Chapter 363: The Web of Desire

In Professor Hector Ren's office, the fire in the fireplace was crackling, casting warm light on the neatly arranged heavy tomes.

The air was filled with the quiet scent of parchment and old ink, everything in perfect order, just like Hector's consistently dignified image.

Yet at this moment, this solemn professor felt as if the fireplace's fire was burning his back, just like that scorching Holy Light.

Prince Kelin's light question was like a cold needle, precisely piercing the composure he had struggled to maintain.

"It couldn't have all been spent on the 'girls', right?"

Hector felt his heart skip a beat.

He was just a scholar in charge of academics and teaching affairs, not a financial officer, and even less a Sage holding power in the Council of Sages.

He wasn't even someone close to the Sages.

This question was like a red-hot branding iron, handed over by the other party in a light and breezy manner; he couldn't accept it, and he couldn't refuse it, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Forcing himself to squeeze out a stiff smile, the old professor responded vaguely.

"Uh... that's of course impossible, according to the investigation department of the Tower of the Grand Sage, most of it has been recovered and used to compensate the families of the victims who had their spots replaced."

He felt guilty even listening to this evasive rhetoric himself.

However, upon hearing this, Luo Yan showed a convinced expression and nodded approvingly: "That is good, the Academy's fairness is admirable."

Seeing that the Prince seemed to have accepted this explanation, Hector felt a string in his heart snap, catching him off guard.

At this time, Luo Yan gently placed the newspaper in his hand on the tea table to the side.

He leaned forward slightly, his clear eyes gazing at Hector—it was a gaze like a scholar peering into the mysteries of the Void.

"Professor, you know, besides being a Prince, I am also a 'scholar'." His tone was gentle and sincere, "I admire your ability to find every victim and provide compensation; this is an act of kindness unimaginable in other parts of the Empire. But... can you tell me their names? Just to satisfy my curiosity."

This sentence was like a precise surgical scalpel, silently hitting the vital point.

A layer of fine sweat instantly seeped from Hector's temples.

Names?

How could he possibly know the names of those victims!

And one could figure out with their heels that those three million gold coins had long been divided up; who would keep the gold they fished out in the vault?

The number itself was made up, and the list was even more impossible to have. After all, if they made one up, what if the real victim found out they weren't on it?

Even a professor like him, who didn't ask about worldly affairs, was clear in his heart; any "evasive" statement was just a statement.

Yet he had already steadied the steps, but this Prince just wouldn't come down, which made him very uncomfortable.

The muscles on Hector's face twitched, finally turning into a bitter smile full of pleading.

"Prince, this... this involves the privacy of many students, the Academy has strict confidentiality regulations, I have no right to check, you can only ask the Council of Sages, they might know something."

This scholar, who had roared in anger on the snowfield, looked at Luo Yan almost pleadingly, even lowering his voice by eight degrees.

"We... should we still talk about your subsequent life and work arrangements? I beg you!"

The implication was nothing more than—

If you want to find trouble for yourself, don't drag me into it, I'm just a researcher of the Void!

A professor with a prestigious status in the Tower of the Grand Sage saying "I beg you" was undoubtedly putting himself in the dust.

Luo Yan didn't want to make things too difficult for him, but out of curiosity, he glanced under the desk, and then was gratified to find that with such a light shake of the bell, those two legs really did clench.

This switch was quite easy to use!

Seeing this, Luo Yan knew the heat was already enough.

Bullying the weak was meaningless, Hector wasn't weak, but he was indeed an honest man, and bullying an honest man who had no choice wasn't a righteous act.

He no longer pressed step by step, leaning back into the soft sofa, a gentle and harmless smile hanging on his face again, as if everything just now was really just the untimely curiosity of a scholar.

The question was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, the ripples it stirred would sooner or later spread out, reaching the person who truly should hear it.

He didn't even need to know who that person was.

The pressure from the Shengcheng had already been transmitted without a trace, and now it was time for the ghosts hiding in the dark to weigh, they needed to give up something for this pressure.

