A new mentor

"I think you should know why I got you out of Investigator Headquarters."

Oinrich said this in the Investigator ' lounge.

' Lai ' rubbed his hands together and answered directly:

"The Paper I wrote."

Oinrich nodded, then slowly said:

"I know it's all too coincidental, a coincidence that you just happened to get caught up in this mess, and that this Paper just happened to appear, but I don't care."

' Lai's pupils contracted slightly, realizing that Oinrich's realization of all this was all too coincidental.

What a coincidence! Just as this Paper that gave him hope was published, the monk who Paper it was arrested by Investigator. If he hadn't intervened, the monk might have been imprisoned for a hundred years.

This is what Oinrich believes: Fran has almost completely cut off all leads, and at most she will only be a suspect and locked up here for two or three years.

"I don't care whether you were involved or not, but based on my judgment, this matter won't have much impact on the incident at Number Three Floating City, which is why I came to find you."

In other words, even if ' Lai ' did indeed participate in the Champion Mage Challenge by impersonating a mage, he will not be held accountable from now on.

In Oinrich's eyes, anything that didn't seriously jeopardize the Alliance could be wiped clean.

' Lai ' blinked, slowly smiled, and said:

"Thank you for your help, Your Excellency Oinrich. May I say that I really didn't do it? I was merely caught up in an undeserved disaster?"

After a moment of silence, Oinrich didn't dwell on it for long and asked directly.

"So, ' Lai,' now we can get down to business. Would you be willing to explore the mysteries of magic under my tutelage?"

' Lai ' knew what Oinrich was referring to; it was probably that Oinrich had taken a liking to him, the young mage, and wanted to mentor him.

Of course, the reason why we don't directly say whether or not we can be ' Lai's' mentor is because ' Lai ' seems to already have his own mentor.

Although Iris didn't say it explicitly, there would be almost no better mentor Iris in the Northern Lands Society, and with a talent like ' Lai ', Iris certainly wouldn't let him go.

Therefore, according to the unspoken understanding among the mages, there was no way that Oinrich could directly replace Iris as ' Lai's ' true mentor.

So he said that he was guiding the exploration of the mysteries of magic, which means he could take on the role of a mentor.

' Lai ' blinked and said:

"Of course I can; it would be an honor to follow a Legendary."

' Lai ' didn't really have much of a choice. If Iris really was her mentor, then she might be able to resolve the current situation by contacting Iris right now.

She didn't even dare tell Iris about what was happening here, so she naturally had to let Oinrich handle it.

If she refuses, who knows what Oinrich will do? Will he just lock her up again?

Therefore, the best solution is to genuinely accept the identity of 'disciple'. At most, it will reduce some of your free time, and you won't be able to move around freely afterward.

Trading such a price for a Legendary status and the knowledge she possesses is a good deal, especially considering she has two bodies.

"Very good." Oinrich nodded in satisfaction, and then came the main event: what would this new 'mentor' Oinrich teach her?

"I think you're probably working towards the third-tier Time Traveler Profession right now, so let's leave it at that," Oinrich said after a moment's thought.

"If you get the Arcane Mage Award and then switch to the Arcane Mage Profession, you'll most likely be able to advance to the Fourth Order."

"As for the Arcane Mage Award, I will use my connections in the Alchemy School to smooth things over for you, just like before. But who knows when mages from other School might agree?"

"So before that, you always aimed to become a third-tier Profession like the ' Time Traveler '."

"If you can reach Tier 3 before winning the Arcane Mage Award, then that would be the best-case scenario."

"If not, that's alright, I will still provide you with careful instruction."

"This is just a measure to help you focus."

' Lai ' thought for a moment, then agreed and left.

"I think this arrangement is good."

If it were a genius mage, they might think that Oinrich was simply preventing them from advancing to the third tier. Although it sounds alright, delaying the advancement to the third tier is unacceptable for many geniuses, especially in a situation that is detrimental to their future advancement.

However, ' Lai ' was already at the third rank, and all she could learn from Oinrich was these time-related things.

She couldn't reveal that she was currently at the third rank because she had no way of Promotion Method next level.

She is definitely not a ' Time Traveler ' now, and the Alliance has very strict control over knowledge, which naturally includes knowledge of third-order advancement.

If a mage with no prior record of advancing to the third Profession were to suddenly advance to the third tier, the Alliance would definitely investigate thoroughly, and might even investigate the method she used to advance.

If it is found that she is not a third-tier Profession under the Alliance's mage system, then it is even possible that her the Alliance mage status will be stripped away.

"It's good that you can accept it. You've already surpassed most of the mages who have consulted me on the study of time. If anyone is to inherit my mantle, it will be you," Oinrich said solemnly.

"If I can advance to the third tier through the Time Traveler and obtain a legitimate Third Order Mage status in the Alliance, that would be pretty good," ' Lai ' thought slowly.

The biggest problem, however, is time, a problem that has stumped most mages who want to study this.

For ' Lai ', the biggest problem is 'time'. At what age would it be appropriate for her to advance to the third tier?

The Time Traveler Profession is a tricky subject for a pure the Alliance mage. Normally, it would take more than a dozen generations of mages to study it and find a reasonable path to advancement.

Fran, however, had little to worry about; she now had too many paths to success.

One can directly construct corresponding Secret Words to indirectly fulfill the requirements for achieving Profession.

Alternatively, she could take another path: improving her Alchemy. With so many published Paper, she's only 20,000 proficiency points away from reaching the Peak Level Alchemy.

If she can upgrade her Alchemy to the next level, while it's not certain she'll be able to meet the Alchemy for this Profession, she'll likely make some good progress.

"Let's go back to Number Nine Floating City together." ' Lai ' nodded in agreement.

There are naturally no airship ports around the Investigator Headquarters in the Fallen Forest Province, and the headquarters is located in a relatively remote place.

However, this is Magic World, and a mage of Oinrich's caliber would naturally have his own personal vehicle, capable of carrying people even in remote places like this.

' Lai ' sat on a bright red, small house-like object with seven or eight seats inside.

After they both sat down, a rapid whooshing sound came from outside, but they didn't feel much vibration; it was like a small boat gently rocking on a lake.

At this point, Oinrich would impart some useful knowledge to ' Lai ', namely his insights into the Profession of Time Traveler.

"It has a close relationship with time. If this were to translate into specific conditions, what would they be like?"

' Lai ' was actually quite conflicted about this. Although she had a rough plan for using Secret Words, she thought she shouldn't tell Oinrich.

After seeing that ' Lai ' hadn't spoken for a while, Oinrich simply changed his approach.

"So, do you think I have any connection to time?" ' Lai ' nodded without hesitation.

Oinrich was Legendary; even though time sounds like a vague concept, his Order should at least lend him some credibility.

"Since no one else besides me has any involvement in the Path of Time, I cannot provide specific conditions."

You can refer to it, but you can't take it as fact.

Oinrich paused for a moment, then continued his explanation:

"According to the theory of the Elemental School, when you come into contact with the element of 'time,' you can get very close without being harmed, use your Mental Power more naturally, and cast spells more powerfully."

"However, it's difficult to determine whether time will cause harm or whether it will be beneficial to use this point."

"Because whether it's Slowing or speeding up time, its exact effect can only be determined based on specific circumstances."

"When I created this Profession using special methods, I was thinking about how to achieve this sense of timelessness."

"Simply changing the time involves parameters that change too much, making it impossible to determine the time affinity."

"So I turned to searching for a time fluctuation that could be beneficial or harmful to any living being."

' Lai ' listened intently, while Oinrich paused suddenly before continuing.

"Fortunately, I found a potentially feasible method... Lai, if you press the button on the left, you'll be able to see the outside scene."

Following instructions, ' Lai ' instantly looked outside, and the scene that greeted her startled her.

The howling wind continued, indicating that the flying device had not slowed down yet, while the Number Nine Floating City could already be seen outside. In the footage, the flying device was descending in a very slow manner.

"What did you see, ' Lai '?" ' Lai ' truthfully recounted what he had seen, and asked somewhat confusedly:

"Is this another form of foreseeing the future?" Another window closed, revealing thick clouds and a clear, empty sky below.

"You could say that. Although it's not as useful as the Astrology School, it allows you to truly see another scene in the time dimension." For some reason, there was a hint of disappointment in Oinrich's words.

He then explained.

"This is a method I use to test temporal affinity. The further you look in the time dimension, the higher your temporal affinity."

Seeing this, ' Lai ' was also a little disappointed. She probably knew that her time-based friendliness probably wouldn't work very well.

"If you hadn't witnessed what happened in my workshop, you might still be lacking by my standards..." Oinrich said tactfully.

"But don't worry, because there are plenty of ways in the world to cultivate that kind of affinity later in life."