IRM Chapter 45

“Professor Joseph! Didn’t you go on vacation? I haven’t seen you these past few days!”

An unfamiliar voice came from the other side of the corridor. Joseph sighed lightly, turned around, and nodded slightly at the unfamiliar teacher. “Yes, I’ve been busy with matters at the academy recently.”

The unfamiliar teacher covered her mouth and smiled, speaking meaningfully, “Is it because of that student? Teaching a student who’s pursuing three professions at once… it must be very stressful, right?”

Joseph didn’t answer, only pulled his lips into a polite smile toward her. He intentionally or unintentionally avoided this topic, exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries, and then bid her farewell.

To prevent encountering such “acquaintances” again, Joseph cast an invisibility spell on himself and hurried back to his office.

He waved his hand to summon a gust of wind, slammed the heavy wooden door shut with a bang, and sat down at his desk as if letting out a sigh of relief. He removed his glasses and pinched his furrowed brow.

He had encountered this situation countless times in the past two days.

Various professors, teachers, students, and even academy staff members he knew or didn’t know would encounter him in various places, then shift the conversation to “the student who’s pursuing three professions.”

Joseph wasn’t among the first to know the news. He first heard about it from Aunt Mary in the academy cafeteria. Aunt Mary was getting on in years and couldn’t remember the complicated Eastern name, but once she started speaking, Joseph knew exactly who she meant without having to think.

At that time, Aunt Mary had enthusiastically grabbed Joseph. “Hey! Little Joe! Do you know? Your student… oh what’s his name, I forgot, he actually knows three professions! You’re such an excellent teacher!”

Joseph hadn’t even had time to explain to her that he’d been promoted to professor long ago when he asked in alarm, “What happened? What’s wrong with Ji Chi now?!”

Aunt Mary’s eyesight wasn’t very good either. She squinted at Joseph. “Hmm? Haven’t you heard about what happened at the camp yet? Come, come, sit here and I’ll tell you about it~”

Aunt Mary’s ability to grasp key points was also quite devastating. Under her confused, logically chaotic narrative, Joseph dizzily extracted the entire process of events——

His student, whom he had placed countless expectations on, who had absolutely unparalleled magical talent, yet still only knew one [Fireball] spell and was still just a Magic Apprentice.

Had actually become an Intermediate Summoner and Advanced Alchemist!!!

Joseph’s first reaction wasn’t that this was unreasonable, but rather that this kid was specifically here to mess with him! Is this how one shows favoritism toward certain subjects?!

No matter how much Joseph tried to convince himself otherwise, he already had a vague and terrible premonition that everything that little rascal had said was true—he really did want to collect all the other professions like achievements, and he really didn’t want to be a mage…

So for the past two days, Joseph had been struggling to deal with a bunch of people constantly stabbing at his heart while painfully thinking about these students’ future paths—not just Ji Chi, but he also hadn’t forgotten about Saintess Coralie, who was a demon summoner.

Joseph sighed heavily and buried his face in his palms. No matter how mischievous these little ones were, he could endure it all, but they absolutely shouldn’t have touched that domain…

Time rewound to five days ago, when Joseph brought Antoine, covered in wounds and reeking of blood, back to the academy, rushing to the headmaster’s office at full speed.

At that time, Headmaster Harvey was facing a magic mirror, contentedly grooming the sparse hair that had just grown out.

“Bang!” The office door was violently pushed open. Harvey’s finger trembled, and his longest, most robust hair named Jennifer was just like that, gently pulled out and lying bitterly in his palm.

Harvey’s pupils contracted. At that moment, time seemed to slow down for all things. Divine fury swept across the entire world, and those few standing at the continent’s peak trembled in their hearts, frowning as they looked toward the distant Saint Trilley Empire.

However, all this was so brief it seemed like an illusion.

Harvey took a deep breath, turned around with a forced smile, and asked with a somewhat gritted tone. “Professor Joseph, may I ask what brings you here.”

Joseph didn’t notice all that. He pushed Antoine in front of Harvey and asked directly with a frown, “Headmaster, do you know what the Divine Taboo is?”

Harvey’s expression froze, and his gaze instantly became sharp. “Why do you ask?”

Joseph pressed his lips together, a flash of pain crossing his eyes. He softly recounted Vincent’s incident and asked in a low voice, “Do you know what that was? Although I also firmly believe that talent determines a person’s profession, and changing professions is absurd, it shouldn’t lead to…”

Joseph didn’t continue. The word “death” was too heavy for him.

