Chapter 264: Chapter 235: Choice

What kind of “rules” should one choose as the primary research goal on their long journey ahead?

This is a crucial question for any wizard who has stepped into the threshold of a Second Level Wizard, and it can even be said to determine one’s future fate.

Because it directly relates to a wizard’s future development potential and ultimate achievements.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that a wizard cannot research multiple rules at once.

In fact, many great High Tier Wizards have mastered several, if not dozens, of different types of Law Power.

However, according to the development experience summarized from statistical analysis of massive data by the wizard civilization over the years—it is best to specialize in one core rule before advancing to a Sixth Level Wizard.

Moreover, the truth is that many people simply don’t have the energy or the talent to study a second rule.

Therefore, most wizards usually find themselves unusually conflicted and troubled when faced with this question posed by Dean Avery Knight.

However, contrary to Dean Avery Knight’s expectations, after the initial shock, Jeming and David simply exchanged a glance and answered with surprising swiftness and decisiveness.

“Dean Avery Knight, I wish to have the origin related to the Four Great Elements!”

The two almost spoke their request in unison.

Upon hearing their answer, Dean Avery Knight couldn’t help but show a slight approving smile on his calm face.

He looked at these two young Second Level Wizards and saw considerable confidence in their eyes.

The “Four Great Elements,” namely earth, fire, water, and wind, are the foundational rules of these four elements.

In the entire wizard civilization, they are arguably the most popular and the most researched rules.

Even in the academy’s database, the number of related textbooks and research documents is the highest.

After all, among the nine Ninth Level Wizards at the pinnacle of civilization, six of them have their core rules related to the “Four Great Elements.”

However, Jeming and David’s answer seemed somewhat… too generalized.

Normally, a wizard who truly needs to rely on the Plane Origin to help break through research bottlenecks would specify precisely which rule origin of the “earth,” “fire,” “wind,” or “water” they need.

They might even request more detailed branches such as the “combustion” branch under the “fire” rule or the “gravity” branch under the “earth” rule.

But they did not specify.

They simply asked for something “related to the Four Great Elements.”

This very clearly indicates one thing—they do not intend to primarily rely on this origin to enhance their knowledge.

They intend to use their abilities to personally observe, study, and research the rules!

The most likely reason for choosing an origin related to the “Four Great Elements” is because this type of origin is the most widely circulated, has the best market, and is the easiest to exchange for other resources as “hard currency” within the wizard market!

Theoretically, using Plane Origin to assist advancement indeed has no substantial aftereffects.

It will not damage your soul, nor will it limit your future development potential.

However, on a “psychological” level, problems are likely to occur.

Humans have an inherent laziness.

Once you experience the simplicity and ease of the “inspiration” process using the Plane Origin.

In the future, when encountering research bottlenecks again, pondering hard but getting nowhere, your deep subconscious will involuntarily look towards the Plane Origin as a convenient tool.

You can indeed take shortcuts for the study of “rules.”

But for other aspects, such as the construction of witchcraft models, innovations in alchemy, explorations of the essence of the soul, there is no such convenient tool.

In the long history of wizard civilization, there is no shortage of geniuses who ended up with achievements far below expectations because they couldn’t adjust their mindset and became addicted to the convenience brought by the “origin.”

This is the inherent nature of living beings to seek advantage and avoid harm.

No matter how rationally you warn yourself against dependence, your subconscious will still be affected.

Thus, wizards have varying attitudes towards using the Plane Origin for advancement.

Some feel it doesn’t matter—power is power, no matter how it’s gained.

Others are like facing a formidable enemy, believing only knowledge obtained through one’s own painstaking research is the most reliable, truly belonging to oneself.

There are also those who feel the need to adjust their mindset, viewing it as a very useful tool, but absolutely must not rely too much on it.

So, Dean Avery Knight had little more to say about the choice made by Jeming and David.

After all, wizards are never accustomed to interfering with the paths others choose.

