Chapter 1512: Cat Getan School of Magic (Part I)

In London's Oblivion Bar, the aftermath of the riot was far from over. Previously, Bruce had sought out Cain, used a magic array trap to knock him unconscious, and obtained his blood. But it wasn't just the small vial he used on Thomas; Bruce had drained half of the blood in Cain's body.

Even though Cain had turned into the Joker, he was a vampire by nature. Vampires need sufficient blood to maintain their power, and once the power of the blood in their bodies is insufficient, they fall into a deep sleep, just like Bennett before.

In other words, Bruce had resealed Cain, but this led to the return of the Blood Queen Mary, who had been suppressed by Cain. She plundered the power of the few remaining elders of the Sabbat and preyed wantonly in London with the remnants of the Kindred who hadn't attacked Cat Getan.

Master of the Dark Night Jim and his allies could only run around putting out fires, saving ordinary people from the fangs and claws of vampires.

Fortunately, the wrong decision of the Thirteen Clans had caused them to consume a large amount of their vital strength in Cat Getan, and many vampire elders had also met their doom there. Although the Blood Red Moon led by the Blood Queen still had remnants, they were no match for the Master of the Dark Night and the others.

The only heavy loss was that the Master of the Dark Night Jim's base, the Oblivion Bar, was almost razed to the ground in the final decisive battle.

In the end, Bennett paid the price of half his own blood to reseal his wife, and both sides fell into a deep sleep. But what followed the war was not peace and tranquility, but a desolate scene.

The occult world was severely damaged, the Oblivion Bar had almost become a ruin, Westminster Abbey was under martial law, London began to re-implement a curfew system, and everywhere the eye could see was a scene of desolation.

Everyone hid away to lick their wounds and no longer held any hope for the development of the occult world. Even the justice-insisting Master of the Dark Night Jim disbanded the team he had previously assembled and just silently repaired the bar by himself.

After this battle, Jim saw through the truth of the magic world, especially the choices made by the Archmage Alliance, which made him feel very disappointed.

Mages shouldn't fail to understand that they were selling out the interests of all humanity, letting those devils seduce young children even more unscrupulously. But for the sake of their own enjoyment, they knelt to the devils without any scruples. Since that was the case, what was the necessity for the magic world to exist?

This day, Jim sat in front of the bar counter that hadn't been fully repaired, wiping a glass, his thoughts flying to a distant place, and finally, he couldn't help but sigh, revealing a trace of sorrow.

With a "creak," the door of the bar was pushed open. Jim frowned, looked up at the figure at the door, and instinctively said, "Sorry, the bar hasn't been repaired yet, we aren't receiving guests for now. Oh, Professor Schiller, how do you have time to come here?"

Jim watched Schiller walk in and then discovered that he was followed by someone else. Constantine walked to the side of the bar counter with familiar ease, sat down, tapped the table with his finger, and said, "Give me a martini. This is a victory worth celebrating."

"Victory?" Jim sneered and said, "I don't think this can be called a victory for either side."

Constantine waved his hand and said, "I told you long ago, mages are a bunch of idiots. They aren't worth sympathizing with, and there's nothing worth mourning even if they all died."

"But you know better than I do, John." Jim lowered his head, picked up the cocktail shaker, and said, "Humanity must always face the threats of the occult world. Those existences outside the Earth are always thinking about seducing people into falling. Our souls have a special significance to them."

"I admit that mages haven't done many good things, and even fewer when they are sober. The people in the Archmage Alliance are a bunch of fools. But if there isn't an orderly magic world standing in front of ordinary people to block the ubiquitous temptations for them, then perhaps a stable family might have an extra monster overnight."

"What is your view on the future of the magic world?" Schiller asked.

Jim looked at him a bit strangely. Just as his gaze fell on Schiller's face, he gasped. Constantine took the glass from his hand and said, "That's not the Professor Schiller you know, but I think you should talk about your views."

Those desolate gray eyes seemed to put great pressure on Jim. He thought very carefully for a while before saying, "I think the magic world cannot perish because of this, but I also feel that the current magic world has no need to be saved."

"To tell you the truth, I am worried about this. Rebuilding a new magic world is easier said than done. Even if it is built, how can we guarantee that the next Archmage Alliance won't appear?"

Jim hung his head, his worried expression impossible to hide. He said, "If my reconstruction action raises another group of human traitors, then when a similar disaster happens again, I will definitely be to blame."

"So, you are hesitating whether to take action?"

Jim nodded and said, "But I am not the kind of person who does nothing to avoid making mistakes. I want to try my best, but so far I haven't thought of any very good method."

Then he looked up at Constantine and Schiller again and asked tentatively, "You two came here now, it couldn't be just to watch me repair the table, right?"

"Of course not." Schiller smiled at him, reached out to adjust his tie, and said, "We have the same thoughts as you. Rebuilding the magic world is imperative. It's just that in order not to repeat the old path of the Archmage Alliance, the methods and means probably need to be carefully considered."

Jim put down the glass he was wiping, rested his elbows on the counter, leaned forward, looked at Schiller, and asked, "Then Professor Schiller, what is your brilliant opinion?"

"Before that, I must ask you a few questions." Schiller said in a gentle tone, "The previous magic world has always been an apprenticeship system, right?"

Jim thought for a moment and said, "If you are referring to the apprenticeship system of the Middle Ages, then that's about it. Archmages occupy mage towers, recruit apprentices, apprentices follow them to learn, and then do things for them."

"Has there never been a formal academy?"

Jim frowned, as if he had guessed what Schiller was going to say. He sighed and said, "Are you talking about an academy like a modern university? This is very difficult to achieve because every Archmage regards the powerful existences they can contact as precious property. Establishing an academy means having to contribute their own communication channels."

"The drawback of the apprenticeship system lies precisely here." Schiller took a glass of mulled wine from Jim's hand and said, "Everyone is worried that once they teach the apprentice, the master will starve. The teacher occupies an important position in the industry, so it is inevitable that they will worry about the apprentice surpassing them and then snatching their position. But a full-time teacher doesn't have similar worries."

"Are you trying to establish a magic academy?" Jim almost understood immediately. After thinking for a moment, he said, "There are a few problems. First, the magic of this world cannot be strengthened through cultivation, so what is the point of learning and training in school?"

"If magic is obtained through concluding contracts, then at least they should learn how to conclude contracts, instead of being deceived by those demons without knowing anything." Constantine said. He covered his face with his hand and continued, "They must first know whether they are sober when facing the devil, then they can make a decision, and then they can be responsible for their decisions."

"We must strengthen their basic cognition, which is to let them disenchant those powerful existences. It is hard to say whether the magic world has become what it is today due to religious factors." Schiller stroked his wrist with one hand and said.

"Many mages regard demons as their gods, not as trading partners. In the process of using the other party's power, they unconsciously develop reverence for them, and thus gradually abandon their bottom line and take whatever they want. The first lesson mages must learn is that they are on the side of humanity, not those mysterious powerful existences."

"There are also many techniques for negotiation." Schiller explained in a soothing tone, "Most people without professional training cannot be called negotiation experts, and many don't even know what negotiation is."

"They cannot judge the other party's current psychology through their tone, don't know how to bid, don't know how to lower the other party's bid, and won't constantly probe the other party's bottom line during the negotiation process to fight for an advantageous position for themselves."

"Negotiation technique is a comprehensive discipline, including the essence of various disciplines such as psychology, behavioral science, and economics. Without systematic learning, it is difficult to understand effective techniques and methods."

Jim thought for a while and said, "I think what you said makes sense. I have heard many stories of contract fraud in the bar. I have asked curiously a few times. The scams are mostly similar and not complicated, but there are always people who get fooled. Sometimes I feel strange, but when I think that many mages are children who haven't finished high school, I can understand it."

"There is another problem." Jim stretched out a finger and said, "Although learning negotiation techniques in advance is important, in the end, we still have to choose a contract object and reach a contract. What about this step? Who will lead them?"

"Of course, it's a full-time teacher." Schiller replied, "Collect information on all objects that can conclude contracts, hire negotiation experts to conduct targeted research, and then match them with the characteristics of the students."

"Before, it was all basic learning, and concluding a contract is the first stage of targeted examination. After a lot of practice and preparation, students can naturally cope with the examination freely. And after concluding the contract, they start the second stage of learning, practicing how to better utilize power."

Jim shook his head and said, "It sounds simple, but the devils won't cooperate. The summoning arrays in the hands of Archmages are passed down from generation to generation. Their soul aura has been registered with the devils. The demon gods won't answer calls from strange numbers. It's too difficult to get them to recognize so-called full-time teachers."

"Even if we can forcibly summon them over, if they just don't want to conclude a contract, then no one can force them."

When Jim looked at Schiller, he found that Schiller was also looking at him. Although his eyes were not focused, he seemed to have anticipated his question long ago. Jim leaned forward, waiting for his answer.

Schiller didn't speak, but Constantine spoke first.

"Do you think we would come to find you without any preparation?"

Jim frowned. Constantine picked up the glass and drank the wine in it, placed the glass gently on the table, and said.

"We have already convinced Hell and Heaven. From today on, they will only trade with students selected by the Magic Academy. Any action to conclude a contract other than this will not be protected by the human occult world."

Jim opened his mouth in surprise. He stared at Constantine, seemingly not believing what he said, and then looked at Schiller, not expecting Schiller to nod as well.

"But, but how could they agree?" Jim asked, puzzled. He said stammeringly, "Angels and devils are both arrogant. How could they be willing to be bound by humans?"

"Of course they won't be bound by humans." Schiller shook his head and said, "They just don't want to fight a second War of the Fallen."

"About two days ago, Bruce found Michael and told him that he felt Heaven was boring. Just in time, while God was away, he planned to fall into Hell to become Satan and then lead Hell to counterattack Heaven again."

"One of my personalities strongly supported his action and told Michael that he would definitely be able to manage the logistics of Heaven well."

"Before Michael could make a statement, the demon lords of Hell, Beelzebub and Azazel, strongly protested and claimed that they would complain to God through prayer that Michael was maliciously poisoning Hell."

"And when Bruce, after mediation by multiple parties, took a step back and hoped to standardize the trading rules between Heaven, Hell, and the human world, both sides agreed readily, and even happily." ===== CHAPTER 1513 =====