Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Niedern's serious expression eased a little.

Blackbeard looked at his short, stout, and chubby hand with a grin and said, “Now you owe me 276 barrels of wine. Deducting today's barrel, that leaves 275 barrels.”

A both guilty and unusual look appeared on Niedern's face. He coughed lightly and said, “You know how I am. I Won't harm you, but for the sake of my student, this is what I have to do.”

“What do you mean?” Blackbeard was still grinning.

“Memory erasure.”

Blackbeard's jaw slowly dropped. Then, with a terrified look, he hurriedly ran out of the room.

Niedern pointed at Blackbeard with his right hand. His ring dispatched a scarlet ray of light that landed on Blackbeard's body.

Immobilization spell.

Plop…

Blackbeard fell to the ground and lost control of his entire body. His eyes gave off a strange beam of light, one of anger, confusion, pain, pleading, and cursing…

Niedern understood his old friend's gaze and smiled faintly. He thought for a moment and grabbed a transparent crystal bottle from the void. On the label of the crystal bottle, it was marked with the casting material: worry-be-gone powder.

It was a mixture of many magical herbs used to enhance the magic spell “Memory wipe”.

The look in Blackbeard's eyes changed again.

Niedern once again was able to read his expression.

I'm going to smash your skull to bits!

Niedern shook his head and said, “Old cla.s.smate, why bother? In any case, you will forget this pain. After all, your big mouth has ruined many a situation and has often lead to fatal disaster. Lots of our cla.s.smates were put in harm's way because of you back then. Yes, you didn't guess wrong. Every time at this juncture, you always realize why you would occasionally wake up at strange times and why I owe you so many barrels of wine.”

Blackbeard's gaze flashed once again.

You little, conniving rascal!

Niedern smiled, moved his staff, and began to cast a spell.

Sleeping charm.

Blackbeard forcefully stared at Niedern with force, with force, and with…

Zzz…

Blackbeard fell asleep.

Niedern sighed helplessly. In actuality, he had only used memory wipe on Blackbeard a total of three times. The spell had some slight residual effects, after all. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would try not to use it.

However, he couldn't not use it this time, since Su Ye's painting was just too shocking. It involved something very important in the future, so he couldn't allow Blackbeard to leak it.

As for how many times others had used memory erasure on Blackbeard though, Niedern was unaware.

Niedern cast another spell, but this time, his casting speed was exceptionally slow—and every syllable of the spell was said with extraordinary precision.

If memory wipe was used carelessly, it would cause people to become foolish.

Therefore, intelligence-lowering spells were also invented at the same time as memory wipe. They had outstanding effects.

A green ray of light emerged from Niedern's staff and landed on the top of Blackbeard's head.

After the faint sizzling sound had pa.s.sed, Niedern put away his staff.

“Ah…”

Blackbeard suddenly opened his thoroughly-red eyes. He held his head with both hands and rolled on the ground in pain.

It was as if a million soldiers were fighting fiercely in his head.

“Sigh…”

Niedern did not make a move. Any other healing or soothing spell could end up affecting the memory erasure.

Blackbeard struggled for a full ten minutes before foaming at the mouth. He rolled his eyes and fainted.

“I already said that this world is very cruel. I told you to go back to the underground world to retire, but you just didn't listen…”

As he spoke, Niedern opened the wine barrel and poured some on Blackbeard's body. Then, he reached out his hand to open Blackbeard's mouth. With the wave of his magic staff, the wine flowed like a stream of urine into his mouth.

Blackbeard was clearly unconscious, but he actually swallowed it on his own.

His pained expression became one of extreme peace, and even one of a little joy.

After fully pouring half the barrel of Blackbeard's wine, Niedern finally stopped.

Niedern glanced at Blackbeard helplessly and lightly tapped the two-foot-long cane on the palm of his left hand. The magic staff flashed brilliantly, and the seal was lifted.

Niedern pushed the door open and found Su Ye there observing the dwarves. He walked over and called Su Ye to walk outside with him.

“Has everything been settled?” Su Ye asked.

“He drank too much, so let's come back tomorrow. Tonight, I'll send you home and we can chat together. Let's talk outside,” Niedern said.

Su Ye was full of questions, but he knew that now wasn't the time to be clever and didn't say a word.

Walking out of the Dwarven Workshop, walking out of Plato Academy, and walking another two streets, Su Ye heard Ni Deen's voice.

“Don't panic. I'm using magic power to send a voice transmission. This is an ability that silver-level mages have. If you're a warrior, you have to be at the saint-level to be able to do it. From now on, don't speak. Just listen to me.”

Su Ye nodded softly.

“I know you have a lot of questions, but from today onwards, you're not allowed to draw that kind of painting again. Until you become a gold mage, don't let anyone see it. This includes me and everyone from Plato Academy. You don't need to understand the specific reason; though, once you do understand it, you'll naturally be able to make a judgment.

“Of course, you can continue to draw in a normal way. You can occasionally perform a little better when drawing lines, but don't be too outstanding in other areas. And in particular do not draw things with a three-dimensional sense. This is the most important thing.”

Three words appeared in Su Ye's mind: three-dimensional sense?

“As for Hei Xu, I used memory wipe on him and he has already forgotten today's events. At most, he will remember that you and I came here and had a drink with him. I also added something special into my magic to make him agree to help you create the new types of cutlery tomorrow. Of course, if you lose the deal, you will bear all the responsibility. After all, you have a lot of mana source badges.”

Su Ye muttered in his heart. In reality, in another one or two hundred years, or even a few decades, this new tableware would be used by people. There should be people using it now, but they're a minority. It's just not being regularly used yet.

This kind of commodity that was completely in line with human needs and historical trends would never lose money. At worst, maybe the speed at which it will disseminate would be rather slow.

Niedern continued, “Cromwell came to visit but was reluctant to displace you. The most fundamental reason is that you're valuable. You're valuable enough to help him break through to legend. Even now, he still ought to be trying everything possible to take you in and make you his disciple.”

“An outstanding disciple will not only be able to inspire him, allow him to partic.i.p.ate in the essay-signing and get additional mana source badges, and carry forward his legacy, but also become a driving force for his growth. A truly outstanding mage can learn how to improve from anybody. As for the incredibly few ways to treat a disciple, I won't say too much.”

“So, don't go thinking that a new drawing method can be exchanged for a mana source badge. After all, no matter how many mana source badges you could obtain, they can't compare to your life. The Congress of Magic is a run-down, old house that lets even the wind through. Even if you use someone else's name or hide your name to publish a new theory, you still might be exposed. However, when you become a gold mage, even if you are exposed, you will still have a certain degree of self-protection.”

“Cromwell is a n.o.ble mage. He is an opponent, but he is not an enemy. Therefore, I believe that although he may want to use extreme methods, he will not use them in the end. Mages outside Athens are different, though. Mages outside Greece don't even care about you in the slightest. If you only just create a learning method that everyone can use, although they will covet you, they will not take the risk of offending all of Athens.”