Harvey was silent for a long time. He looked down at Antoine, who was unsteady and collapsed on the ground, his eyes devoid of any emotion, as cold as a true deity.

“Do you know what the continent was like long, long ago?” Harvey suddenly spoke in an ethereal voice, tapping the desk with his finger. Without waiting for Joseph’s answer, he continued, “Everyone could sense all elements, every living being could freely choose their profession, all beings were equal, and light and darkness coexisted.”

This was the continental history that Madam Emma taught in her first class to young mages.

“At that time, there were seven deities on the continent. They came from seven different races, enjoying their people’s love and faith, and in return provided them with knowledge and skills.” Harvey looked at Joseph, his eyes filled with emotions the professor couldn’t understand. “The gods’ duty was inheritance and protection. They wouldn’t restrict their people’s freedom. It could be said that the continent might be divided into various races, but would never be divided by professions.”

“But one day, a thief seized control. To protect his weakness, he controlled all living beings, making them develop only according to the destiny he set. Once someone violated such destiny—that was the Divine Taboo.”

Harvey finished speaking with a sigh, his tone carrying a powerlessness he himself hadn’t noticed.

Joseph listened to Harvey’s words in shock. He completely failed to notice that Antoine on the ground was trembling, and the trembling was getting more intense.

Antoine suddenly raised his head. The wounds on his body tore open, blood flowing down from his body and seeping into the carpet on the floor. “Who are you? How can you know these things!”

Harvey ignored him and wearily waved his hand, saying to Joseph, “You needn’t worry too much. I also value those children greatly. I can guarantee you that at least they’ll be safe for the next ten years… As for this person, please leave him to me to handle. I’ll make him answer to Vincent.”

After Joseph left with heavy thoughts, Harvey finally turned his gaze to Antoine.

Antoine looked at him in terror, using his hands and feet to crawl toward the corner, constantly flowing blood leaving long drag marks on the dark gray carpet. “Who exactly are you… Why do you know so clearly…”

Harvey looked at the carpet with displeasure. “Really no manners at all… I hate dirty fellows the most, but I’m not in the mood to teach you now, so let your ‘friend’ teach you instead.”

As soon as the words fell, Antoine saw the scenery before his eyes changing rapidly—winter, autumn, summer, spring. Time was flowing backward rapidly, all the way back to that afternoon long ago.

When Antoine saw that familiar figure in the distance, he immediately understood everything. He nearly collapsed. “That’s a god, that’s a god…”

The long-dead Vincent walked over to him and asked with concern. “Antoine? Why are you here? What are you talking about?”

Antoine looked at Vincent before him in terror, immediately averting his gaze and trying to calm himself. “No, nothing, I just remembered some things…”

Antoine lowered his eyes, but his body suddenly stiffened. He realized with horror that time hadn’t rewound for his body—he was still in that wounded, bloody state… and Vincent before him didn’t seem surprised at all.

Vincent smiled as he watched him, his face bearing the cheerful sunshine from memory, but his mouth said, “What did you remember? Did you remember how you… sacrificed me?”

Vincent gradually approached the terrified Antoine and sighed. “My friend, in this frozen time, would you help me test the newly made potions?”

Antoine shook his head and refused in breakdown, but could only watch helplessly as Vincent gripped his jaw and fed him a bottle of pure Light potion, then slowly poured a bottle of Dark potion into his mouth.

Vincent watched coldly as Antoine struggled painfully in the extreme temperatures, saying softly, “Did you finally receive the gift I sent you? But it doesn’t matter, now you have eternal time to experience them.”

****

Ji Chi had no idea how much shock and upheaval his words spoken in anger had brought to this world. His current focus wasn’t on the Magic Academy at all.

Because immediately following the training period was a month-long vacation.

This vacation was an extremely rare benefit for every otherworld student. This cruel world filled with swords and magic didn’t care about humanitarian concerns—day and night improvement and training were everyone’s best way to protect themselves.

The reason for such a vacation was that the training period was simply too damaging…

Except for some students with explosive luck or sufficient ability, most people would lose at least a layer of skin during this grueling half-month.

Take the S-class young mages who went out for training this time as an example: they went out as a neat group of 16 people, but when they returned, only 14.8 people remained.

The personnel count hadn’t decreased, but missing arms and legs here and there added up to that much less…

So this long month was also for these not-quite-complete fellows to patch themselves up.

Ji Chi was naturally one of the completely intact ones, but he had his own arrangements.

He rode a carriage and once again came to the familiar Central Street. Bard’s wand shop was as low-key and quiet as always, with several poorly dressed civilian students still inside selecting wands.

Ji Chi pushed open the half-closed shop door, passed rows of wands of various shapes and prices, and came to the counter with practiced ease. He gently knocked on the table to remind the old dwarf whose body was mostly hidden behind it.

“The prices are marked on the display case in gold coins. Wands cannot be returned once sold. It’s best to try them before purchasing…” Bard was busy enchanting the wand in his hands and reminded the silent “customer” without looking up.

When he finished speaking and heard no clinking of coins, Bard finally looked up with a frown, his expression fierce—the prelude to a dwarf explosion.

But when Bard saw that familiar face, he suddenly relaxed, the powder keg returning to a safe stat.: “Oh, it’s you. Wait a moment, let me close the shop first.”

Bard jumped down from his high stool and walked to the few young mages who were gathered around an excellent wand admiring it, gently reminding them that the shop would be closing early.

After those civilian mages left the shop dejectedly, Bard watched their retreating figures for a while before raising his hand to flip the sign at the door to the “closed” side.

Bard closed the shop door and beckoned to Ji Chi, leading him to the workshop behind the shop. This small room was obviously built according to dwarf height standards—Ji Chi had to bend over to enter.

Bard used his foot to sweep away the scattered materials and blueprints on the floor, revealing a flat space, and moved a small stool for Ji Chi. “Sit here for now. Usually no one comes here, so I haven’t prepared anything.”

Ji Chi didn’t mind. He never cared about hospitality etiquette. He sat down and stared directly at Bard. “Did you call me here for something important?”

Bard came to his crafting table, looking restless. He took a deep breath, as if making a great decision. “Yes, it’s… a very important matter.”

After speaking, Bard looked at Ji Chi through his monocle with shrewd eyes. “Before that, I have a request… could you let me see your legendary amulet?”

Ji Chi hesitated upon hearing this—not because he was unwilling to show Bard… but because after friendly fire from his allies (Evan’s shield reflection and the Demon King’s charged squeeze), the amulet had lost its effect.

This defunct amulet didn’t disappear into thin air like in games—it had just lost its luster (special effects) and was carelessly thrown into Ji Chi’s magic bag.

Bard keenly sensed Ji Chi’s hesitation and closed his eyes. “Sorry, I was too eager. Such a precious item indeed cannot be casually shown to others.”

Ji Chi remained silent. It’s really not for that reason… I’m just worried you can’t handle it at your age.

Bard stood up and retrieved a box from an extremely hidden spot in the workshop. He pressed both hands on the box and said to Ji Chi, “Then can you promise me that after I show you something, you’ll lend me the amulet for a little while?”

Ji Chi thought for a moment, sighed, and nodded.

The box Bard brought out was half his size and seemed extremely heavy. Just moving it onto the work table made Bard break out in a sweat.

The old dwarf caught his breath and bent down to unlock the box.

He performed complex and intricate operations for quite some time before taking out from the box… another box.

Ji Chi: “……”

Ji Chi maintained an extremely speechless expression as he watched Bard unpack layer after layer of nested boxes until the room was full of box corpses. Only then did Bard extract a small box from the smallest container.

Ji Chi offered a friendly reminder, “If there’s another box inside this box, I’m going back.”

Bard looked at him disapprovingly. “Do you know what I’m about to show you? A treasure that many people spend their entire lives without seeing, and you can’t even wait this little bit of time?”

Bard lovingly touched the box and gently opened it in front of Ji Chi, saying, “This is the treasure that all engineers dream of…”

Golden light emanated from the box—the legendary equipment special effect Ji Chi was familiar with.

After seeing the gloves carefully placed inside the box, the equipment information automatically surfaced in his mind.

Set: [Inspiration of the Forging God (1/3)]

Quality: [Legendary]

Component: [Granter Gloves]

Component Effect: [Increases the probability for engineers to craft epic equipment]

Component Description: [Gloves used by the legendary Forging God. The great deity once used them to imbue objects with emotions]