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Although it had been two days since I and the wood spirits’ envoy group had arrived in the city of Arlo, the highest-level authority in the Mage Country, the “Truth Symposium,” still hadn’t contacted us for an official discussion. This wasn’t because they were acting high or mighty or because they were avoiding us on purpose. We simply had bad timing, as the Truth Symposium was currently but an empty shell.

“Where are all the Truth Overseers? Um, normally speaking, it’s already considered quite an accomplishment if more than half of the Truth Overseers can be located. Currently, there are only six Truth Overseers on-duty at Cloud Tower. It’s impossible to begin a conference with only that many. At the very least, there needs to be ten of them. How about just waiting for the Truth Symposium’s regular scheduled meeting for next month?”

Aloso, a member of the Mystical Blade School, was one of the most famous ice mages of the current generation. Halfway through the SemiGod Rank, he was a former member of the Truth Symposium. When we arrived, he was the one who came to greet us and had answered my question.

Judging by his unrestrained passion and how hard he hugged me as a greeting, the Ice Aeon spell I had given to him as a gift must have been something he really liked. It likely brought him great benefits.

“Roland, I never expected that we would meet each other again. You, the king of all truants, would actually mature to such a degree? As the dean, I’m quite proud of you.”

This old archmage had a rather plump physique which was quite rare for mages. Aloso also had an excellent reputation for being one of the nicest mages in Cloud Tower. He was currently smiling like a Maitreya [1] 1 and even slapped his own plump stomach as he laughed, causing his fat to tremble.

We sort-of counted as teacher and student as well. Back when Kaid and I were studying beginner-level magic, we were all technically under Aloso in the Mystical Blade as he was the head teacher at the time. Now, he had become the dean of the Mystical Blade School, which was why the graduation certificate he did for me even had his personal seal and signature.

Although we were technically teacher and student, it wasn’t like what I had with Harloys or Amelia.

In order to explain things clearly, I first need to explain the Mage Country’s special and unique political structure.

This country, rather than calling it an independent country (which would typically be considered to have a group of people ruling over others) would be much more accurately described as a mega-large research association.

The capital Arlo’s name meant “seekers of truth” in the ancient language, and it represented the intention of this city when it was founded. Similarly, Arlodant meant “The place where seekers of truth gather” in the ancient language, which was quite self-explanatory.

The ruling class in this country wasn’t composed of a noble system. So-called nobles were simply local administrators to begin with. And, even though this was the Mage Country, true authority didn’t lay in the hands of any single mage.

The entire Mage Country consisted of countless small, medium, and large mage organizations. Every mage would typically choose to join the most appropriate mage organization for them as the most effective way to get one’s voice heard in the Mage Country was through an organization.

The larger organizations would tend to have various smaller factions or internal organizations and branch organizations. This was due to the fact that mages would have different understandings and paths on how to seek the truth.

“I want to prove star cluster magic’s revelations on Fate.”

An example of one organization came about because of Archmage Rodriguez’s ideas about star magic. Thus, the famous “Star Revelation” mage organization came into existence. This organization’s divination, prophecy, and horoscope magic was at the world’s peak; however, the Star Revelation’s members were typically utter hermits who lacked practical combat experience. It would be considered quite something if their members could perform at even half their actual power ranks.

“I want to reach the pinnacle of combat magic.”

Another example of how an organization came about was because of Archmage Levist’s passion in combat magic. Thus, the famous Mystical Blade came into existence. Their members were typically far more experienced in actual combat, which was rare for mages. They were far more skilled at combat magic and combat strategies, and half of the classes they taught were about practical combat. They typically grew through actual battles. However, it would be difficult to ask any of them for some top-level theories.

Alright then. Although both of these organizations were among the most powerful organizations in the Mage Country, they were almost exact opposites and had a terrible relationship with each other. One could view them as a practical faction and a theoretical faction. Or one could even think of it as the hard sciences versus the literary arts.

But there were no absolutes as there were always exceptions to everything. The Great Saint Margaret was a member of a smaller faction within Star Revelation. However, she was definitely highly skilled in real combat, having traveled all over the world.

