It was Tang Ni E Se, the current chief student of the Rune Department, who spoke. He looked arrogant and pointed at Gao De with a condescending attitude.

"As Mentor He Xi's only student at the moment, he has been ill for a whole night, and you only arrive now?"

Following Tang Ni E Se's accusation, everyone in the corridor looked over involuntarily.

Gao De acted as if he hadn't heard and didn't choose to respond to Tang Ni.

He walked straight to the door and asked the magic user standing at the door about the situation.

"How is Mentor He Xi's situation now?"

The magic user shook his head, "Not optimistic."

Gao De made a move to push the door and enter, wanting to see He Xi's situation, but didn't expect a hand to reach out and press the door.

"Director He Xi said he didn't want to be disturbed and needed to rest well."

It was that Vice Commissioner, looking at Gao De with unkind eyes.

Although Gao De didn't know where his hostility came from, it was clear that this person was not friendly to him.

Gao De frowned, just about to say something.

At this moment, He Xi's familiar voice came from inside the door.

"Is that Gao De? Let him in."

This scene was familiar.

Also separated by a door.

It was just that it was in the rune workroom before, and that old voice wasn't as weak as it was now.

Gao De looked up at the Vice Commissioner's hand pressing the door and didn't speak.

"Hmph!" The Vice Commissioner threw his hand away dissatisfied.

No one blocked him, and Gao De pushed the door to enter.

His hand paused for a moment, and his movements became much lighter.

In the room, the space was quite large, with a large bed and a table.

Gao De walked forward two steps and came to the bed.

He Xi was lying on the bed, his complexion not very good, his eyes slightly closed, as if he were resting.

"You're here." Seeing Gao De enter, he opened his eyes and looked at Gao De.

"Mentor..." Gao De looked at He Xi, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

It was only recently that he and He Xi had truly become familiar and started to have exchanges other than rune studies.

But this time was too short.

"I successfully advanced to a first-circle magic user yesterday," he said.

Hearing this, He Xi's turbid eyes brightened a bit.

"Not bad, not bad," he praised repeatedly, and halfway through, he waved his hand: "Sit down first."

At the same time, He Xi sat up, supporting himself with his hands on the bed.

He Xi was very old.

Gao De had already discovered that there were more and more yellow-brown spots on the old man's face.

But what he didn't expect was that the old man who had fallen ill was now unusually radiant.

"I'm afraid I won't make it through this time."

Once he sat up, He Xi's first sentence made Gao De fall silent.

"I asked someone to call you last night, why did you just arrive?" he asked.

Gao De was silent for a while and said slowly: "No one came to notify me."

"How could..." He Xi's instinctive counter-question stopped abruptly.

He understood something.

He Xi said "Oh," and it took him half a day to let out a long sigh.

"The interference constant is correct," he said: "I was afraid I wouldn't have time to tell you, so I hurriedly asked someone to call you last night."

After speaking, He Xi smiled contentedly.

While laughing, he had a violent cough in his mouth.

While coughing, he fumbled on his body and then took out a piece of parchment and a contract.

"For you."

Gao De took the parchment and the contract.

The parchment was a will.

The date on it was the beginning of this year.

The contract was the one He Xi signed with Dean Jia Wen at the beginning.

In the contract, it was stated that the rune workroom was permanently transferred to He Xi, with Dean Jia Wen's seal and the Sairui Academy's official seal below.

"The rune workroom is left to you, including everything inside; my data, materials, and research results are also left to you."

"In the final moments of life, finding a successor can be considered an explanation for the things I've researched for hundreds of years."

"This is the secret order for the rune workroom array, you must remember it... Originally, I could have left you a sum of money... but in the end, in order to verify the interference constant, I used up all my savings."

"At the Saint Xi En City branch of the Ao Ken Li Chamber of Commerce, I also stored something, which is also left for you, but I didn't write it in the will."

"Don't let outsiders know about this thing, and remember to keep it secret."

Gao De put down the parchment, looked at the old man, and an unusual look appeared in his eyes, speechless for a long time.

He Xi muttered to himself:

"Since I was a child, I followed my father to study alchemy, with mediocre aptitude, neither high nor low."

"Later, when I was sixteen, my father left in an accident while testing alchemy weapons for the family; since then, I have developed a repulsive psychology toward alchemy."

"But my family is famous for alchemy skills; how can I, as a family member, reject alchemy?"

"I could only try hard to hide my repulsion toward alchemy."

"... Until I was twenty, when I first came into contact with rune studies, I realized where my true interest lay, and since then, I couldn't stop." The old man's throat moved, and his eyes began to drift.

"At thirty, I became a second-rank rune master; it wasn't that it took me ten years to become a second-rank rune master, but the magic user rank limited the speed at which I became a second-rank rune master."

"At that time, I was thinking, why do magic user arts, especially rune studies, have to be limited by magic user rank?"

"9326, I was thirty-five, and I discovered that there might be logic and rules in rune arrangement."

"I began to devote myself to the study of rune rules."

"9365, I was seventy-four, thirty-nine years of research, magic user rank stayed the same, but I initially discovered the six basic rules; although they were incomplete, they already had a prototype."

"I took the results I had spent thirty-nine years making and reported them to the family, but the results didn't even pass the family's preliminary review and were thrown out like garbage."

