The players drove their off-road vehicles into the mobile city of Leipzig. At the checkpoint along the border, a few were questioned by the Leithanian guards. However, Felix effortlessly resolved the issue—he simply scanned their faces, and the guards stepped aside.

“This… this is a moving city.”

For many of the players, this was their first time inside a mobile city. They had only seen glimpses of it through Magic ZX’s videos—footage of towering walls and majestic structures. But experiencing it in person was an entirely different feeling. The sheer scale of the city was overwhelming. Its presence loomed like a massive beast, pressing down on them with silent might. Some felt as if they might be crushed under its weight at any moment.

Members of the strategy team couldn’t help but sigh in awe. Yang YanXF tapped the steering wheel thoughtfully. He had a hunch this experience would make for a fascinating article in Terra Daily. Never mind the newspaper for now—he was beginning to feel like Yan Fei was getting the short end of the stick. After all, how could the quests in a novice town compare to those in a mobile city? Just sneaking into a place like this and picking up any random task was already a major win.

As a dedicated content creator and part-time writer for Terra Daily, Yang YanXF was eager to dive into the city’s library. His curiosity about Terra’s lore ran deep. Even after nearly two years in the game world, there was still so much of the background story that remained undiscovered.

The group checked into a modest hotel near the city’s outer edge—affordable, but comfortable. The rest of the time was theirs. Felix gave them a few exploration tasks: talk to specific people on the streets, dig up details on Leithania’s history, and gather useful information. Beyond that, he left them to their own devices. In Leipzig, Felix preferred to operate solo. He didn’t need help from the players here.

This arrangement actually suited the players perfectly. They loved adventuring with iconic NPCs and joining their favorite factions, but they also craved free time to explore on their own terms. Every major faction in Terra provided a fair degree of autonomy to its operatives—though so far, players hadn’t had much exposure to that.

Felix, for his part, modeled his faction after Black Steel International. Aside from handling missions and occasionally leading expeditions, he spent most of his time on personal errands.

The players quickly split into smaller teams. The two girls from the Production Department went shopping, with Magic ZX and Dandao Dantart tagging along. Yang YanXF and the Strategy Group stuck to their assignment, striking up conversations with NPCs to learn more about Leithanien’s past. Meanwhile, the two high-level players teamed up to take on a few bounty missions.

Although this mobile city lacked the iconic Twelve Towers of the Leithanian nobility, it was still a boon for players. The local economy was thriving, and the marketplace offered a wide variety of goods and supplies.

Previously, Magic ZX had reached out to Yang YanXF. Though both were UP hosts and followers of the Pioneer, their content focused on different niches—Magic ZX provided commentary on travel experiences, while Yang YanXF specialized in lore breakdowns and narrative interpretation. Still, they shared a common ground: both produced detailed gameplay guides, and they had even collaborated on a project once before.

“Wow, these staves are shaped like musical instruments.”

Dandao Dantart stepped forward to get a closer look at the staff display Xiao Xuegao had pointed out. True to her words, the staffs looked exactly like musical instruments—and the price tags were anything but cheap.

“You’re tourists, right?” the shopkeeper asked, glancing at Xiao Xuegao’s Sarkaz appearance without much concern. He spoke with an enthusiastic smile, “Our musical instrument and magical supply industries in Leithanien are highly developed. You can buy staff shaped like instruments here—and yes, they can actually be played.”

As expected, every region had its own specialty. In Kazimierz, it was all about knightly competitions. But in Leithanien, music and magic were intricately intertwined.

The group had no intention of buying anything, though. They weren’t casters. What were they going to do with a staff—hit someone over the head with it?

That night, the players continued their shopping spree through the lit-up streets of the city. Meanwhile, Felix returned to his residence—and was pleasantly surprised to find that Senomi had prepared dinner for him. He patted her gently on the head, causing her to blush and giggle.

As for his activities that day, Degenbrecher already had a good idea. Once she saw him drive off earlier with a pickup truck packed to the brim, she immediately guessed that he had gone to contact the adventurers.

She had gradually come to understand the boss’s methods. After traveling with him for a while across this land, she noticed that Felix viewed the players differently from others. Perhaps it was his eye for talent?

Degenbrecher suspected as much. Sometimes, she would sit in on the sales and resource management classes that Felix taught to Senomi. As a former Black Knight accustomed to fighting on the front lines, this knowledge had always been unfamiliar territory for her. But she picked it up faster than the child, nonetheless.

She realized that Felix wasn’t making much money from doing business with the adventurers. However, his strategy worked because of the sheer volume. Even if the profit per order was small, the large number of adventurers made up for it…

During a break in the meal, Felix checked on Mandragora’s learning progress. He found her carefully writing out an Originium formula, stroke by stroke. Just watching her made his head hurt. He gave up looking and thought to himself: if she wanted to become a Caster, so be it.

The next day, Felix and Degenbrecher escorted Senomi and Mandragora to school. Afterward, they split up again—Degenbrecher roamed the city gathering intelligence, while Felix made his way to Leithanien William University.

Much like what he had done at Lungmen University of Technology, he convinced the guard at the entrance that he was planning to apply for enrollment next year. Maybe it was his high charm stat—or maybe his confident demeanor—but the security let him in without a hitch.

He headed straight for the library. That was where the knowledge he sought resided. What he was looking for weren’t just books about professions or secondary classes, but academic texts—real scholarly materials. He selected a volume on ecosystems from the shelf and pulled out a water cup from his bag.

“Muelsyse,” he asked quietly, “do the books here help you?”

“You called me out just to read a book? Felix, you’re so boring.”

Muelsyse appeared beside Felix as a water clone, a faint trace of helplessness on her face. Still, chatting with Felix was far more interesting than writing reports in the ecological park. She took the book from his hands. “Let me have a look.”

She quickly became absorbed in the annotations scattered throughout the textbook. Seeing that she was fully engaged, Felix turned his attention to another book—this one focused on the natural environment and Originium—and began flipping through it like a textbook.

Originium was described as the source of pollution on Terra. The book analyzed the various ecological environments Originium could affect. For instance, it noted that plants exposed to Originium often wither and rot. Rarely, they might mutate, but their end was inevitably extinction. Originium could also contaminate water sources, thereby harming the plants and animals that relied on them. Animals could turn into infected organisms, while plants might become parasitic.

One section had a red-ink annotation highlighting “Terra’s Naturally Occurring Disaster System.”

Among the examples, the Kazdel sandstorms stood out most to Felix. He remembered seeing natural disasters from afar in his previous life—volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts… But this was his first time encountering the term natural disaster system, and it piqued his curiosity even more.

Then, the text introduced a particularly interesting concept: the positive feedback loop.

What exactly was a positive feedback loop? It referred to a process where the output of a system amplifies the original input, forming a self-reinforcing cycle that escalates over time. The term sounded technical, but the book provided a clear example:

Lake pollution → fish and aquatic plants die → decomposition by bacteria → pollutants rise to the surface → oxygen levels drop → more aquatic life dies → anaerobic bacteria multiply → decomposition accelerates, raising water temperature → pollution worsens.

In short, positive feedback rapidly amplifies environmental damage—creating a vicious cycle.

The text proposed a startling idea: that natural disasters on Terra could be viewed as pollutants themselves, while the planet functioned like a polluted lake. The metaphor made the concept much clearer.

It then mentioned that Originium has a trait known as mutual attraction—meaning that higher density, purity, and volume of Originium would attract even more of the same. According to research, natural disasters might actually serve as a medium for spreading Originium.

In certain regions affected by natural disasters, enormous black crystals—Originium crystals—would appear afterward.

However, for Originium crystals to grow at the same accelerated rate seen during natural disasters, the surrounding air would need to have an extremely high concentration of Originium dust—or the crystals would need to be in direct contact with large quantities of it. Based on this, and Originium’s tendency toward mutual attraction, the book theorized that natural disasters contained high-density Originium crystals. For example, in volcanic eruptions, the magma could contain concentrated Originium content.

Conversely, the theory could be flipped: perhaps it was the presence of high-density Originium dust and particles that caused the disaster in the first place. These concentrated, high-purity crystals would attract surrounding Originium matter, intensifying the density of nearby Originium and leading to instability.

And with that, the book offered a re-summarized conclusion—

Felix felt a bit dizzy, but he finally understood the material—at least the notes in the book had boldly speculated on the root cause of natural disasters.

What caught his attention most was Kazdel. This nation seemed inherently linked with natural disasters; they struck frequently, and the Sarkaz mercenaries there had long since grown used to them. Yet, the land itself had not. Could this phenomenon be an example of the positive feedback loop described in the textbook?

