Leverage

"Blood Sail Alliance? What kind of organization is that... I haven't heard the old-timers here mention it..."

"Who cares what organization they are? Can't you see these guys are all bristling with Sha Qi and aren't to be trifled with? Hurry up, let's get out first."

In the blink of an eye, Lecture Hall Nine was left with nearly eighty members of the Blood Sail Alliance surrounding a few panicked newcomers from the Wizard Continent. The fellow who had been clamoring earlier that Green and the others would not live past half a year had gone deathly pale, his forehead covered in cold sweat. One could vaguely sense the pair of legs beneath his robe trembling nonstop.

"You... you people? This is a misunderstanding, this is a misunderstanding."

His words came out slurred. This man was named Toris, and at this point he no longer cared about keeping up appearances. His voice was almost tinged with sobs.

He had never imagined that such a powerful organization would already exist among this year's newcomers.

One had to know, the newcomers had only entered the academy three days ago!

"A misunderstanding? Heh-heh..."

Lafi sneered and glanced at Yorkris and Yorklianna. Yorklianna said timidly in a low voice, "Sister Lafi, don't kill him. If you kill someone in the academy, the law-enforcement team will investigate."

Yorklianna's single word of warning instantly made Toris and the dozen or so people behind him break out in waves of cold sweat.

Don't kill him?

Could these people really be planning to make a move?

One had to know, if someone openly killed in the academy, once the law-enforcement team investigated, it would be a dead end!

"Don't worry."

Lafi replied to Yorklianna soothingly. As Toris's heart loosened, ruthlessness rose within him.

As if she would dare. Hmph, even I have to seek out the older generation of wizard apprentices here before daring to take action. Though these people have somehow formed an alliance, in the end they're just a pack of ignorant, powerless common trash.

This alliance... won't last long!

But just then, Amlund followed Lafi's words and said to Yorklianna, "We've already investigated the academy's rules very clearly over the past few days. We were planning to establish the alliance's authority anyway. Since this fellow was unlucky enough to provoke Lafi, he'll do."

The manipulating spellcaster curled his lip. "At present, I'm the only one in the entire alliance who can handle this sort of thing. I hope the alliance's curse-type people grow up quickly."

Seeing from the side that matters had been handled more or less, Green did not even think before kicking Toris in the stomach. The fellow's face instantly turned white, then red, ugly as though he had eaten shit. He bent over and clutched his stomach tightly, yet did not dare let out a howl.

"Hmph, disgusting bastard."

Earlier, Green had seen far too much contempt in this man's eyes, and for a moment he recalled the former members of the Blood Sail Alliance on the sea liner. Every one of them had been just as proud and smug.

It was the Faceless Mask Wizard who had awakened everyone, making them recognize themselves clearly, no longer so childish and ignorant, forever little children doted on by their parents.

"Hello, this matter has nothing to do with me. May I leave?"

The girl whom Toris had been pursuing all along glanced at him in disgust. Seeing herself surrounded by so many people, she felt somewhat uncomfortable, but asked the crowd without the slightest fear.

Amlund froze for a moment, carefully observing the girl's every move.

A moment later, the coldness on Amlund's face vanished completely. Wearing the friendly smile of a gentlemanly noble, he bowed to the girl and said, "Of course, beautiful lady."

"Oh?"

The girl was somewhat surprised. After giving Amlund a few more looks, she smiled in astonishment and left the crowd, never glancing back again.

After the girl left, waves of howling suddenly came from Lecture Hall Nine, like pigs being slaughtered, miserable to the extreme. Outside the door, the newcomers who had been cleared out looked at one another, all their expressions terribly ugly.

These people really were a group not to be trifled with!

The bespectacled newcomer who had originally thought Yorkris, Green, and the others were dead for sure could not help secretly hating himself at this moment.

When he saw how they feared neither heaven nor earth, he should have known they had some background, but at the time he had actually taken the initiative to step away!

The boy was filled with regret. If only he had just stepped forward, how good would it have been to get in touch with those people and join this Blood Sail Alliance?

Sigh...

There was only a little time left before class. Toris left with the help of several bruised and battered newcomers. Amlund made a throat-slitting gesture at the manipulating spellcaster, and the manipulating spellcaster nodded helplessly, then followed that group away.

A short while later, Lecture Hall Nine was once again packed with people, as though the fight and brawl just now had been nothing more than an illusion.

Tap, tap, tap...

The echo of high heels came from the corridor. As the magic clock chimed precisely on time, under everyone's incredulous gazes, a young and beautiful female wizard walked into the hall.

Clean, sharp brown-black short hair, smooth skin, amber eyes, and a graceful figure beneath her tight, waist-cinching robe—every bit of it showed that this was a mature, sexy female wizard.

This was also the first time Green had seen a wizard in normal human form.

"Mm, from now on, I will be the instructor for your seven basic education courses. You may call me Instructor Lianyi."

The female wizard's voice carried a kind of magnetism. Seeing the somewhat surprised looks everyone gave her, she seemed to think of something and said with a smile, "You're surprised by my appearance? Hehe, not all wizards focus on bloodline research. Although bloodline sorcery most easily allows wizards to become powerful in a short time, it also changes a wizard's appearance, and carries an irreversible spiritual corrosiveness. Therefore, bloodline sorcery is not suited to every wizard."

Wow...

As expected, the wizard world still had a beautiful side after all, everyone could not help thinking as they looked at Wizard Yilan.

Crunch!

Suddenly, with a chewing sound, the intoxicated expressions on everyone's faces stiffened one after another. Even the corner of Green's eye could not help twitching.

This beautiful female wizard had, as if nothing had happened, suddenly taken out a black centipede the length of a palm and stuffed it into her mouth, making "crunch, crunch" chewing sounds. Everyone could even imagine the scene of that centipede turning into liquid inside the female wizard's mouth.

Such a beautiful wizard, and yet!

Sigh...

A soundless sigh.

"Are you surprised that I eat this?"

Lianyi looked at everyone's faces as she asked, then shook her head and said, unbothered, "The three common traits all elemental wizards possess are crystal balls, symbiotic insects, and soul slaves. If you don't want to die for no reason under curses or illusion attacks in the future, you'd better cultivate your own symbiotic insects as soon as possible."

The female wizard smiled and said, "And when that time comes, you'll know these insects aren't as filthy as your shallow understanding makes them out to be. They are merely a symbol of the endless worlds, one part of the ecosystem."

Forcing down the urge to vomit, Green silently said in his heart, Even then, absolutely not like you're eating snacks!

Lianyi did not pay much attention to everyone's gazes. She went on chewing the centipede in her mouth as if nothing had happened. After a while, once she had swallowed what was in her mouth, the female wizard said faintly, "Since this is the first class, then tell me about the wizards in your hearts."

Everyone looked at each other.

Binhanson was actually the first to stand up directly and say, "Great wizards are people who grasp the order of the world. They stand at the very peak of this world, controlling the balance of all living beings, life and death."

"A wizard is a realm that transcends mortals, the sublimation of life, a transformation..."

A dozen or so people stood up in scattered succession, and almost all their remarks praised wizards as great, mysterious, and irresistible.

Green also tried to explain what a wizard was from his own perspective. "A great wizard should be someone who, through the knowledge he controls, achieves the goals of his own ideals?"

When he said this, the words on the massive stone at the academy tunnel entrance naturally surfaced in Green's mind: "Give me endless knowledge, and I shall use myself as the fulcrum to lever the endless worlds."

Later, after the newcomers had finished explaining their understanding of wizards, Lianyi still did not speak, expressing that she was not satisfied.

However, there really was no one else who stood up.

Lianyi said calmly, "A so-called wizard is a person who uses the exquisite lever of their knowledge to pry at the rules of the world. Remember, the person who said these words was the great ancient True Spirit Wizard Antonio."

Then the female wizard tidied the classroom lectern and said, "All right. Next, I will demonstrate for everyone what is meant by prying at the rules."

Lianyi took out three magic stones of exactly the same size, then shook each of them before the crystal ball in front of her.

"Look. These three magic stones all contain seven degrees of standard magic units of energy."

After she finished speaking, Lianyi silently chanted a spell. A transparent restriction suddenly rose over the lectern, and then the crystal ball before her slowly floated into the air under the spell.

Lianyi said, "Next, this crystal ball will record the information on the energy units released by these three magic stones."

After the first magic stone was simply wrapped in Lianyi's magic power, she directly threw it toward the crystal ball floating in the air. Then the magic stone exploded in midair with a "puff."

"Mm, let's look at the result. Using the most primitive method to detonate the magic stone, the crystal ball recorded that it suffered an attack with an intensity of three degrees of standard magic units, while this magic stone originally contained a full seven degrees of standard magic units of energy."

Lianyi shook her head.

"In other words, under a wizard's crude and unbearable manipulation, this magic stone did not even produce the attributes it should have had."

Immediately afterward, Yilan picked up the second magic stone. After this magic stone was wrapped in Yilan's magic power, the magic power inside it actually began slowly entering Yilan's body. Then Yilan silently chanted a spell, and a fist-sized fireball burned at her fingertip.

Casually, Yilian tossed the fireball at her fingertip toward the crystal ball floating in the sky. As the restriction flashed, with a boom, the restriction blocked all the flames that filled the air within a small space on the lectern.

"Look at the result. This time, I used a wizard's most primitive Fireball Spell magic array to transform the magic power in the magic stone into the power of flame. The crystal ball shows that it just suffered an attack with an energy intensity of forty degrees. That is more than thirteen times stronger than the three degrees just now, and it brought out five times the magic stone's original might."

After speaking, Lianyi picked up the last magic stone.

After once again absorbing all the energy within it, and with the sound of a complex wizard spell, a head-sized fireball ignited at Lianyi's fingertip.

What was different, however, was that this fireball actually began slowly changing shape along with the wizard spell, taking on the form of a flying firebird.

"This is an improved Fireball Spell magic array that I researched during my time as a wizard apprentice. This wizardry research alone took me a full three years, but thinking about it now, it was worth it."

Then the firebird shot toward the crystal ball floating in the air with a "whoosh." After a violent explosion, rolling waves of fire blazed fiercely around the crystal ball, looking extremely concentrated in energy.

It came quickly, and went quickly too.

The entire explosion was only a momentary affair, unlike the previous flames, which had continued burning for a long time.

With a beckon, the crystal ball fell into her hand. Yilian looked at the data inside the crystal ball and said with a smile, "The crystal ball shows that it just endured an attack of sixty-six degrees of energy units. In other words, a magic stone with only seven degrees of energy units, after I, a wizard, used the lever of knowledge to pry at the rules, erupted with more than nine times its own energy units."

After a pause, Lianyi smiled and said, "This is the power that wizards grasp."

The hall full of newcomers understood for the first time the source and philosophy of the power wizards grasped. One after another, they revealed curious expressions, seeming to find it extremely marvelous, inconceivable, and fun.

However, these people merely treated Yilian's experiment as an interesting little game, and did not think too much about it.

Because what they cared about was only the power brought by wizardry, and when they themselves would be able to grasp such power.

Green, however, was lost in thought.

Using knowledge as the lever, using oneself as the fulcrum, using the differences and conflicts between rules to pry at the rules of the world!

Was this what a wizard was?