"I returned home in low spirits, depressed for a long time, and in a fit of anger, I threw the results into the trash, but I didn't know that my mother had secretly picked them up."

"9366, when I had already given up on the six basic rules of runes, my mother ran back excitedly and told me that someone in the family recognized my research results... I believed it, but after waiting and waiting, I never waited for any follow-up."

"Later, I put down my face and went to inquire, only to find out that my mother had used my father's pension to bribe the family's reviewers to send the results I threw away into the family's Ling Si Building."

"You say it's ridiculous, nearly forty years of research results, passed the preliminary review through bribery, but in the end, it still didn't escape the fate of being regarded as garbage."

"Subsequently, for twenty-three whole years, I locked myself in the room, never stepped out, and never touched runes again, this discipline I once thought I would devote my life's passion to."

"9389, spring, my mother fell ill, and before she left, she held my hand and said she believed my research results were extraordinary, hoping I would prove it to everyone... It wasn't that my results were not good, but that their vision was not good."

"I know, her original intention was never to prove anything; how could she care about these?"

"She only cared about her child; she just knew the pain I had suffered from giving up runes all these years, wanted to help me get out of the pain, and wanted me to cheer up again."

"She also never understood what I was researching; she just believed her child was good."

"That year, I was ninety-eight, but I hadn't been

He Xi's breathing had become increasingly rapid.

"Do not think about the past anymore." Gao De held the old man's hands tightly in his own.

"But I cannot move past it," He Xi murmured.

"After Mother passed away, I left the family, traveled far away, and buried myself in continuing to study the six basic rules of runes."

"During that time, I drifted through many places and countries, and finally stayed at the Sairisi Academy."

"My luck was truly good to be able to meet you in the final days of my life."

"With your help, I did it. I proved that the six basic rules of runes are correct and that they exist, but it is too late; she cannot see it."

From the year 9389 to the current 9656, how many storms and thunders, how many heartaches and hardships had passed, all ultimately distilled into these few sparse sentences from He Xi's mouth at this moment.

"She cannot see it, and I have done it; what meaning does that have?"

"Others say I am stubborn, you say I am pure; I accept both. Actually... actually, I have had regrets. If I had never come into contact with runes and had just stayed by her side properly, would the ending have been better?"

It is said that a gentleman has no regrets in his life.

But who, truly, can have no regrets in their life?

"She never blamed you," Gao De comforted him softly.

A mother's tolerance is the hotbed that nurtures genius.

"But I blame myself," the old man's voice had become slurred, his breathing growing short.

The old man's hands in Gao De's suddenly tightened.

"Mo—ther—"

He used his final strength to whisper a low cry.

This was the first sentence He Xi had spoken since arriving in this world, and it was also his last.

The tightly clenched hands softened bit by bit.

He Xi Aokenli closed his eyes.

Gao De bowed his head in silence.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death have always been sudden and without reason.

The light rain outside the window stopped abruptly.

The air felt as if it had been gripped tight, stiflingly oppressive.

Gao De remained dazed for a long time before he could slightly digest the news of the old man's departure, which filled him with sorrow.

He stood up, pushed open the door, and said to everyone still waiting outside.

"Instructor He Xi has passed away."

Gao De was still immersed in an emotion of slight bewilderment and sadness.

But unlike what he had expected.

The crowd that had been clamoring outside the door just moments ago, seemingly all concerned about the old man's health, did not show a single trace of sadness at this moment.

The vice-chairman and Tang Ni Kunxi Ese were the most obvious among them.

The two were expressionless, silent, seemingly thinking about something.

A moment later.

The vice-chairman stepped forward, looking straight and condescendingly at Gao De: "He Xi should have told you the secret command for the rune workshop array, right?"

"Give it to me."

His tone revealed an unquestionable arrogance.

Gao De was instantly pulled out of his sorrowful mood.

He narrowed his eyes, looking at the cold and arrogant vice-chairman.

Clearly, the other party did not have the slightest bit of sadness over He Xi's passing.

Even the noisy exhortations from outside just now were merely a performance.

This was normal.

What was not normal was that He Xi's body was not yet cold, not even buried, and the other party was already this impatient.

It was, to say the least, too naked and shameless.

Gao De knew that the other party was at least a third-circle mage.

But that did not affect his anger.

"Why should I give it to you?" Gao De asked back after a moment of silence.

Gao De's response clearly exceeded the vice-chairman's expectations.

He laughed out of extreme anger, "The rune workshop is an asset of the academy. It was only lent to He Xi before, but now that he is gone, it should naturally be reclaimed."

"That is not the case," Gao De shook his head lightly. "This rune workshop was not borrowed by Instructor He Xi; it is his own asset."

"Instructor He Xi signed a transfer agreement with Dean Jia Wen."

"And now, the instructor has left the rune workshop to me."

"Therefore, this rune workshop is now my asset, not an asset of the academy."

"Haha... what are you?"

Seeing Gao De refute him like this, the vice-chairman pointed his finger at Gao De and scolded loudly: "Things in the academy have always been assets of the academy. Not to mention a student like you, even if He Xi were still here, it would be absolutely impossible for him to own it privately."

People who "do academics" are always prone to thinking about things too simply.

Even if, from the beginning, He Xi had already thought about things in a complex way.

The living have never acknowledged the possessions of the dead.

The living only acknowledge interests.

(End of chapter)