Merlin: I'll consider what you said.
Li Mo: Did I just make some huge news?
Oh heavens, this was outrageous!
I was only saying it casually, but Merlin actually had the idea of leaving Avalon!
The expressions on Li Mo's face kept changing. Brishisan was left staring blankly and asked, "What did you two talk about? Merlin even taught you his Flower Magecraft?"
We didn't talk about anything! I only wanted to comfort a young man who had been heartbroken for years!
Li Mo was still dumbfounded as he said dazedly, "We didn't talk about much, just discussed relationship problems...
"As for Flower Magecraft, he really did give it to me. But he set conditions too. I need to completely learn one spell before the next one appears."
Li Mo said it casually, but Brishisan felt like he was losing his mind. Forget giving you Flower Magecraft—he even discussed relationship problems with you?
Brishisan's breathing quickened. Looking stunned, he asked uncertainly, "Do you two really have no kind of relationship? Merlin treats you so well... don't tell me you're his illegitimate son?"
The moment he said that, even Brishisan froze.
Thinking about it carefully, that was actually fucking possible!
Li Mo had just mentioned that Merlin possessed clairvoyance. As for clairvoyance, the Clock Tower had records on the subject, and Brishisan knew a little about it.
If Li Mo really was related to Merlin, then wouldn't it be perfectly normal for him to know so much?
With that thought, Brishisan seemed to have discovered the truth. He gave Li Mo a teasing grin and waggled his eyebrows. "Did I guess right? You two must be father and son. Otherwise, why would he so easily give you magecraft he created himself?"
Sherlock Brishisan was online. I really was a deduction genius!
Li Mo's face darkened as he widened his eyes. "How could that be!!!"
What the hell did he mean by father and son? Merlin didn't even have a wife—where would he get such a grown illegitimate son?
Li Mo craned his neck and glared at Brishisan, saying in a muffled voice, "Merlin is clearly just an elderly single dog, okay? He's been the only living person in Avalon all these years. Who would he have children with?"
Brishisan chuckled. "Is there really no other living creature in Avalon? Maybe... hehehe?"
Li Mo froze, then lunged at Brishisan while waving both hands. "Stop talking, stop talking! Damn it, I can picture it now!!!"
There was still that White Beast in Avalon—the killer of primates...
"Fine, fine, I won't say any more."
Brishisan waved his hand and chose not to continue that topic. His expression turned serious as he asked, "Then who is Scathach?"
He was extremely curious. Ever since hearing Li Mo mention her earlier, his heart had felt as if a cat were scratching at it.
He actually sought Merlin out over this matter. Could she be some ancient monster who had survived from the Age of Gods?
Li Mo gave a smug chuckle. Didn't know that, did you?
Brishisan's face was filled with curiosity. He had probably thought of the dean of the Clock Tower, but no matter how mysterious or ancient the dean was, could he compare to Li Mo's master?
Li Mo straightened up, his expression solemn as he looked at Brishisan seriously. "The gatekeeper of the Land of Shadows, the Queen of the Land of the Dead.
"She possesses skills unmatched even in the Age of Gods, as well as the oldest Rune Magecraft. She is a demigod—no, perhaps she can already be called a god!
"Her spear can even pierce a god's heart!
"Now do you understand, Professor?"
Li Mo swayed his head smugly, wearing a disdainful smile that made Brishisan grit his teeth. Yet he had no idea what to say.
Were you really that proud of showing off this knowledge?
Li Mo smiled like a little schemer. Of course. Explaining knowledge that even you, a teacher, didn't know was very satisfying!
"In the Age of Gods, she taught countless gifted disciples. Every one of them was a genius who left their name behind in that era, but not a single one ever surpassed her, nor could anyone ever kill her!"
Brishisan listened in a daze, staring at Li Mo with his mouth agape. He could not help asking, "You mean she never disappeared and never died!?"
The Age of Gods had declined long ago. Thousands of years had passed, and the gods of that era had long vanished without a trace. Yet Li Mo was telling him that one still remained in this world?
Li Mo nodded, but then gave a bitter smile. "Professor Brishisan, do you know why she taught so many geniuses during the Age of Gods?
"Because her greatest wish was to die!
"She wanted to teach someone capable of killing her!
"Immortality is not necessarily a good thing. She has lived for far, far too long, witnessed too much, and carried too much. In the end, the only thing she wanted was death.
"But as the Queen and gatekeeper of the Land of Shadows, she has long been bound to it. So long as the Land of Shadows remains, she will never die.
"Yet the Land of Shadows is the final resting place of all the dead in the world. So long as the world itself is not destroyed, that place will never be destroyed either."
She once placed her hopes on Cú Chulainn and even gave him her spear, but in the end, he still failed to fulfill her wish.
"So that's how it is," Brishisan murmured. Li Mo's faintly sorrowful tone kept striking his heart, making him feel that same loneliness.
Was immortality really a good thing?
At that moment, Brishisan could not help questioning it in his heart.
Indeed, if given the chance to live forever, the world's people would surely choose it without hesitation. But what if the price was eternal solitude?
Brishisan did know something about the Land of Shadows.
According to the Clock Tower's records, the Land of Shadows was both an otherworld and a mystic realm. It contained nothing but endless dead souls, without the slightest trace of life.
Living beings capable of going there would not choose to go, while those who wanted to go lacked the ability.
What was immortality? Scathach's immortality was eternal loneliness, forever facing nothing but those pale skeletons of the Land of Shadows.
From the appearance of the Land of Shadows, through the Age of Gods, and all the way to the present—how much time had passed?
The mere thought made Brishisan shudder, every hair on his body standing on end. If an ordinary person were in that place, they would probably have gone mad long ago!
The two fell silent. After a while, Li Mo stood up and walked straight toward his bedroom.
He wanted to train.
He did not need to ask what Brishisan was thinking, because he had thought about it long ago.
In his previous world, the first time that woman appeared in the anime, she had filled him with boundless amazement.
Later, after learning her story, that amazement had turned into pity and indignation.
Pity for that woman sitting immortal upon the river of time, that woman condemned to spend her life in loneliness among cold, silent dead souls. And indignation at why, under Mushroom's pen, he had been made to shape her into such a story.
Perhaps the happiest days of her life had been that era when people could still reach the Land of Shadows, when she still had disciples to teach.
Cú Chulainn could not do it. He failed. Li Mo chose to do it instead.
"Then coming to this world won't have been in vain!"
Li Mo clenched his fists and silently thought to himself.
He would slowly accumulate magical energy within himself, then lay a solid foundation at the Clock Tower. Even if his goal was distant, one day, he would accomplish it!
He knew the secrets of this world well enough.
And he also had the Golden Finger of 108 Magic Circuits!
He would set himself a small goal first: thoroughly master the Flower Magecraft Merlin had given him!
Before you continue