A Precious Opportunity, a Mentor

Lohr activated the Lava Eruption Sorcery model and High-Temperature Amplitude model within his Sea of Consciousness, then stepped forward.

Rumble—

Terrifying magma erupted from beneath the ground, covering a radius of a thousand meters and shooting straight into the sky.

He was not worried about traps. Before absolute strength, traps were nothing but futile efforts.

The commotion here was quickly noticed by the Fire Element Wizards scattered around the camp.

They immediately stopped sending signals and returned to the camp.

After a while, using the light from the Flame Hills, Lohr vaguely saw more than a hundred people hurriedly leave the camp and head toward him.

He immediately stopped and waited where he was for them to approach.

Before long, the group arrived about half a mile from Lohr.

By then, Lohr could clearly see the leader walking at the front. He was a child of around eight or nine years old.

The instant he saw the child, the corners of Lohr's mouth rose involuntarily. "Things went unexpectedly smoothly."

At this point, he had not even done anything, yet half his plan had already succeeded.

Not long after, the group stopped ten meters away from Lohr.

"Powerful stranger, my name is Levan Dempsey."

Levan looked at Lohr, whose figure was concealed by the Adaptive Rock Barrier, and spoke first. "On behalf of my subordinates, I apologize to you. I am also willing to offer sufficient compensation in the hope of earning your forgiveness."

He surrendered simply, decisively, and directly.

There was no helping it. He could not beat him, after all.

"Lor Rokes."

Lohr nodded and said calmly, "Because of the great Chairman Yasen, I am willing to stand here and negotiate with you."

"Now, present your compensation. If it is insufficient, I will not kill you, but you will not be able to protect the others or the Divine Power Crystals you have gathered."

As soon as Lohr said this, anger welled up in the hearts of the more than one hundred Fire Element Wizards behind Levan.

Yet when they considered the gap in strength between the two sides, that anger turned into deep helplessness.

They all knew Lohr was telling the truth.

"I... how about I give you my share of the Divine Crystals?" Levan said somewhat guiltily.

His share was only ten percent, so it was not exactly something he could proudly offer.

But his grandfather had once said that negotiations required concessions from both sides before a result could gradually be reached.

There was nothing wrong with offering a low price first, then slowly raising it later.

"How much is your share?" Lohr asked curiously.

In his view, as the only safe zone in the Dark Godland where Divine Power Crystals could be securely stored, the faction Levan had established would be fair and just even if it took fifty percent.

Considering the kindness this fellow had displayed, it should have been thirty percent, right?

"Ten percent of the total Divine Crystals." Levan's voice grew softer and softer.

"Hm?" Lohr suspected he had misheard and asked again, "How much did you say?"

"Ten percent."

This time, Levan's voice was normal, but it left Lohr speechless.

He held only a ten-percent share, yet he had still stepped forward to defend everyone and was even rushing to offer that ten percent as compensation. What kind of colossal fool... what kind of great philanthropist was this?

Chairman Yasen had truly spoiled his grandson rotten. This was... simply wonderful!

Lohr suddenly felt that there was no need to keep negotiating with this foolish boy, Levan. Speaking directly with Chairman Yasen seemed far more worthwhile.

Seeing Lohr remain silent for so long, Levan hurriedly spoke again. "If you are not satisfied with this compensation, you can make another request. I will do my best to meet it if I can."

"No need." Lohr said with a faint smile, "Little Levan, can you contact your grandfather?"

"I can, but why do you want to find my grandfather?" Levan was completely baffled by Lohr's words.

The negotiations had only just begun. Why had his grandfather suddenly been dragged into this?

"Mm, can you let me speak with your grandfather?" Lohr could not be bothered to answer Levan's question. Rather than waste time on that, he would be better off considering what terms to propose to Chairman Yasen.

The old man did not know how to teach children. Since someone his grandson's age was voluntarily taking on that task, asking for a little tuition fee was not excessive, was it?

"Does this count as your second request?" A crafty glint flashed through Levan's eyes. "I can agree to at most three requests that I am capable of fulfilling. You can make one more request after this."

Based on what he had learned from listening beside his grandfather during council meetings, once the stronger party made a second request and had it fulfilled, they generally stopped dwelling on the first condition.

"Huh?" Lohr was a little confused. What nonsense was this kid talking about?

Still, he did not dwell on it. He simply nodded and said with a smile, "Fine. Let me contact your grandfather first."

"Okay." Levan agreed without hesitation, then closed his eyes and began using his mental power to communicate with a wisp of fire in his Sea of Consciousness.

In an instant, he contacted his grandfather and told him every detail of his experiences and grievances in the Divine Kingdom.

At the top level of a fiery red Wizard Tower in the center of the Murphy Continent.

After listening to Levan's account, Yasen took out a palm-sized steel plate. Engraved on it was a magic array like the one deep within Lohr Laboratory, capable of communicating across the entire continent.

He tapped the steel plate with fire element, activating a light screen.

Yasen made several adjustments on the plate. Less than two seconds later, a tall figure appeared on the light screen.

"Nelson, find the records for an earth-and-fire apprentice named Lor Rokes in your Wizard Tower."

"Yes, Chairman Yasen." Nelson bowed, then ended the communication.

Less than two minutes later, a detailed file containing both text and images was sent to Yasen's light screen.

"Improving sorcery through intuition, with a 0.5-circle gap in sorcery power. Interesting. I never expected to pick up such a treasure by chance." The corners of Yasen's mouth lifted slightly.

For someone to achieve this as an apprentice, as long as nothing unexpected happened, that little fellow named Lor Rokes had a seventy-percent chance of becoming a Fourth Circle Wizard!

And powerful Fourth Circle multi-element Wizards could even rival Fifth-Circle Single-Element Wizards.

This was top-secret information at the chairman level of the Wizard Alliance. Apart from the chairmen and the geniuses themselves, no one else was qualified to know it.

One reason this secret was guarded so closely was to protect the safety of these true geniuses. Another was to make it easier to recruit them in advance.

After pondering for a moment, Yasen thought to himself, Since this little fellow wants to teach Levan, then let him become Levan's mentor.

Compared with direct investment, he preferred to form an emotional bond first, then find opportunities to provide some training.

Having made his decision, Yasen directly closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness.

Outside the hilly region of the Dark Godland.

Levan opened his eyes again, and his entire temperament underwent a heaven-shaking change in an instant.

All the immaturity and innocence in his eyes vanished, replaced by weathered wisdom.

"It is an honor to meet you, great Chairman Yasen."

Lohr immediately dismissed the Adaptive Rock Barrier around himself and respectfully bowed to Levan, whose body had been taken over by Yasen.

The more than one hundred Fire Element apprentices behind Levan were completely stunned.

Their tower master had really come?

And he was standing right in front of them?

Before they had time to think further, everyone hurriedly bowed to Levan—no, Yasen—before them. "Greetings, Tower Master."

"Mm, you may return first." Yasen waved a hand behind him.

"Yes, Tower Master." The Fire Element apprentices did not dare hesitate in the slightest. They each cast a Levitation Spell on themselves and ran back toward the camp without looking back.

"What an interesting little fellow."

After everyone left, Yasen turned to Lohr and smiled kindly. "I know what you are after. Tell me, what do you want?"

From Levan's fragmented account alone, Yasen had already guessed Lohr's objective.

The reason he had not managed his grandson well was not because he did not know how, but because he could not bear to discipline him.

Now, it was perfect to let this little genius guide him.

"I want the opportunity to seek your guidance on certain difficult problems." Lohr stated his request without hesitation.

He definitely would not ask for material goods, because that would turn this into a transaction.

This was an incomparably precious and fortunate opportunity, one that ordinary Wizards would likely never encounter in their entire lives.

It was an opportunity to build a relationship with someone who stood at the very pinnacle, both now and in the future.

As long as he built a good relationship, what he should have would eventually come to him.

"Mm, that is fair. From now on, you are Levan's mentor. Teach him well."

After looking deeply at Lohr, Yasen smiled and said, "As for my contact information, Levan will bring it to you."

He did not impose any restrictions on questions, because he believed this clever little fellow understood where the boundaries lay.

The next instant, Levan's temperament changed again, once more becoming full of foolish... innocent sincerity.

Lohr was dumbfounded.

He dared swear to heaven that his previous plan had merely been to keep Levan by his side and incidentally teach the boy how to conduct himself.

Yet Yasen had directly made him Levan's mentor?!

What a loss. With this relationship, why would I need to build connections? Wouldn't it have been better to ask for something good?

Lohr secretly felt pained, but after giving it further thought, he gained a bit of understanding. If I had really asked for some valuable item just now, I probably would not have become Levan's mentor, right?

Damn, these old men are impossible to read. I still need more practice!