Money and honor couldn't buy him, but this Prince was a scholar and was full of interest in the knowledge that the Academy lacked the least and was the cheapest.

Luo Yan picked up the teacup, gently blew on the heat, and said indifferently.

"Then let it be so... for your sake."

Hector finally breathed a complete sigh of relief, especially the last sentence acknowledging his favor, which made him feel a sense of "at least it wasn't in vain."

Prince Kelin was still easy to talk to.

And he could also report back to the Council.

That "investigate to the end" had truly harmed him; if it weren't for his old face being unable to hold up in a fit of anger, he wouldn't have been pushed to the front by the Council to work on the Prince.

Wiping the sweat with a handkerchief, Professor Hector continued nervously.

"Then... regarding the dormitory, meditation room, and treatment, although your rank is only Mentor, we decided after research to still formulate your daily life according to the standard of a Professor—"

Luo Yan coughed gently, and Professor Hector's just-relaxed legs instantly clenched again, continuing to speak at a rapid speed.

"Of, of course! Not just treatment matching your status! Your work will also be relatively free, and the most critical thing is the experiment! Right? You care about this the most! Please rest assured, the resources we have prepared for you are the best—"

"I am not very interested in things that money can buy, but I am quite interested in what lies behind the Void. You know, besides being a Prince, I am also a scholar keen on exploring new worlds, perhaps profound mysteries can make me temporarily forget the exploration of the mundane world."

Professor Hector's face instantly turned into a bitter melon.

"Prince, for a noble like you, the upper limit of the soul should be far higher than a humble person like me... I don't understand why you are so obsessed with the Void?"

"Just out of interest," Luo Yan smiled faintly, "I had the habit of looking around when I was in the Jana Continent, if you want to blame someone, blame my childhood for being full of curiosity."

Professor Hector was silent for a long time, smiled bitterly and said.

"Curiosity... Prince, your curiosity is too expensive. The Void is the highest-level resource of the Academy, even a scholar like me who has dedicated most of my life to the Academy only has one, why don't you take my Mage Tower to satisfy your curiosity."

Luo Yan looked at him in surprise.

"Is this true?"

Professor Hector instantly stopped making a sound.

Just kidding, that was his lifeline, he was counting on the things behind the Void to help him break through the bottleneck of the Diamond level in this life!

Insufficient soul level was the pain of his life.

Although the Void he was assigned didn't have pure energy, it was enough for him to climb upward slowly along this rope... and this was almost his only hope in this life.

If Prince Kelin's goal was his Mage Tower, then let this guy make a fuss, could the Tower of the Grand Sage be collapsed by a few mouths?

No matter how dazzling the Shengcheng's emblem was, the Academy's Council wasn't weak and easy to bully!

He really thought of himself as the Emperor!

Looking at Professor Hector, who was spreading his legs and vaguely intending to give up, Luo Yan estimated that he had pressed the switch too hard, so he took his posture back a little.

"I was just kidding just now, you don't have to share your cake with me, but you can go to those who have more cake to take it."

"I don't want much, just a small piece, you can even understand it as—a slice of cheese on a whole cake."

Looking at Professor Hector, who was still unmoved, Luo Yan smiled and threw out the last piece of bait, which was also something he had prepared long ago.

"And think about it again, I am not a person from here after all, just a passerby to you, my curiosity will be satisfied and I will leave, in the end, who will benefit from my Void and research? Isn't it still you who helped me get it?"

Hector was shocked, his whole body sitting straight up from the chair, his spread legs closing excitedly.

"Is this true?!"

Then he had the motivation!

Luo Yan smiled and took a gentle sip of tea.

"You said it yourself, the descendants of the Kelin family don't lack soul level, we are born enjoying the worship of the Empire's people, do you really think I would lock myself in a Mage Tower like you to ponder transcendent power, just to live a few more years? I don't need magic as long as I don't make big mistakes, I will probably still be a Prince in my next life, what do I need magic for, to show off transcendent power to mortals? Things you can only do with magic, I can do with one word."

This was rough but true, although it didn't sound good, it did speak to Hector's heart, making his breathing hard not to quicken.

It makes sense!

Which Prince would hang around in a bitter cold place to do research?

Is the wine in the Shengcheng not fragrant enough?

Even the knight masters of the Kingdom of Luo De know how to enjoy themselves better than these scholars!

Professor Hector was silent for a while, finally gritted his teeth, and made a choice.

"I will help you fight for it from above!"

Luo Yan used the teacup in his hand to make a toast gesture, whispering with a smile.

"Then I look forward to your good news."

Hector wiped the sweat on his forehead for the third time, puffed his cheeks and took a few deep breaths, seemingly to cool down the hot air in the room.

It seems the fireplace is really hot.

His gaze fell on the notes on the table, suddenly thinking of another thing, so he mentioned it casually.

"By the way, that... regarding your daily life, because your treatment is according to the standard of a Professor, so besides the apprentices assisting you in experiments, we also specially prepared six life assistants for you, let's see when it's convenient for you to choose—"

"No need." Luo Yan smiled faintly, gently placing the teacup back on the ceramic tray, and rising from the soft sofa.

Sarah, waiting to the side, didn't need him to say much, and stepped forward proactively, obediently straightening his wrinkled cuffs and collar for him.

Even if she was acting, her etiquette and sensibility were impeccable.

Looking at the old professor who was expressionless on the surface but envious in his heart, Luo Yan threw down a sentence of farewell lightly.

"You don't need to worry about this."

"My people, I use them with peace of mind."

Just when Hector decided to fight for Prince Kelin's curiosity, in a meditation room in another corner of the Tower of the Grand Sage, heavy ghost shadows were shaking on the walls constructed of sound-absorbing stone.

Completely different from the office of Professor Hector, which was thick with the smell of oil and ink, this meditation room immersed in mystery was like another world.

There were no extra furnishings in the monotonous room, no fireplace, no bookshelves, only a round table polished from a whole piece of obsidian and a few cushions.

The only lighting came from the crystal floating in the air.

That crystal emitted a dark purple faint light like a living thing breathing, shrouding everything in the room in unpredictable shadows.

And Professor Alistair Thorne, sitting cross-legged on the cushion, was tightly closing his eyes, following the rhythm of the light's flickering, inhaling, exhaling.

Accompanied by that regular breathing, wisps of white air drifted out from his nose and mouth, merging with the dark purple crystal, and then returned to his body with a trace of even purer breath.

During this process, his spirit seemed to be sublimated, and his old face, wrinkled like a corpse ghost, also relaxed with a trace of ruddiness.

Waiting quietly in front of this old man, the young apprentice Skain stood with hands hanging down, his eyes full of envious light.

At this moment, what was floating in front of Professor Alistair wasn't some magic crystal lamp or enchanted quartz, but a strange object from the Void—something even Professor Hector would drool over when he saw it!

Just sitting next to it and meditating, one could feel the surging soul power, gathering toward the sea of consciousness like a tide!

Of course, the power in the Void wasn't infinite either.

It was said that the energy to raise the soul level of ten thousand ordinary people to Black Iron was barely enough to raise a Bai Yin-level soul to Gold.

And for a powerhouse like Alistair at the Diamond level, the energy required to advance was even more massive.

His incomparably pure soul was like a bottomless pit, no matter how many crystals were filled in, it couldn't be filled, he could only find ways to draw more from the Void.

At this moment, Skain was like a dog that had been hungry for three days and three nights, watching its master with a full belly eating heartily at the table.

Touching his conscience, he hadn't thought about secretly taking a breath while Professor Alistair was meditating, but he only dared to think about it.

The reason Professor Alistair dared to let him stand here was partly out of trust in him, and partly testing his "concentration."

This was a Diamond-level powerhouse!

Just in this meditation room, there were no telling how many layers of restrictions and traps!

The temptation to advance to the Steel level was attractive, but one had to have a life to walk out of here alive.

He didn't want to be like Junior Milos, burning everything for the Academy, only to die humiliatingly like a wild dog in the end.

Just when Skain was trying to distract his attention, trying not to be tempted by that Void treasure, Professor Alistair, who had been closing his eyes, suddenly opened his turbid eyes.

Skain almost immediately knelt on one knee on the ground, restraining his envious expression, his demeanor humble as a servant saluting his master.

"Professor."

"Get up."

Professor Alistair first looked at this young man approvingly, then took off the monocle that didn't have much prescription from the bridge of his nose, and continued with a hoarse voice, "Tell me, what did they talk about."

"Yes, Professor."

Skain nodded respectfully, and then began the report.

That tone without any emotional fluctuation was like a taut string, repeating everything that happened in Hector's office word for word—

From Prince Kelin's casual question about the three million gold coins, to the precise pursuit of the "victim list," and finally the tacit transaction.

Alistair Thorne listened to Skain's report while wiping the monocle in his hand as if casually, while cold-reading the expression on the young man's face.

Without the cover of the lens, the calmness belonging to the scholar in his eyes vanished, replaced only by the shrewdness of a businessman and the sharpness of a politician.

Skain, a "Mage" of the Tower of the Grand Sage, studied under Professor Hector Ren, and was also a member of the "Thorne Society."

His transcendent power was only Bronze level, unremarkable in the Academy where geniuses gathered, but he could always accomplish some tasks that Gold-level powerhouses couldn't handle.

Not only that.

This kid was also good at discovering newcomers with "potential," as well as dealing with occasional out-of-control events, and was decisive in killing, never dragging his feet, and even less likely to get himself dirty.

For such a talent with both ability and ambition, Hector, that "cowardly, stingy, and pretentious" guy, naturally couldn't keep him, after all, the latter couldn't even feed himself, let alone others?

Alistair just hooked his finger, and this kid immediately understood his hint, and defected in minutes.

As for why he didn't include such talent under his own door, but left him "fostered" with Hector, that donkey, of course, it was because it was not only easier to "use," but also safer.

If this kid didn't handle things cleanly, it was Hector's oversight, let him bite around like a mad dog, it had nothing to do with him at all.

Even—

Skain himself was clear about this point, and loyally handed this dog chain to Alistair, willing to be a dog and horse.

Alistair valued his ability, and had planned that it wouldn't be long before he would leak a little from the vast resources of the Void to him, letting this loyal chess piece touch the threshold of the Steel level at thirty, then break through Bai Yin, and soar into the sky.

Of course.

By that time, this kid should also officially transfer to his door as a Teaching Assistant.

After all, seeing his apprentice suddenly break through the bottleneck, no matter how stupid Hector, that donkey, was, he should have realized what was going on.

For useful talent, Alistair would not only not eat them dry, but would also protect them, and while holding their handle, help them all the way to a position no lower than Hector's.

This was a tacit understanding.

It was also one of the reasons why he, who was not short of money at all, still maintained the old business of "Fate Adjustment"—this business could bring him far more than just a little gold coin.

He and Skain were both smart people tested by the big dye vat of the Academy, and smart people were well aware of the cards in each other's hands.

"... Finally, Professor Hector promised to fight for the permission for Prince Kelin to contact the 'Void', as an exchange for ending this matter."

After reporting the last word, Skain stood still with hands hanging down, not saying another word.

Alistair listened to the report patiently, a cold smile quietly rising from the corner of his mouth, saying casually.

"It seems Hector, that donkey, still has some wit, knowing that if he couldn't persuade Prince Kelin, it would be his turn."

This sentence was said lightly, but it also made Skain involuntarily hold his breath, subconsciously tensing his body.

Noticing Skain's nervousness, Alistair smiled and comforted the young man.