And, from a certain standpoint, I counted as a member of the Mystical Blade. But let’s not mention elemental magic which frustrated me so much. At the very least, I was quite well versed in undead magic.

From another standpoint, the organization’s goal would typically change over time, different from what the creator intended. An example would be the “Sword of Order” organization. This organization’s creator was a fervent believer in the Holy Light, and the organization’s original focus was on Order Divine Arts, the power of faith and belief, Holy Light magic, and other similar topics. But, in the current generation, the changes in the Sword of Order organization were so massive that the original founder would likely be angered to death if he was still alive.

Perhaps they had gone off the wrong track somewhere, somehow, or maybe it was that things would always eventually balance in the opposite direction… This organization had long since stopped studying Holy Light magic and instead specialized in the rarest and strangest forms of magic. For example, their member mages liked to study undead magic, demon summoning magic, eastern talismans, and so on. It was definitely a gathering of researchers who loved to study the unpopular, and the Sword of Order organization ranked at the top of the world in studying the various sorts of taboo magic.

The relationships between the various organizations were quite messy. Some of the smaller organizations counted themselves as part of several larger organizations since their core leaders were members of those large organizations. However, the large organizations all had bad relationships with one another, so during every academic conference, the mages wouldn’t know who to support… Don’t look down on academic conferences, as they were the most serious conferences in the Mage Country. The moment various organizations started disagreeing about something, the conference room would immediately turn into a dueling arena.

Yep, the most important meetings in the Mage Country were academic conferences, rather than supposedly serious political meetings.

Since all the mage organizations sought the truth as their goal, their internal conflicts stemmed from various types of academic disagreements. And, in the Mage Country, the highest-level academic conference was the “Truth Symposium.” Yep, the same Truth Symposium was also the highest-level authority of this country.

The members of this Truth Symposium weren’t fixed. Archmages with great research accomplishments or excellent reputations would be invited to become members, thus receiving the non-governmental status of “Truth Overseer.” However, many undying archmages were uninterested in the Truth Symposium which was hardly ever able to come to a unified agreement on any topic. After forcing themselves to participate in a few meetings, they would feel like it wasn’t worth the trouble of having the title of Truth Overseer. They would often resign from their posts, and new archmages would take their place.

The reason? The Truth Symposium had two types of meetings: scheduled meetings and emergency meetings. Any mage that reached a sufficient level could apply to listen in to a Truth Symposium meeting and support their own faction. When I was still an acolyte, I had listened in to two Truth Symposium meetings. I discovered that at these meetings, the mages would use thirty percent of the time to brag about their own academic results, fifty percent of the time to attack others’ newest research accomplishments or to plagiarize them, and the remaining twenty percent of meeting time would be used to fight over funding and resources. For instance, they would always fight over the new mages with the greatest potential…

As for political tasks that needed to be done? When all the mages’ mouths were dry and they finally became tired of arguing, the final five minutes of the meeting would be used to pass new political policies at a high speed. The efficiency was incredible. Before a policy was even fully read out loud, all the mages would raise their hands in approval, and before the documents were finished being signed, all the mages would teleport away. With such “politicians” in charge, it must have been hard on the actual governmental administrators.

“It’s all just a joke. They’re all so old and stubborn. They’re all top-level experts in their own fields so who’d be able to convince anyone by simply debating? There’s also an ironclad rule that disallows actual fighting at the Truth Symposium. By the end of the debates, it’s not even about who’s being logical and reasonable—it’s about who can be the loudest and maintain their concentration for the longest! It’s about who can tolerate such a farcical debate the longest!”

This was also why the Mage Country had never invaded another country in the past thousands of years. In the past, there were obviously mages with plenty of ambitions. But to convince enough archmages in the Truth Symposium to pass a majority decision to declare war would be as difficult as reaching the stars. That mage might as well rely on their personal strength to try and conquering that country to realize their ambitions.

The Mage Country could technically even be considered to not be a country. For the true, purest of mages, the only places in the world they cared about were their research laboratories and libraries. They lacked territorial ambition and they did not pursue glory and honor, the exact opposite of the nobles and royalty in this world.

With such a political system, it was impossible for the Truth Symposium to ever “find the truth” about anything. Instead, it was quite easy for one to make enemies. It was quite common for those who became truly angry after arguing with those that disagreed with them to call for a duel with the other side in Midmountain Park after the conference. After all, fighting was strictly prohibited during the conference itself.

Every time one passed by that flowery park, one could always witness various duels of all sorts, sometimes even those involving forbidden spells. It was quite common to see an elderly white-haired professor dueling against some slightly cultured hooligan mage. There were even plenty of mages that knew martial arts and would use such techniques in the duels.

It was difficult for any sane person to tolerate such long and meaningless meetings for more than one or two times. And, for the smaller organizations and independent non-affiliated mages, their research results would be questioned endlessly, which made things all the more unpleasant. That was why, due to a lack of enough Truth Overseers to hold the meetings, the conferences were postponed endlessly… However, since the meetings were considered pointless by everyone in the first place as nothing ever came of them, everyone was actually quite happy to postpone them.

Yet there was an ironclad rule that the leaders of the eighteen largest and strongest mage organizations were absolutely required to attend all the scheduled Truth Symposium meetings. Their organizations were too influential, so they were forced to attend. And, in a way, this actually caused the leadership of these large and powerful organizations to change quite rapidly as if it was an unpleasant job that nobody wanted.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything. For example, a certain witch intentionally became a Truth Overseer of her own volition. Although her main goals were to scam research funds and cover her own crimes, her excellent physical appearance and ability to conceal what she was really like, along with that natural talent of hers to detect others’ emotions, helped her greatly in taking lead on discussing several major topics. She even won most of her debates, accumulating very high popularity and authority within both the Cloud Tower and the Mystical Blade.

Yep, the witch Amelia had once been a member of the Mystical Blade as well. She even gave classes to me and Kaid back in the day.

Right now, my biggest headache was that I was going to have to attend this headache-inducing Truth Symposium meeting.

Not long ago, I met with the Truth Overseer named Oslowen, and my System directly gave me the next step in my Epic Quest.

[Congratulations for activating the next part of your Epic Quest: “Will you have a glorious homecoming, or will you become a fallen phoenix?” You are required to participate in the next Truth Symposium meeting. The next portion of your Quest will depend on how you do at the Truth Symposium meeting and the status and identity with which you decide to attend. System Reminder: You know how things are done between mages. If you want mages to listen to you, you have to bring out something worthy of their attention.]

From this long Quest, which was, in actuality, a series of Quests in succession, it was quite obvious what the final goal of this Epic Quest was now. Of course, I would need to directly or indirectly get involved in this three-way war. That was how all these Quests in this Epic Quest chain were connected. First, I had to choose a side in this war and improve my Reputation level in the chosen side. After making my choice, what came next would naturally be to increase my influence. Only if people listened to me would I have the power to influence the entire war’s situation.

For me and my newly-born Mist Alliance, allies were absolutely required. I needed to try and get a mega-empire level country on my side, as they were the most influential voices in human society.

The Mage Country was an anomaly to begin with amongst all the mega-empire countries. Since there were problems with all the other mega-empire countries, the Mage Country was probably the most trustworthy ally I could choose from the rest. Their support would be immensely important.

Based on my System’s typical habit of making me suffer, I knew that unless I had a sufficient enough status to speak at the Truth Symposium and made myself influential enough at the meeting, the future developments would only make me suffer more and more. Perhaps I would even become nothing more than a cannon fodder-level vanguard without realizing it.

If the next scheduled conference was postponed, that would be both good and bad for me. The bad would be that I wouldn’t be able to continue the Quest for quite a while, while the good would be that I would have more time to prepare.

However, that conference would be about the critically important issue of the war against the Bardi Empire. The invitations had already been sent out to the Truth Overseers, and absenteeism was strictly forbidden. It was highly unlikely that it would be postponed as usual, so my current goal was to make myself as influential and reputed as possible within the time limit of one month. I wanted to influence things at the conference as much as possible.

“With so many things having happened recently, the Truth Symposium meeting will definitely be held. At the very most, it’ll only be postponed by one or two months. Roland, wait around for a while and familiarize yourself with the environment here. The situation seems to be easing up on the frontlines, and two Truth Overseers should be returning soon. At that time, they can begin the procedures for the meeting. Right, how about coming to my school to teach a few classes as a way of passing time? With a veteran student returning to the school to teach, the students should be quite pleased.”

Only now did I recall that Aloso had helped me obtain a special teaching certificate. At the time, I was just thinking that he was helping me to have an identity as a member of the Mage Country. I didn’t realize that he was actually serious about having me teach.

After all, from a certain standpoint, we were all students from his school. Of course, students from a magic school were completely different from a mage’s disciples.

Most large and medium-sized mage organizations had their own magic schools. That was where novices would be trained and talent and hard work could show their mettle.

Of course, the mage organizations wouldn’t do such things like run magic schools for novices out of kindness and charity. Due to the magic schools always being affiliated with some mage organization, the newbies at the magic school would typically become the fresh blood for joining these organizations. Of course, if the newbies wanted to become official members, they would either need to perform incredibly well or become a candidate for an archmage’s disciple.

The general knowledge taught at magic school may be shallow and limited, but it was also the most efficient required knowledge. So many years of teaching magic pared the classes down to the essentials, and it would build a solid foundation that would help a novice reach the next step. Seeds with true potential would be able to sprout with just this little amount of nutrition. Most archmages would find students appropriate for them while teaching classes, such as Harloys and Amelia back in the day.

By the way, since Harloys and Amelia were both teachers at the Mystical Blade magic school, they were naturally both members of the Mystical Blade mage organization as well. And, to my knowledge, Harloys was also one of the top-level members of the Sword of Order. While she was still a teacher, she discovered quite a few vicious individuals that she recruited into the Sword of Order, and several of her disciples even ended up on the Calamity Rankings. There were even more that became antisocial maniacs. Harloys’ nickname of being the “Demon Professor” was definitely well-deserved.

In all honesty, it was just far too difficult to become a mage, so mage society didn’t have the typical human society’s system of children taking over their parents’ work. Not only that, a mage’s typical inheritance that they left behind would mostly be research about a particular topic and records about seeking the truth. The most important part of mage society naturally became the relationship between teacher and student.

“I definitely can’t have my teacher’s knowledge be lost to the world with my generation.” This way of thinking was common to every mage. When a mage reached a certain level, they would desire to find a student who could inherit all their knowledge and research. Of course, the most important inheritance of all would always be the mage’s desire to learn more about a particular topic.

And unlike other jobs where sometimes the relationship between teacher and student would be icy, the relationship between mage teachers and mage students would typically go on for several tens of years or even several centuries—it would typically become one akin to that between a parent and child. In fact, the Mage Country’s laws even stated that a mage teacher had the right to make arrangements for a disciple’s life, while the disciples would be responsible for taking care of an elderly teacher in old age. There were also inheritance laws for teachers and students that mirrored other countries’ inheritance laws between parents and children.

What? Me and Harloys? A mage teacher-student relationship like ours, as if we were mortal enemies cursed forever to be stuck with each other… there would never be anyone else like us in existence!

Although I was currently worried about how to increase my fame, I soon started worrying about if I was becoming far too famous.

“It was a huge mistake to take those bastards with me!”

Note:

[1] ED/N: Maitreya is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. The Budai, or Laughing Buddha, is often identified with or seen as an incarnation of Maitreya, so much so that the Budai image is one of the main forms in which Maitreya is depicted in China. In this case, the author was relating Aloso to the chubby, smiling image of Budai. (Source: PDG Chapter 345 TL Note… yes, I know, I know. I was recently reading PDG, and it seriously was a coincidence. I’m definitely not stalking other novels’ notes. Definitely not.)