Knowledge Control

The silver note that Alwen gave Alwen Fran contained only one secret besides the Promotion Method.

"The third-tier Profession of the Gate of Esoteric Lore organization is called the Secret Wordspeaker."

This was a piece of secret information that seemed like obvious nonsense to Fran, since she already had a complete advancement path; how could she not know that the third tier was called Secret Wordspeaker?

But the truth is that this is indeed a secret, and writing it in that book of ' Hidden Knowledge ' can be verified, thus enhancing its weight as a secret.

This is actually a unique promotion path for Alwen's current organization, the Gate of Esoteric Lore; it's quite secretive to others.

Of course, there are differences between secrecy and the degree of secrecy, which involve the scope of knowledge about the secret, the things that are affected behind it, and the timeliness.

The piece of classified information that Alwen gave her was quite low-level; Fran acquired it so easily for nine thousand Gold Coin —what good could it be?

Furthermore, other Alchemist organizations probably wouldn't even want to know what the third-tier Profession of the Gate of Esoteric Lore is called, "Don't we have a third-tier profession? It's just a small organization's third-tier Profession, what's the point of knowing?"

Moreover, Fran estimated that there were hardly any people left inside this so-called Gate of Esoteric Lore, a piece of information that Alwen had inherited from his mentor.

The secrets Fran inscribed have a truly profound impact, extending from the Material Realm to the Spirit Realm. Strictly speaking, they could even influence the strategic policies of certain forces on the continent. If this kind of secret information is not significant, then no information is as significant.

Fran spent some time refining the ' Hidden Knowledge ' book into a completely black form, with only the cover bearing the gray traces of the word 'Knowledge'; the pages themselves had also turned black.

Now, even if you open this book, you can't see any text, because the text inside has been completely covered by black.

"It's time to move on to the second step. As long as the knowledge created here appears, my Alchemist can advance to the second tier."

Fran was puzzled by this "created knowledge"; she didn't quite understand what it meant. Fortunately, there was a special annotation on the silver paper.

"All the knowledge that you have put forward can be considered as created knowledge."

"If you don't know what knowledge you've created, then please refer to the special ritual: drink the potion of knowledge, then spit it onto the pages of a book. The knowledge you've created will appear on it without discrimination."

Fran, of course, would not use this method; she had her own special ideas that could satisfy the condition for knowledge to be created.

After thinking for a while, she finally used a pen to write down her idea of "the Skull of the Believer" on the black-covered pages of the book, relying on her intuition.

This was indeed an experimental concept proposed by her within the Transmutation School.

After she finished writing, nothing happened; the already black pages didn't become any blacker because of the ink stains.

However, Fran had already felt the increase in her mental attributes brought about by the advancement in her Alchemist level.

[Profession: Esoteric Lore Alchemist (Two Stars)...]

[Attributes: Constitution 36.9, Spirit 61.9]

The Profession of second-tier Alchemist has already appeared on her Panel because she has met the Profession requirements listed on the Panel.

In reality, the formation of Profession always involves one or two unnecessary procedures compared to the requirements on the Panel.

For example, when Fran obtained the Sunflame Knight Profession, normally she would need to pass the Trial of the Sun and ride a horse that was not afraid of Blaze to achieve this.

Fran already owned the horse, and the Panel seemed to remember that she had done so before, so she didn't need to go through any more troublesome procedures.

She felt that this might be the reason why the requirements for Profession advancement were more stringent in the Material Realm, where one had to fully meet all the conditions for Profession to be fully formed.

Fran then looked at the 1.9 points of mental attribute that had appeared on her Panel. Fran had expected this improvement, because although Alchemist were related to Mental Power, it was not an option that could significantly increase Mental Power.

Her physical attributes, which decreased by 5 points after transforming into Philly's appearance, are now slowly recovering, and her organs from the [Song of the Deep Sea] modification sequence have also fully adapted.

This promotion also brought her a new trait, while the old trait [Alchemy Aura] remained unchanged.

[Trait: Knowledge Control (You can use methods to make others pay a price when they acquire the knowledge you created.)]

Fran raised her eyebrows and looked at the ' Hidden Knowledge ' book in her hand. After her advancement, she could see a line of faint white on these black pages.

That was all the information Fran had just written down about the Skull of the Believer.

She blinked, and when she focused her gaze on it, she didn't sense anything unusual.

"They didn't say how I should set any restrictions? So they're just telling me to do whatever I want?"

She thought about it for a while, and finally wrote these words in the book.

"All who know this should pay the price of a Gold Coin."

After she continued writing, the ink disappeared into the blackness, leaving no trace.

But the very next second, a line appeared in the faint white area, Fran could tell that it was the words she had just written.