“Hmm… It’s a little different from what they teach at Trimount University, but the content is very intriguing,”

Muelsyse remarked seriously.

Felix nodded, then handed her the page he had just been reading. Muelsyse studied it for five minutes before speaking.

“This is really close to the topic I’ve been researching. The inferences are bold, and the arguments are deep… I wonder who wrote it.”

Felix didn’t know either, so he went over to the front desk to ask the librarian about the author of the notes.

“Are you two new students?” the librarian asked. “Those notes were written by Professor Naumann.”

“We are indeed new students. Professor Naumann?”

The librarian quickly clarified, “There are two Professor Naumanns at William University. The one I’m referring to is a lady—Professor Magna Naumann. She specializes in natural environment and ecosystem research. The notes in your book are her personal annotations. You’re lucky… Professor Naumann’s personal notes are considered treasures by many students.”

Felix thanked the librarian and glanced at Muelsyse.

“As an ecology graduate, are you going to meet Professor Naumann?”

“Felix, do you know how much I suffered writing my graduation thesis?”

Muelsyse pouted, clearly recalling the agony. Her water clone trembled as she whimpered melodramatically,

“Uuuhh… Life really played tricks on this poor, adorable little elf every single day. If I hadn’t stayed calm, I might not have graduated at all.”

“It’s not that dramatic.”

Felix couldn’t help but laugh. It had been a long time since he’d seen Muelsyse put on such a pitiful act.

Muelsyse reached out and poked his cheek with a huff.

“I’m going to tell Kristen that you want to apply to Trimount Polytechnic. She’ll probably be thrilled to write you a letter of recommendation. I’d love to see how you, Felix, manage your graduation thesis then.”

Felix’s face fell instantly. ‘Damn it’, he thought. I already went through hell once in the real world. Now I have to go through it all over again in-game?

What’s next—joining some ‘100 Words a Day’ academic group and trying to finish a sci-paper within a month? Are they going to make me run plagiarism checks too? At this rate, my black hair’s going to turn white overnight.

“Hehe, Felix, what’s with that expression? Are you actually scared?”

Muelsyse laughed, walking a few steps ahead. She turned back with her hands behind her back.

“Thank you. If I get the chance to consult Professor Naumann, it’ll definitely inspire my research.”

Felix nodded. “Class is about to end. Let’s go wait for her near the teaching building.”

As the campus bell rang, the university grounds burst into life. Students poured out of the buildings, and the two waited off to the side. A group of classmates emerged, surrounding several professors. Among them was only one woman—a Caprinae with curly brown hair, around forty years old, scholarly in appearance.

She exchanged a few words with her students, then began walking in their direction, evidently having just finished her lecture. Before she even got close, her eyes settled on Muelsyse.

“The sensation of a spell being cast… You used water, didn’t you? No… It wasn’t an Originium Arts. What exactly did you use?”

As soon as the word came out, Muelsyse seemed to revert back to her school days as a poor, timid little elf. Her whole body trembled.

“Uh… that… this is just my water clone…”

“What delicate control,”

Professor Naumann praised with genuine admiration. She stepped forward and circled around Muelsyse a few times, smiling.

“Forgive me—my husband would be very interested in your spell. I’m Professor Magna Naumann. You two seem unfamiliar. Are you freshmen here for a visit?”

“Ah… no.”

Muelsyse took a deep breath. Discarding her initial nervousness, she gave a polite salute.

“Hello, Professor Naumann. I’m a graduate of Ecology from Columbia Polytechnic University Trimount. My name is Muelsyse. I happened upon your notes in the library and found them fascinating. I was hoping you might have time to clarify a few academic points—I didn’t quite understand some of the content you wrote.”

Professor Naumann smiled.

“Well… I don’t have any classes this afternoon, so of course you may come along—with your boyfriend. It’ll be nice to have an extra audience.”

Even though Muelsyse was only a water clone, her embarrassment was still visible.

“He’s not… my boyfriend,”

she murmured, but her voice was too soft to be heard clearly. Professor Naumann had already turned and was striding ahead, waving for them to follow.

Felix couldn’t help but laugh, and several playful water bombs immediately flew from beside Muelsyse and splashed at him.

“You’re still laughing?! You’re still laughing!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep