Mason and Orrin were originally wondering why Gerosso, who had always been arrogant, suddenly fell silent. At this moment, hearing Lin Li’s words, they finally understood that it had to be something that their former roommate had done to Gerosso. Rumor had it that he had already entered the Legendary-realm, and they reckoned that that was probably the means of a Legendary-mage.
As the three of them continued to chat, they walked out of the side hall, leaving the stiffened Gerosso behind. Seeing that the three of them had left, he felt like he was on the verge of collapse because he couldn’t control his body, and was unable to do anything.
Lin Li, Mason, and Orrin were not specially looking for a venue. They simply found a quiet corner in the hall, and continued to talk about the events that happened to each of them over the years. Not long later, Aldwin and the rest looked for them and informed Lin Li that the regular meeting was about to begin soon. Mason and Orrin were sent to study in the Supreme Council’s library by their respective teachers.
Under Aldwin’s lead, Lin Li followed the crowd towards the venue where the regular meeting was held. At this moment, the people who were originally in the hall followed suit as well. They walked towards the main venue, while some younger disciples walked out of the hall, probably heading to the library to study.
Everyone in the hall left in just a minute or two. The hall that was initially bustling with activity and filled with people who were talking to each other softly quieted down as well. No one noticed a young man who was standing still with horror in his eyes in one of the side halls.
The venue for the regular meeting of the Supreme Council was an oval-shaped space where the seats were also arranged in the shape of an oval, with the first layer starting at the boundaries. Every seat was spacious, and they were all a certain distance away from each other. There was a councilor’s name tag on every table.
When Lin Li arrived, there were already quite a few people seated inside, opposite the exit. The Chairman Andoine and the Deputy Chairman Rosen had already taken their seats, and on either side of them were the seats reserved for the high-ranking councilors.
As the President of the Alanna Guild of Magic who had contributed greatly during the exploration of Osric’s mausoleum, Aldwin was seated beside Andoine. Clearly, he was second only to the chairman and deputy chairman in terms of position.
After bringing Lin Li and the rest into the venue, Aldwin spoke to a few people and headed to his own seat. Lin Li, Macklin, Joey, and Hahnar, who were only ordinary councilors for now, were seated separately. Lin Li, the new councilor, was seated the furthest away from the center.
After all the councilors had arrived and taken their seats, the meeting finally began, and the first topic to be discussed gave Lin Li, the first-timer and newly minted councilor, a great shock.
“The situation on the border of the Felan Kingdom and the Ledin Kingdom has recently become increasingly tense, and conflicts have been occurring from time to time. Councilors, I would like you to voice your opinions and discuss the attitude that the Supreme Council should assume regarding the potential war between the two nations in the future.” After talking about the topic for discussion during the regular meeting, Andoine returned to his seat and waited for the people to speak.
As soon as Andoine returned to his seat, someone gestured and requested to speak. Upon permission, that councilor stood up, looked around the room, and said in a low voice, “There’s something that I believe everyone here should have experienced. The magical talents you have favored and had high hopes for often stagnate and get stuck in a bottleneck when they reach a certain stage. It’s as if their talent has disappeared overnight, and they’ve become utterly ordinary, bringing us great disappointment.”
Seeing that the councilors were all nodding slightly, the councilor who spoke also looked more confident, and he gradually raised his voice. He continued, “The reason for this is that Anril has been peaceful for far too long, preventing the young mages from getting enough experience. Hence, they lack the courage and bravery to face difficulties. Only by braving tumultuous wars and going through life-and-death situations can they know how insignificant the difficulties they currently face really are. Hence, I believe that we must not only allow the war to go on, we also have to push for it to happen and make it erupt with intensity. This will allow the young mages to gain enough experience.”
That councilor expressed his opinion before turning to look at the reactions of the councilors around him. He finally bowed to Andoine and resumed his seat.
The councilor’s perspective somewhat made sense as humans would only unleash their greatest potential when they were on the brink of death. That was a well-known fact. Besides, there were many examples in this world where people risked their lives to break through bottlenecks and succeeded in the end. Hence, the war could indeed act as a catalyst.
However, not everyone would agree with him. Shortly after that councilor sat down, someone stood up and hostilely retorted, “That’s nonsense. You only see the trials and tribulations that wars put people through, but you fail to see how much damage and destruction wars can cause. It is true that many historical talents have emerged from those wars, but many outstanding talents have fallen as well. Have you counted how many died before they even achieved anything? I can tell you that the losses will definitely outweigh the gains.”
Another councilor who supported the war immediately interjected, “Since they have been eliminated by war, they cannot be called talents! The power of magic has to be comprehended through war. Without war…”
Lin Li sat on the seat at the back and listened to the incessant conflict between the hundreds of councilors. He could not help but be emotional. It was no wonder that everyone said that the Supreme Council could decide the fate of the world of Anril. It was truly not an exaggeration at all. Regardless of who was right or wrong, manipulating a war didn’t seem to be a problem for them. They could either let it happen, or prevent it from happening.
The councilors belonging to the two schools of thought, pro-war and anti-war, began taking turns to speak, and a heated debate soon took place, while Lin Li sat in the corner without saying a word. Such a meeting was fresh to him at first, but he gradually began to feel a little sleepy. They spent an entire day discussing that topic. Even at the end of the discussion, Lin Li wasn’t even sure if they had reached a consensus or not.
After the meeting ended, Lin Li, who was sitting at the end, was the first to leave. He stood by the entrance for a while, and Macklin and the rest exited as well. Due to the fact that Aldwin was a high-ranking councilor, he had to stay behind with the others to continue discussing the topic just now so as to reach a final decision.
At another exit that was not far from Lin Li, Macklin, and the rest, a middle-aged mage who was in his fifties walked out. As soon as he did, an Archmage who was in charge of maintaining order at the venue inched forward to tell him a few words softly.
“What!? Someone has the audacity to take action here?” A middle-aged mage was shocked, but then thought that it was not appropriate to shout here. He lowered his voice again, and quickly told the person, “Hurry, take me there!”
The Archmage who had come to report the news led the way, and advised, “Councilor Leddings, you need not worry too much, Gerosso didn’t get hurt. He’s just restrained by Mana Shackle.”
Before the meeting began, Leddings saw that his student Gerosso didn’t look for him, and he thought that he had gone to study in the library. To his surprise, he found out after the meeting ended that Gerosso had been restrained by Mana Shackle, and had been trapped in a side room for the entire day.
Although Leddings knew that Mana Shackle wouldn’t cause too much damage, the fact that his student had somehow gotten confined for a day was tantamount to a slap on his face!
The person who managed to use Mana Shackle to trap a level-19 Archmage for an entire day was definitely at least in the Legendary-level. That was the reason for Leddings’ anger. Since that person had Legendary-level abilities, he had to be a member of the council. Why couldn’t he have gone to Leddings to settle the matter instead of making things hard for a junior?
Soon, Leddings arrived in the side hall, and saw his student Gerosso who had been restrained for a whole day.
At the sight of his teacher, Gerosso almost burst into tears. He was conscious, but was unable to control his body. He felt like he was in a nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from for the entire day.
Fortunately, Lin Li didn’t use much power to confine Gerosso; hence, Leddings could release him quickly. Suppressing his anger, he questioned, “Gerosso, who did this to you?”
With the assistance of the people beside him, Gerosso, whose body had stiffened, took a seat on a chair, and finally prevented himself from embarrassing himself in front of others. He said in a shaky voice, “It’s… It’s someone who was with Mason and Orrin. I’ve never seen him before.”
As soon as he heard Gerosso mention Mason and Orrin, Leddings immediately knew the possible cause of the matter. After all, Gerosso had always been targeting Mason and Orrin. However, that did not mean that Leddings forgave that person who did that to his student.
Gerosso said that he had never seen that person before. It was not the first time Leddings had brought his student to the regular meeting, but the councilors did not know each other too well. However, even then, it wasn’t to the extent where Gerosso had never seen any of them before. Could it be a new councilor? He had no idea, because he was too focused on the discussion about the war during the meeting, so he did not notice any fresh face.
Leddings saw the Archmage who led him there. Since they were in charge of maintaining order, he reckoned that he should know something. Thus, he asked, “Begena, is there a new councilor who attended the meeting today?”
“Well, it seems so,” Begena answered after thinking about it for a while. “There were two new councilors at the meeting today. One was President Joey of the Chevan City Guild of Magic. The other was President Felic of the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic.”
“Breezy Plains Guild of Magic, Tower of Dusk?” Leddings’ eyes lit up. The useless Joey was only a level-19 Archmage who had no means to confine his disciple at all. Since President Felic of the Tower of Dusk was already a Legendary-mage, he could be the culprit.
Gerosso finally knew that the person he originally didn’t care about was the culprit who had crippled his brother in the first place. “What? Felic!? He’s Felic!? Teacher, I’m sure that the one who did it to me—”
However, before Gerosso could finish speaking, Leddings hollered, “Shut up, President Felic is the President of a Guild of Magic and a newly promoted councilor of the Supreme Council. How could he attack a junior like you? Leave with me, don’t embarrass me here.” As he said that, he glanced at the Archmage beside him, Begena.
Gerosso felt a little aggrieved at first, but after catching his teacher’s hint, he immediately understood something. He got up and obediently followed his teacher out.
After the two left, Begena shook his head in amusement, and turned around to return to the venue like nothing had happened.
Gerosso followed his teacher out. Seeing that there was no one around, he couldn’t help but say, “Teacher, it must be that Felic. He and Mason and Orrin were roommates back then. They shared a close relationship. My younger brother Gryffindor was crippled by him. He must be thinking of crippling me too. After he confined me, he called me garbage and said that I had a useless teacher. His comments were nasty.”
Even if Gerosso did not try to sow discord, Leddings wouldn’t let the matter rest just like that. A newly minted councilor wasn’t enough to make him feel wary. Regardless of the reason, his student had been bullied, and if he did not stand up for him, others would laugh their heads off.
“He’s just a new councilor, yet he has the audacity to be so arrogant. Go find out where he lives. He’s asking to be stripped of his position as a councilor!” Leddings dared to say those words definitely not because he was just saving face in front of his student, but rather because he was absolutely confident.
A councilor of the Supreme Council might seem like a big shot to others, but Leddings, who was also a councilor, knew that it didn’t mean anything at all. There were hundreds of councilors in the entire council, and everyone’s identity was the same. It was a competition of connections.
What kind of remarkable connections could a newly minted councilor have made? Although Joey of the Chevan City Guild of Magic was also a new member, he had been a President for years, and he at least had three or five close friends.
Leddings felt that since Lin Li was the President of a newly established Guild of Magic in a shabby place like the Breezy Plains, Lin Li wouldn’t have any connections, as he wouldn’t have the chance to interact with the other Guilds of Magic.
However, Leddings was different. He had been a councilor for so many years, and many other councilors had to give him face. Besides, in the Supreme Council, the chairman, deputy chairman, and the eight high-ranking councilors were the ones who truly held the highest power. He had good ties with a few high-ranking councilors, and he could even speak to Deputy Chairman Rosen through them.
Hence, in Leddings’ opinion, it was simply too easy to deal with a new councilor with his connections. He felt that he might just make Lin Li pack his bags and scram back to the Breezy Plains. When that happened, Lin Li would be stripped of his position as councilor and subjected to his torture. He would then let him know the consequences of offending him!