She touched her forehead and sensed something was wrong; it was as if a part of her Mental Power had disappeared.

She looked at the Panel and saw a scene that was both unexpected and yet perfectly logical.

[Attributes: Constitution 36.9, Spirit 61.0]

Her Mental Power has decreased, and it started to drop from a value of over sixty points, which is not a small amount of Mental Power.

Under her perception, she could sense a small wisp of Mental Power attached to the black pages of the book.

She scratched her head, realizing this was the literal meaning of the term—that those who gained knowledge would pay a price.

But what use is this to Fran? She has no reason to let others know this knowledge and then pay the price.

Moreover, it seems that the price paid has not been returned to Fran. She had already told Lucy about it, but Lucy might just lose a Gold Coin for no reason and not give it to Gold Coin.

If Fran wants to extract Gold Coin from those who gain knowledge, she might have to change the price for others to acquire that knowledge.

"Everyone who acquires knowledge should give me a Gold Coin."

Of course, Fran also knew that this would exponentially increase her Mental Power consumption. If too many people found out, she might not be able to pay for it immediately, and she didn't know what would happen then.

Furthermore, she must also possess a portion of her Mental Power attached to this book to monitor those who acquire her knowledge, a price commensurate with what she has written.

Fran reached her hand onto the book and gently ran it along the white mark beneath it. At that moment, Fran could feel the occupied Mental Power returning.

"I don't think those Alchemist who developed the Esoteric Lore Alchemist Profession before did so by forcing their members to pay a Gold Coin just so they could learn this knowledge, did they?"

That's incredibly inefficient. Strengthening management and establishing reasonable systems would eliminate the need to expend precious Mental Power, making the use of Mental Power far too inefficient.

However, Fran also guessed the true purpose of Knowledge Control: to block knowledge.

"Writing it at an irresistible cost would normally consume at least a third of my Mental Power. Then, when someone sees and remembers it, the remaining Mental Power can be used in the most efficient way to kill the person who dared to pry into my knowledge."

Fran even considered other uses for this Knowledge Control.

"You can directly tell the enemy this knowledge during battle, and the effect will definitely be better than the single-target attack of each type of second-tier spell. However, it is also easy to be countered. Just cover your eyes and hearing, or make your brain temporarily unable to understand language..."

"It can also be used to track down and plunder knowledge that doesn't belong to you, as long as you can find a way to print it in books..."

Fran even felt that this type of Alchemist might have been a symbol of terror at some point in history.

Of course, that was in the past. Now, looking at Alwen's stingy manner of directly selling her Promotion Method, it's clear that Esoteric Lore Alchemist are unlikely to amount to much.

"But what use is this thing to me? Oh well, I'll just consider it a prerequisite for learning the Profession of Secret Wordspeaker."

Although this second-tier Profession doesn't add much to the spirit attribute, it's a prerequisite for a second-tier Profession, which is enough to motivate Fran to learn and master it.

"Next, let's get the Elemental Scout Profession sorted out first; it won't take long."

"That's strange. I remember it clearly. How come one is missing?" Xiya was Third Order Mage student favored by the Chief of the Transmutation School. At this moment, she had already set foot on the Number Nine Floating City.

"Mage Xiya, please hurry... We need to go through security." Ruge Felistin urged from ahead, noticing that Xiya hadn't moved forward for a while.

"I'm sorry, Master Ruge, I don't know why a Gold Coin is missing from my pack. My pack shouldn't have been touched while I was on the airship."

Ruge's face was expressionless. He gave a soft "oh" and then offered his suggestion.

"You can file a complaint with the relevant department of the airship." He was usually so serious and unsmiling, so this was just a suggestion.

"Forget it, it's just one Gold Coin. Even if we manage to contact that department, it'll only cause trouble."

Xiya eventually gave up on pursuing the matter, but her doubts remained. Hadn't she set a special Magic Trap on the package? How come the Magic Trap wasn't triggered, and a Gold Coin was missing?

"The mentor's arrangements are more important." Xiya looked at the busy passageway in front of her. This was the security checkpoint of the Number Nine Floating City. They were on the airship of the Number Nine Floating City, so they needed to come here for a security check.

Unlike Iris, who had affiliation with the Alchemy School, they couldn't use the extra pathways.

As Xiya moved forward in the mage ranks, a Gold Coin was rapidly falling below the Floating City.

Due to a folding issue with the space inside Xiya's suitcase, the Gold Coin unusually fell out and landed in a gap in the airship's deck. Then, when the airship took off again, the Gold Coin landed.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the intense heat of the fall and the hard rock below were enough to shatter the Gold Coin into fragments, making it difficult to recover.