Private Conversation

What revelation Josh had hidden was neither particularly significant nor important. Put bluntly, it was merely something born of these two emperors having far too much free time.

For the two of them, before heading to the Land of the Gods, there was practically nothing left in this world that could truly interest them.

These days, they were basically just maintaining the stability of their respective nations while taking care of their children. They truly did not care much about anything else.

Josh’s appearance had given them a rather entertaining diversion, because Josh was arguably the only four-element mage on the entire continent!

At first, Black had been unwilling to speak of these matters. The main reason was that someone like Josh was simply too unusual.

It was not that he feared the other emperors might have designs on him. Aside from the one from the Orc Empire, whom he did not know very well, the other two had practically grown up with Black.

What Black was truly wary of were the noble factions. Those factions could be considered one of the most terrifying forces on the entire continent.

The existence of noble factions helped maintain a nation’s stability, but one thing had to be understood: those noble factions could never truly be of one mind with the king, or even the emperor.

Every noble had their own interests to pursue. That was why they continually sought to align themselves with Black’s four sons.

Though they could not force Black from the political stage, one of his sons would eventually succeed him, would he not?

Finding someone whose interests matched their own and supporting him with all their strength was also planning for their own future. They might even employ some rather terrifying methods for the sake of their family’s future.

Do not assume noble families lacked powerful individuals, and do not underestimate those powerful desperadoes in this world who were driven by greed. Even in Augustus’s history, there had been cases of princes being assassinated.

Of course, the enraged emperor had not only wiped out that noble family, but also destroyed the person who had carried out the deed. Unfortunately, the nobles remembered what happened.

Because the interest group that noble family belonged to had gained unexpected benefits.

The risk was extraordinarily great, but when the reward outweighed the risk, those noble groups only needed to throw out a few unfortunate scapegoats to reap endless benefits. They would certainly do it!

A four-element mage like Josh would absolutely make them uneasy!

On the Muya Continent, the nobles controlled a great many things. The most crucial among them was talent. Such talent came in many forms: powerful fighters, political talent, military talent.

Commoners simply had no way to access sufficient knowledge, so compared to those nobles, they truly had not the slightest basis for comparison.

Even if they later entered certain academies to study, they were already far behind the nobles at the starting line. Many teachers even treated them worse than noble students. In such an environment, how could they surpass the children of nobles?

Thus, Black had no choice but to be cautious. If something truly happened to Josh, then even if he wiped out the entire noble interest group in a fit of rage afterward, it would already be too late if Josh was dead.

It was not only the nobles within his own country that Black needed to guard against. He also had to be wary of nobles elsewhere.

Simply put, some foreign nobles might convince themselves that they were "serving their country," then inexplicably cause trouble for Josh or even hire powerful people to erase someone like him—a person unlike any in the entire continent’s history. That was hardly impossible.

"How is it, Ilka? Was what Josh said true?"

Black watched Ilka carefully manipulate four different elements. He did not appear nearly as relaxed as Josh, and a faint sheen of sweat had even formed on his forehead. Black could not help asking curiously.

"Don’t rush me. I think I’ve discovered something incredible! Good heavens, this—this actually works!"

Ilka did not directly answer Black’s question. He was intently controlling the elements. Since he was not a four-element mage, controlling elements that did not belong to his own affinity was extremely taxing, even though he was a Ninth Tier mage!

Slowly, following the information Josh had provided Black—or rather, the information Akathosh had provided Josh—Ilka began to imitate it.

At first, Ilka had not thought too much about it and directly drew out a large amount of magic power. He soon found that he simply could not control elements that did not match his own affinity.

After thinking for a moment, Ilka immediately reduced the number of elements under his control. Only after he believed he could control them perfectly did he slowly gather them together again.

At that moment, Ilka could not help marveling at the difficulty of controlling four elements. He seemed to understand that if even one element went wrong, they would disperse.

Slowly, as if sensing each other’s existence, the Magic elements began to resist one another. There was a special cycle between Magic elements.

They countered and accommodated one another. Ilka understood the relationship between elemental opposition and compatibility very well, so he immediately tried something based on his own ideas.

Josh had not told him about this, but Ilka had seen Josh’s Seraph. Therefore, he directly imitated the Seraph’s elemental arrangement—Earth element at the very center, followed by Water element, Wind element, and Fire element.

Ilka carefully controlled his magic. He did not dare output too much power, as that would cause the Magic elements to be disturbed and scatter.

Nor did he dare use too little power, because then he would not be able to suppress the repulsion between the Magic elements. Fortunately, Ilka was exceptionally lucky. He succeeded on virtually his first attempt!

"This is unbelievable! It—it’s actually real!"

Ilka stared blankly at the sphere of light in his hand, which contained four Magic elements. Even in his dreams, he had never imagined he would conduct such an experiment. More importantly, he had actually succeeded!

Black also studied the sphere of light in Ilka’s hand closely. He could not help feeling that it looked rather weak.

"Uh, let me interrupt for a moment, Ilka. Isn’t that sphere only around Second Tier?"

"Yes."

"But Josh is already Sixth Tier."

"I used First Tier Magic elements and magic power, yet after combining them, they directly reached Second Tier. What do you think? Besides, I’m not a four-element mage. Being able to control these Magic elements is already impressive enough. What else were you expecting me to do?"

Ilka rolled his eyes at Black. As expected, warriors simply did not understand mages!