He simply admired the confidence and persistence of these two young ones.

After a moment of thought, Dean Avery Knight suddenly spoke up to add:

“What I said earlier wasn’t very clear.”

His voice remained calm, yet his words once again stirred up a storm.

“Because this time the target plane not only houses Eighth Level creatures, but apparently, there is more than one. This means the value of this plane is much higher than we initially anticipated.”

“Following the wizard’s fundamental principle of ’equivalent exchange,’ discovering such a plane demands that credit and rewards also increase accordingly. This time, I plan to give you not the usual ’single strand’ but ’ten strands’ of the ’Plane Origin’!”

“So…” The dean’s gaze fell once more upon the two of them, “You’d better think carefully again, do you only want the origin related to the ’Four Great Elements’ rules?”

Jeming and David were astonished, widening their eyes simultaneously!

They hadn’t expected the dean to be so generous!

“Strand” is the basic unit used in the Wizard World for trading “Plane Origin.”

Generally speaking, a single strand of standard, single-rule “Plane Origin” contains enough law information for a wizard, who knows nothing about that rule, to increase their comprehension progress from 0 to 0.1%!

This number may sound small.

However, from the perspective of wizard promotion requirements, it means that an ordinarily gifted Second Level Wizard can absolutely advance to a Third Level Wizard without any bottlenecks if they obtain “one strand” of origin!

After all, the accumulation of spiritual power can be solved over time, but the accumulation of knowledge truly depends on personal ability.

And ten strands of origin mean a wizard’s understanding of a single rule can be directly raised to one percent!

This means that the reward from Dean Avery Knight is guaranteed to let a Second Level Wizard be promoted to a Fourth Level Wizard!

The gap from “Third Level” to “Fourth Level,” although just one level, signifies a vast difference!

Such a significant disparity indeed warrants a re-evaluation.

Just like what happened to David, upon hearing Dean Avery Knight’s remarks, his previously firm gaze now showed signs of evident hesitation and struggle.

However, Jeming didn’t seem to need to think much.

His answer remained as straightforward as before: “Yes, Dean. I still want the origin related to the ’Four Great Elements’ rules.”

Upon hearing this, both Dean Avery Knight and David gave him a surprised look.

Soon after, a hint of admiration emerged in their eyes.

It was genuine respect for Jeming’s determination and decisiveness regarding his path.

Especially Dean Avery Knight, as a High Tier Wizard, he understood well that for a wizard, whether to use the origin is not the crucial issue.

What truly matters is whether a wizard genuinely understands the path they wish to walk and if their determination is firm.

Given sufficient aptitude, as long as one can firmly tread their own path with a strong and pure heart undistracted by external things, using the origin will not cause any mental issues.

Clearly, Jeming is such a wizard.

David, too, seemed influenced by Jeming’s determination, and his hesitant gaze instantly cleared.

He took a deep breath, made his decision, and said to the dean, “Dean, I also want the origin related to the ’Four Great Elements’ rules!”

On the other hand, being looked at with admiration by these two, Jeming blinked somewhat puzzledly.

For a moment, he didn’t understand why they were looking at him this way.

After all, the reason Jeming made such a determined choice, in addition to having already decided on the rules he wanted to study from the beginning, had another more important reason…

That is, he knew the “rules” he truly wished to delve into couldn’t be provided by a normal material plane!

So from the very start, Jeming’s positioning of plane origin resources was simple: to use them as hard currency to exchange for other materials!

You could say this resource is as universally valuable as High Level Military Merits!

Dean Avery Knight nodded with great satisfaction at the performance of these two young individuals.

“Very good.”

He said, “Now, you can go back and rest. The refinement of the plane origin will also take some time. In about…a decade, I will personally deliver your reward to you.”

With these words, Jeming and David once again respectfully saluted this powerful dean before turning into streaks of light, leaving the still bustling “demolition” work at sea.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep