Eat Up! The Power of Cognition!

Ian's gaze was drawn to the dazzling, artwork-like apple.

Pandora urged him on from beside him.

"Quick! Eat it, before the Old Witch sees it. She'll definitely snatch it away from you." As he spoke, Pandora rushed over and stuffed the Golden Apple into Ian's mouth.

Cough, cough!

This was Ian's first time trying something from the Misty Illusion. Pandora had been rather rough, and Ian nearly choked. Fortunately, the apple, larger than his fist, melted the moment it entered his mouth.

"Ian is glowing!"

Ariana's startled cry sounded.

Ian could not see her expression.

All he felt was a warm, strange power instantly flowing through his entire body. The peculiar sensation was like having his soul cleansed, making him unable to resist closing his eyes and savoring it carefully.

It was as though his body had been infused with vitality and life.

Bang—

Ian had not exploded. Rather, something made of iron had slammed into a wall within the hall. Immediately afterward, he vaguely heard Pandora's somewhat flustered voice by his ear.

"That woman heard me call her an Old Witch! Run! Run!"

"Ian, we'll wait for you in town!"

Ariana and Pandora's voices intertwined.

They gradually drifted away into the distance.

Ian did not know how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes again, the furniture in the hall had all returned, and the Witch was looking at him with a complicated expression.

"I never expected them to really find it..."

The Witch's tone was full of wonder.

"I remember you said that you cut down the last Golden Apple Tree in the world, Teacher?" While in the Misty Illusion, Ian had been unable to check the changes to himself through his panel.

Right now, he only felt that his mind had never been clearer.

"Obviously, before I cut down the last Golden Apple Tree, someone smuggled a seed in here." The Witch gave an explanation that made Ian's eyes widen.

"Before me, there were others who could do this?" Ian was rather surprised.

But the Witch shook her head.

"Foolish little one, no wizard is as special as you, so naturally no wizard would receive the same favor as you. I merely said that someone brought a seed here."

"I do not know what method they used, but there have been far too many exceptionally gifted wizards throughout history. Many legends of the past may have been capable of doing such an unreasonable thing."

The Witch gazed at Ian's youthful face.

She spoke softly.

"After all, legends are legends because they can create miracles out of the impossible." Even the tapestries on the walls seemed to tremble slightly at the Witch's gentle words.

The flames within those painted scenes seemed to burn even more fiercely.

"Perhaps I can find some useful information in the school library." Ian nodded thoughtfully. There certainly could not have been many wizards throughout history worthy of being called legends.

"You might as well ask that damned butcher friend of yours. Since he could bring you this Golden Apple, that naturally means he already knew where the Golden Apples were planted."

The Witch rolled her eyes fiercely at Ian as though he were an idiot.

"There is not much left of his memory, either."

Ian answered helplessly. Of course, he had considered that possibility as well.

"Then he truly is pitiful."

The Witch smiled without any warmth.

"Teacher, I apologize to you on his behalf. He has always been an extremely reckless fellow." Ian lowered his stance considerably and spoke in an utterly sincere tone. "I promise I will find your Mirror, as well as anything else you want, as compensation for his heartfelt apology to you."

At those words.

The Witch's expression became less unpleasant.

"I only want my Mirror."

After a brief pause, she added.

"And that giant Dragon he promised to catch!"

Well, damn!

Just as expected!

The Witch really had been hiding deep in the castle and eavesdropping all along!

"Of course, no problem!"

Ian hurriedly nodded in agreement. However, though his aggrieved teacher's expression had calmed considerably, she still could not help cursing Pandora again.

"You damned troublemaker! You vile executioner! You disgusting, despicable plunderer!" She piled one ugly title after another onto Pandora.

"Was he an extraordinary person when he was alive?"

Ian asked tentatively.

He could naturally tell that the Witch knew a great deal about Pandora.

"My foolish apprentice, why do you always ask such idiotic questions?"

The Witch cast Ian a disdainful glance.

"The answer has long been laid out before you. You have merely chosen to ignore the truth." The Witch sighed heavily, but her words left Ian utterly bewildered.

What had he ignored?

Why had he not realized it himself?

"Teacher, I admit that I'm an idiot, so could you tell me who he is?"

Ian's curiosity was impossible to suppress.

"You may be a little pig, but I'm not."

The Witch sneered. "If I tell you, you'll just tell him. Once he remembers, he'll be able to keep hopping around here for many more years. Do you think I'm the kind of person who would make trouble for myself?"

Teacher Mara truly seemed to detest Pandora.

What she said made far too much sense.

Ian did not even know how to respond.

"Do you know? Everything in this castle, as well as the abilities I have shown you—none of it is magic. It is merely a form of creation brought about by cognition."

The Witch suddenly began musing with great abruptness.

"Cognition?"

Ian found that rather surprising.

"Yes. In this land far removed from the mortal world, cognition determines what you can accomplish here." The Witch nodded and continued explaining patiently.

"I believe in the power of knowledge, while he believes that he can accomplish anything he wants to accomplish... Three whole times, he proved that his cognition was firmer than mine."

The Witch tactfully explained why she had lost to Pandora.

There was unwillingness in her tone, as well as... loneliness.

"That works too?"

Ian found it difficult to imagine someone actually using I Think Therefore I Am Power in the Misty Illusion.

"Yes. It is so utterly unreasonable. Knowledge actually cannot defeat conviction—how is that not an impossible miracle?" The Witch sighed repeatedly.

Just as Ian was still pondering whether her words contained some hint.

The Witch raised her head.

Her gaze turned toward the scattered fragments of armor outside.

"You need to take responsibility for reshaping these guards for me."

Another sudden turn.

It made Ian freeze for a moment. They had just been discussing Pandora, so how had Teacher Mara suddenly made a complete one-eighty?

Hiss!

The thought process of an old woman!

"Huh? Didn't we agree that he would find you a dead Dragon to guard the door?"

Ian widened his eyes innocently.

"That is compensation. This is the duty you must fulfill as an apprentice." The Witch sneered as she picked up a copied potion textbook Ian had brought in.

"I only know how to make little people. I don't know how to make steel people that can move."

Ian spread his small hands.

The Witch answered him with a cold smile.

"If you don't know how, then go learn."

How familiar those words were.

"Does this count as new homework?"

Ian was already starting to feel his presence fading.

"I do not expect you to learn it in a few days, but I will check your progress regularly." As the Witch read the potion text, she tore another corner from her gown.

"Next time, go back to that little girl's town first, then come find me." With a light toss from the Witch, a Gown Fragment densely covered in runes fell into Ian's hand.

"I'm afraid there won't be enough time."

Ian's figure had already begun to fade.

"There will be enough time. Things are different now."

The Witch's voice carried a casual certainty. From beginning to end, she never looked up again, remaining focused on the copied textbook Ian had brought in.

"Ticktock... ticktock... ticktock..."

The clock turned.

Ian suddenly opened his eyes in the real world.

Rarely, he did not look at the time on the wall, nor did he look at the new Gown Fragment in his hand. Instead, he impatiently opened his Personal Panel at the very first opportunity.