Chapter 75: Wizard Apprentice Bayen

The timeline shifts back a few months, to late autumn in Medimus City-State.

Bayen had just adapted to the state of Mental Overdrive. Like a child who had just received a new toy, he curiously used his mental power to perceive everything.

This was a completely different field of vision. In this black-and-white perspective, the entire world was so simple and imbued with mathematical beauty. Bayen was intoxicated. He felt fortunate to have the chance to appreciate this fascinating supernatural world just as he was preparing to die.

He also felt immense regret. His life was like a quickly burning candle. He was nearly 60 years old this year. For an ordinary person, many would have already been buried.

As a Citizen, he had always paid attention to physical exercise, and his diet and rest were relatively regular, so his body was still strong. But even so, most healthy Citizens died of old age in their seventies, and people in their eighties were almost unheard of.

Even if he lived to 80, how many times could he appreciate the wonder of this supernatural world? Probably only superficial things. So Bayen was filled with regret.

Because of this regret, he was even more determined to seize every moment to appreciate the wonders of the supernatural world.

After completing the starter tasks similar to Daina’s, Bayen drew an auxiliary attack spell, Noise Cough.

This spell, with the Lesser Sound Rune as its core, causes a brief, immense noise in the vicinity of the target, ignoring concealment. It inflicts minor damage and causes temporary ringing in the ears for anyone whose physical quality has not reached the Pseudo-Hero level.

This was a spell with minimal combat power. It had a tiny bit of crowd control effect, which even Bayen, a novice Wizard Apprentice, could discern.

Bayen was not discouraged. He sought out Tansen and began discussing low-level Monsters with him.

After multiple discussions, Bayen finally presented his idea. He said: “Scholar Tansen, the Low-Level Monster Compendium you authored is extremely useful, an essential tool book for many Monster Hunters. However, I believe this book could be more comprehensive.”

“I wrote that book in my youth. I have not personally seen many of the Monsters, and there are indeed many omissions. Scholar Bayen, if you have any thoughts, please be direct.” Tansen replied calmly.

“I have an idea. I am also very interested in researching Monsters. How about we visit the special Monster prison together to improve the Low-Level Monster Compendium? I can assist you and learn the methods of Monster research.”

Bayen finally stated his goal.

Ultimately, through Tansen’s student, the current deputy warden of the special Monster prison, the two successfully gained entry.

“Teachers, you can only observe common low-level Monsters and a portion of the powerful low-level Monsters. This is both for your own safety and for security reasons,” the deputy warden reminded them.

“Understood. We simply wish to make the Low-Level Monster Compendium more comprehensive. Do not worry,” Tansen replied.

The two began systematically observing, recording, and organizing the low-level Monsters in the Monster prison.

As they proceeded, Bayen’s Grimoire-beard grew hot, and his points rapidly increased.

For powerful low-level Monsters, it took a certain amount of time for the Grimoire to perceive and retrieve their Soul Runes, so Bayen deliberately observed them for a long time.

In this manner, one month quickly passed. Bayen, who had mastered the art of point accumulation, easily acquired 335 points.

Coupled with the nearly a hundred new Lesser Runes and several Soul Runes he received for free on the Rune Page, Bayen’s venture was hugely profitable.

It was unfortunate that this area was not covered by Ace’s signal. Ace could not harvest Bayen’s gains in a timely manner, which was a significant loss.

Bayen, having obtained a large number of points and free runes, did not use all of them. He carefully analyzed the situation and eventually exchanged for only one Spell Model for an ordinary meditation method. Since he already possessed all the runes, he successfully exchanged for it for only 10 points.

This meditation method had added auxiliary runes, improving the meditation effect by nearly double compared to the original.

Bayen did not exchange for any more runes. Instead, he utilized his connections again to visit the Wonders in the homes of Citizens and Nobles, calling it research for compiling a Wonder Compendium. This earned him another 213 points.

His point accumulation journey ended here. Bayen dedicated his remaining time, besides daily meditation, to earnestly researching the active runes. Each rune had a simple introduction, but he still verified each one, memorizing them thoroughly.

He meticulously traced the rune structures, attempting to etch the rune structures onto paper, only to find the paper spontaneously combusted. After many experiments, he found that Monster fur could effectively record rune structures.

This reminded Bayen of the barbarian witchcraft. He had once seen the barbarian’s witch fur, which was drawn with mysterious patterns. Looking back now, he realized they were rudimentary Spell Models.

“Runes and Spell Models all require the support of mathematical knowledge to be properly analyzed. The Barbarians clearly lack this knowledge and mostly rely on blind imitation of nature.”

Bayen thought this while drawing coordinate systems and beginning to replicate Spell Models onto Monster fur.

He quietly started experimenting on Monsters. He increasingly felt that he was missing something important.

The more he analyzed and experimented, the more he felt the importance of logical thinking, which provided an excellent framework for thought. Conversely, mathematics played an indispensable role in deconstructing runes and constructing Spell Models.

Without the knowledge learned from the Elementary Mathematics series, Bayen would only be able to imitate blindly, like the barbarian Shamans.

“The city-state’s youngest scholar, the author of Logic Book (Volume One) and the Elementary Mathematics series, Ace. If his knowledge structure were applied to a Wizard, he would be equally outstanding.”

Bayen stroked his long beard, muttering to himself: “Is it possible, then, to hypothesize that Ace is a Wizard closely tied to the Torch-Bearer—or perhaps even the Torch-Bearer himself? If I assume this, many things become clear: why I received the Grimoire, and why the Elementary Mathematics series is so effective at solving rune problems.”

A sharp light burst from Bayen’s cloudy eyes. He blurted out “There is only one truth. Ace is likely the pioneer of the path of Wizardry, or one of the pioneers. All the academic influence he creates is merely planting seeds of hope by subtly creating people with a Wizard’s way of thinking!”

“I will only know the truth for sure when I meet Scholar Ace.”

Bayen made up his mind. Through his recent meditation, his physical constitution had greatly improved making him look alert and energetic. He prepared to go north to meet Ace.

Just then, shocking news arrived from the north; Dikens’s unit of 1,000 men was completely annihilated. Villagers in a dozen villages were massacred, and Demons had descended!

“The north is impassable. Abyssal Demons are beyond my ability to fight. My search for Ace must be put on hold until the city-state resolves the Demon threat.”

Bayen packed his belongings. He did not head north but drove his carriage south.

“Perhaps I should visit Cimali Port, where Ace once traveled. I might find different insights there.”