Frankly speaking, if the sphere Ilka had created were displayed at the Mage Guild, it would absolutely cause a tremendous uproar! Did this not mean that four-element mages now had a path they could follow?

Of course, there had been no other four-element mages on the Muya Continent besides Josh so far. Could it be that, like Josh, they simply could not condense Magic elements? Furthermore, Ilka could conclude that even mages with two opposing elements might attempt cultivation using this method!

But he soon shook his head and casually dispersed the sphere of light.

These results did not belong to him. As an elf—and an emperor at that—Ilka disdained stealing another person’s knowledge. More importantly, this knowledge was the secret of his good friend’s son!

"Josh did not lie. He merely did not tell you some things he did not think were necessary."

"Oh? Such as?"

"How to arrange the Magic elements. I think he probably assumed you did not understand this stuff at all, so he could not be bothered to tell you. After all, you’re just a warrior."

"That little bastard!"

Black cursed with a smile. He truly did not care whether Josh had deceived him.

Josh had his own secrets. That was perfectly normal; what child did not have secrets? As his father, Black had no intention of prying into them. Josh was simply too unusual, and Black could not help worrying, especially since that academy had put some pressure on him.

"What a pity. If Josh were my son, perhaps his accomplishments in magic would be even greater."

"Bullshit! If he were your son, the nobles in your country would have demanded his exile long ago. What chance would he have had to find that academy? What chance would he have had to become a four-element mage?"

"That’s true." Ilka sighed, but quickly returned to normal. "Can you tell me about that magic academy?"

"Of course." At the mention of that magic academy, Black’s expression became somewhat serious. "Josh found a teleportation portal by accident during one of his travels, and it led him straight into that academy."

"A teleportation portal? And then?" Ilka rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Then he met the headmaster. What was his name… Forget it, Josh did not say. Based on Josh’s description, that headmaster was very powerful. Oh, right, the school is called Hogwarts. That headmaster helped him resolve his problem, apparently by finding a solution based on some relics of Sky Wing."

"Akathosh? So that’s how it was." Ilka nodded as though he understood. "By the way, what are the students at that academy like? Did Josh mention them?"

"I’ve even met some of their students." Black’s expression turned rather strange as he said this. "That academy made some agreements with Josh, hoping he could help settle their students. I have to say, the students of that academy are very strange."

"They made an agreement? Did Josh reveal his identity? And what is so strange about their students?"

"Josh told them who he was. That was why the headmaster was willing to help him. As for their students, honestly, I would never have believed it if I had not seen them myself. Most of them are commoners, and every one of them has exceptional talent, but—"

"But?"

"But their magical ability is terribly poor, and their levels are very low. Yet in other areas, they display terrifyingly broad knowledge. Some are skilled in construction; the work crews who built Josh’s territory were formed by those students. Others excel at enchanting and alchemy. I swear I have never seen imagination and stores of knowledge like that. Magic Cinema was created by one of them."

"Magic Cinema?"

"Yes, those Magic Crystals that store images. Josh calls them Magic Cinema. And the people who film Magic Cinema do not even have the slightest trace of magic on them, yet when it comes to how to film, what to film, and literary creation, few can compare with them."

Black told him everything he knew in one breath, while Ilka fell completely silent.

He truly could not imagine what kind of academy would teach knowledge according to each student’s strengths, with such a broad range of subjects involved.

After a long while, Ilka finally sighed. "It seems the headmaster of Hogwarts is a great man. All of us focus on raising our own levels, but his students seem not to value cultivation talent at all. Instead, he maximizes every talent they already possess. That is what a qualified headmaster should be like."

"Perhaps." Black nodded as well. He had experienced such feelings long ago. Indeed, the academy Josh spoke of, and its headmaster, were truly remarkable.

"He reached an agreement with Josh. I suspect he saw potential in Josh’s future, as well as the empire behind him, and hoped we would protect those students after they left the academy."

Ilka nodded. That was the only explanation that made sense.

Like Black, he was extremely curious about the academy’s headmaster, but he would not personally visit him. Leaving aside the fact that he could not find the place, as an Elf King, visiting a school was something he himself might not mind, but the nobles under him certainly would not permit it.

Shaking his head, Ilka stopped thinking about it. There were countless hidden magic academies and warrior academies in this world, and quite a few powerful people who did not wish to come out and oppose the empires. Ilka had no energy to spare on such things. He could only marvel at how fortunate Josh was.

"By the way, what do you think about my daughter?"

"Your daughter? Avila? Didn’t you say that promise was bullshit? Why are you bringing it up again now?"

"That promise was caused by Avila’s mother telling her too many stories beyond her years when she was young. And Avila made that promise only to keep others from bothering her. Besides, though I truly do not want to acknowledge a promise that is not even worth shit, do not forget that she is an elf!"

At the mention of his daughter, Ilka’s expression did not look much better.

An elf’s promise was an extremely precious thing!

Especially for House-elves like Avila, who were little more than infants in his eyes. Their attachment to and insistence on promises often went beyond imagination. If Avila had experienced what Ilka had, she probably would not be so hung up on it.

"So what do you mean? Let me tell you first: Josh already has a woman he likes. He cannot be as unwaveringly faithful as you elves."

"I know. That girl is called Natasha, right? Forget it. No matter what, let them meet tonight and spend some time together. It would be best if Josh went too far and made Avila give up on this idea entirely."

"Huh? You bastard, I actually think it wouldn’t be too bad."