Chapter 200

"One must always follow the rules, right?" Gao De raised his head, looking the vice-chairman in the eye.

"The ownership of the rune workshop is written in black and white."

He said, enunciating every word: "Setting that aside, even if the rune workshop were an asset of the academy, you still have no qualification to demand the secret command for the rune workshop's array from me directly."

"You cannot represent the academy."

The vice-chairman was stunned.

He had never expected that this student from a commoner background before his eyes could converse with him so calmly and rationally.

"I am the vice-chairman of the academy committee; why wouldn't I be able to represent the academy?" He then asked angrily, having regained his composure.

"Even as a vice-chairman, you have no qualification to represent the academy unless you can produce documentation from the academy." Gao De shook his head, not intimidated by him.

"Furthermore," his voice gradually grew louder, staring straight at the vice-chairman, "Director He Xi has just passed away, his body is not yet cold, and as a high-level member of the academy, shouldn't the most important thing you do right now be to handle the funeral arrangements for Director He Xi?"

"He has not yet been laid to rest, yet you are this impatient to open his rune workshop; could it be that you are planning to steal something?"

The emotion on Gao De's face was angry and impassioned.

Half of it was feigned; there were many rune department instructors in the corridor who had come after hearing that Director He Xi had fallen ill, and he needed to stand on the moral high ground in front of everyone. The other half was a genuine outpouring of emotion.

When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves.

Although the rune department instructors did not hold this director, who had led the rune department to the margins, in high regard, and did not understand why the vice-chairman was so anxious to enter He Xi's rune workshop.

But the old man had not yet been buried, and the academy was being this "impatient"—no matter how one looked at it, it was too heartless.

The gazes they cast toward the vice-chairman also began to change slightly.

That vice-chairman also sensed this strange atmosphere.

He indeed did not dare to go too far.

At least on the surface, he could not go too far.

"Director He Xi had no family, no wife, and no children; the academy will naturally handle his funeral properly."

He cast his gaze toward that wooden door, saying to Gao De, and also to everyone in the corridor.

The strange atmosphere finally calmed down a bit after these words.

Gao De looked coldly at the vice-chairman, giving him no room to maneuver, and said loudly: "Then for now, please return. As Director He Xi's student, I will personally see him off on his final journey."

After saying this, Gao De did not even look at the vice-chairman, reopened the door, walked in without looking back, and then closed the door.

Gao De watched silently as the old man's peaceful face was covered by a white cloth and his thin body was wrapped up. He bowed deeply to the old man's remains.

The will was written at the beginning of the year.

In the final moments of his life, the old man had been eager to devote all his time to the derivation of the interference constant.

Under those circumstances, being able to remember to find time to write a will could only mean that the old man had already sensed that his death was imminent.

Listening to the countdown of death while calmly performing derivation calculations, all while still teaching him.

What kind of moving spiritual realm was this? The old man was pushed out of the room, body and cloth together.

Gao De followed him out.

Outside the door, everyone in the corridor consciously retreated to both sides, clearing the middle to let the old man's remains pass.

Gao De, as the old man's student, followed behind.

"It is just an array. Even if you don't give the secret command, with the academy's power, opening it is only a matter of time." A voice rang out in Gao De's mind as he passed Tang Ni Kunxi Ese.

【Message】.

Gao De raised his head and glanced indifferently at Tang Ni Kunxi Ese.

This chief student of the rune department looked straight at Gao De with an expressionless face, but in his eyes, a thick resentment was accumulating.

He had checked Gao De through his family's channels and knew that he was indeed a guy with no background, just a bit of luck.

Therefore, he felt more and more that this world was unfair to him.

Over the years, he had always been the most outstanding among all the students in the rune department.

In terms of seniority, he was also the most presentable one.

And then, a bumpkin who joined the academy with a recommendation letter, under the dean's intention, became He Xi's student as a pawn to annoy He Xi.

He Xi had not taken on students for a long time.

As the director of the rune department, even if Xie Er En was the dean, it was not easy to force He Xi to take on students on the surface, but Gao De had entered the school with a recommendation letter from the former dean, Jia Wen.

Not to mention the rights of a top-tier student, just based on the relationship with the former dean, He Xi could not refuse this student. But why could a bumpkin really learn rune studies?

Why could a lowly person really gain He Xi's esteem?

Even to the point of letting this old man leave all his inheritance to him? Tang Ni did not understand, and did not want to understand anymore.

Anyway, the old man was already dead.

Gao De also knew that if the academy wanted to enter the rune workshop and wanted to take back the rune workshop, there would be countless ways to do so.

The vice-chairman's intention today, although unsupported by any documentation, must represent a part of the academy's will, not his personal intention.

And in front of the academy, Gao De's power seemed too insignificant.

But why be so impatient to enter the rune workshop, not even wanting to do the superficial work?

Gao De lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

Gao De did not know if anyone else knew about the six basic rules of runes, but at least the existence of the interference constant was known only to him at the moment.

It could not be because of this. If the academy really knew about the existence of the six basic rules of runes and believed in their correctness, the rune department and He Xi would not be so marginalized.

Then what was it for?

Rune diagrams, data, and the rune workshop were all things that had existed for a long time. The academy didn't seem to value them much before, so they shouldn't be this urgent now.

It must be something that appeared recently... "But in the end, to verify the interference constant, I used up all my savings."

This sentence from the old man gradually emerged in Gao De's mind during his contemplation, becoming clearer and clearer, so clear that he could faintly see some of the underlying threads.

He Xi was a third-rank rune constructor.

He was able to drift through so many countries, personally build a large rune workshop, and spend so many years researching the six basic rules of runes without pressure, all relying on his identity as a third-rank rune constructor.

Relying on the wealth that this identity could bring.

This old man's savings should have been very abundant.

What exactly did he do to make him use up all his savings in just half a year?

A third-rank rune constructor, in the final moments of his life, investing so much money—the things he created must be extraordinary.

And the academy probably sensed the old man's actions and gradually discovered what the old man was working on.

Rune construction. Gao De gradually had an answer in his heart.

Besides high-rank rune construction, what else could make the academy, with its vast resources, be so impatient to "seize the inheritance"?

He could not protect anything He Xi left behind.

Gao De carefully sorted through the threads of this matter in his mind and reached this conclusion.

He was just a student at Sairisi Academy, a first-circle mage who had just successfully advanced.

Regardless of which identity, in front of the will of the academy's upper echelons, he was just a small person.

Moreover, compared to the high-rank rune construction that the academy now valued, Gao De understood that the truly valuable thing should actually be the complete six basic rules of runes that He Xi had finally derived.

Gao De was not sure if, after the rune workshop was truly seized, anyone would be able to discover what the old man had done from that massive amount of data and perceive the huge value contained within.

But he dared not gamble.

Because he understood that once that happened, He Xi's three hundred years of research results would eventually turn into someone else's medal of honor.

No one could refuse to change the name "Newton" to their own.

The six basic rules of runes must, and can only, have the name "He Xi Aokenli" written on them.

But facing the behemoth that was the academy, what could he do?

It seemed that no matter what he did, it would just be a moth flying into a flame.

Gao De now understood the significance of the mages in academy uniforms outside the rune workshop.

Of course, they were not there waiting to notify him of the news that He Xi had fallen ill.

Their purpose was to guard the rune workshop.

To prevent others from entering the rune workshop before the will of the academy's upper echelons.

These "others," at this moment, referred precisely to Gao De.

Because after He Xi passed away, only he possessed the secret command for the rune workshop's array.

(End of chapter)