"Don't be nervous, I don't need to sacrifice you to kill him."

Skain smiled bitterly, lowered his head and whispered.

"Professor, you don't have to test me, you have the grace of knowing me, if you want me to die for you, just say a word, I have no complaints. Just... please transfer my relics to my parents, they are all things you look down on, but perhaps they can help my younger siblings."

Alistair looked at him meaningfully, didn't point out the kid's little trick of playing the emotional card, just pondered for a moment and muttered to himself, pursing his shriveled mouth and shaking his head.

"This Prince Kelin is more sensitive than I imagined, not a straw bag, not easy to fool."

However—

When it comes to conspiracies and schemes, the dignitaries of the Shengcheng are still a bit weak compared to the "scroll kings" of the Academy, especially since their naked desires are exposed far too early.

This was a common problem for people born noble, those nobles didn't put mortals in their eyes, and even less disdained to play tricks with them.

Therefore, that Prince even arrogantly wrote greed directly on his face, without even the thought of covering it up—

He made a big fuss to create pressure on Hector, forcing that stubborn old man into a corner to shiver, while the ultimate goal was just to blackmail and get his hands on the 'Void'.

Since he saw the bottom card in the other party's hand, Alistair had a rough idea of Prince Kelin's next "card path."

This was a greedy and simple person, who loved to show off and enjoyed people's worship, but was generally "harmless."

"... This is very consistent with my impression of those Shengcheng nobles. They regard the Academy as a backyard to be taken at will, treating the taboos we explore for a lifetime as another gorgeous collection in their wine cabinet. The so-called 'curiosity' is just wanting to show off their innate privileges in front of us scholars, and by the way, knock some benefits back from this bitter cold place as qualifications to show off."

Alistair smiled lightly, then cast his gaze toward the "beloved apprentice" waiting for orders, and issued his order.

"Skain, this newly arrived Mentor Prince needs someone to 'guide' him kindly. Since he has a good relationship with Professor Hector, you might as well approach him as an apprentice of Professor Hector."

"Remember, you must lower your posture, listen to every one of his classes, ask questions he likes to hear, write worship in your eyes, just like you do to me."

"Your primary task is to figure out his 'preferences.' See if he likes rare spellcasting materials, or is interested in which female apprentice, or is just obsessed with the magical little things in the Void. In short, you must find his desire at all costs, and then report every detail to me truthfully."

"By the way, you can help him handle some trivial matters, or even satisfy some of his harmless requests... if you can't solve it, you can come directly to ask me."

Speaking of this, the old professor paused, a sharp light flashed from those turbid, muddy pupils.

"But remember, you must be cautious in your actions. Absolutely do not expose the existence of the 'Society', and even less mention me. In front of him, you are just an ordinary apprentice who admires the Mentor's talent, I don't need you to do any extra things, understand?"

"Yes, Professor."

Skain respectfully accepted the order, without the slightest hesitation, instead feeling relieved for this simple task.

This task was simply too easy for him, after all, pleasing a Mentor who loved to show off was much easier than dealing with an escaped magic apprentice.

Especially now that the entire Academy was full of "worshippers" of that Prince, he, a mere "Mage," didn't look abrupt at all mixed in the crowd.

Let's ask a few questions in class first, it's a pity that this Prince hasn't published any papers yet, otherwise he could have previewed it in advance...

Skain's figure seemed to merge into the shadows of the meditation room, retreating silently until he disappeared outside the door.

The meditation room returned to silence.

Alistair put back on the monocle that had been wiped spotless, and that sharp gaze was instantly hidden perfectly.

In less than half a second, he turned back into that graceful and respected Professor of the Source Magic School in front of students and colleagues.

He didn't doubt at all that even if he stood generously in front of Prince Kelin, that Prince would definitely not think that an old gentleman like him was the shadow behind that "little unpleasantness," and had already woven a web of desire for him.

He was like a trapdoor spider, lurking in the shadows that no one knew... ===== CHAPTER 364 =====