Camon Comprehensive University, Staircase Classroom 108.

“If I were to give you ten times the amount of Artificing, but the cost is that you will forever be chased by an immortal snail, would you be willing? Raise your hands if you are willing.”

This strange question instantly turned the entire classroom into a sea of joy. Even an elf student in the front row couldn’t help but laugh and raised their hand, saying, “Professor, you should ask who wouldn’t be willing!”

Standing on the podium was an elegant elf professor, with shoulder-length black hair, sapphire-like blue eyes, fair skin, thin and crystal-clear lips, a slender face, and a tall figure. He was wearing a dark gray windbreaker and white gloves on his hands.

Facing the students’ answers, he smiled at the corner of his mouth. “What if we change it to eight times the amount of Artificing and the chaser becomes a red wolf? Hmm, it seems like everyone is not afraid of the most widely distributed hunter in the natural forest.”

“What if we change it to five times the amount of Artificing and the chaser becomes a juvenile beheaded fish dragon?”

At this point, everyone hesitated a bit. The juvenile beheaded fish dragon could be said to be a silver killer. There is a joke that goes, ‘The first time an Artificer has no experience and surrenders when facing the Virtual Realm; the second time, even with experience, they still surrender when facing the fast, fierce, and passionate beheaded fish dragon.’

Of course, because this joke is considered discriminatory towards both males and females, it is rarely heard in reality and can only be seen in the shadows.

But almost everyone raised their hands. The elf professor nodded and said, “What if we change it to three times the amount of Artificing and the chaser becomes a standard Bloodthirsty Hunter?”

This time, fewer people raised their hands. Bloodthirsty Hunters are divided into Hunter Apprentices, Official Hunters, and Hunter Captains, corresponding to the First Wing, Second Wing, and Third Wing respectively. Standard Bloodthirsty Hunters are almost all combat Artificers at the Second Wing level, and Second Wing Artificers who are not in the production department are almost impossible to be opponents of Bloodthirsty Hunters.

“What if we only increase the amount of Artificing by one time, but you will forever be chased by a Virtual Realm creature at the level of a Titan Executioner?”

Everyone put down their hands, and a dissatisfied student couldn’t help but say, “Professor, if I’m willing, can you give it to me?”

“I certainly am not that generous.” The elf professor smiled and said, “But the Virtual Realm can.”

“The reward is an additional one time the amount of Artificing, and the cost is that you will forever be chased by an immortal and powerful creature from the Virtual Realm. This kind of ‘blessing’ is very common for the Virtual Realm. As long as you are willing to pray to the Virtual Realm, it will truly fulfill your wishes.”

“Have you all signed the student loan contract? Both parties of the contract pray to the Virtual Realm to act as a notary and supervise the execution of the contract. Whoever violates the contract will be punished by the Virtual Realm… This is actually the most common ‘blessing’!”

A student raised their hand and asked, “But almost anyone can sign a contract for any reason. Is the Virtual Realm really that easy to deal with?”

The elf professor smiled and said, “Of course it is easy to deal with because it is you who need to abide by the contract, and it is you who will pay the price for violating it. In this process, you do not receive any additional benefits but instead have to continuously pay. The Virtual Realm has always been generous with this kind of ‘harming others and not benefiting oneself’ blessing—of course, this is also because the insurance industry has developed for many years. It is said that signing a contract was a very troublesome thing a long time ago.”

“But if you dare to ask the Virtual Realm for a ‘blessing’ that benefits yourself, it will show a more ferocious face than a bank and more greedy fangs than a loan shark. For any Artificer who tries to take shortcuts, the Virtual Realm will give the most severe tests.”

“But ‘rewards’ and ‘tests’ are not fixed mechanisms. If Artificers know how to correctly utilize the power of the Virtual Realm, they can greatly increase the amount of rewards and significantly reduce the difficulty of tests.”

“Praying for blessings and adjusting blessings, this is the might of the Ritualist faction.”

The elf professor looked around the classroom. “To increase the reward from one time to ten times the amount of Artificing and to lower the chaser from a Titan Executioner to a snail, this is not the delusion of a fool, but a real miracle.”

“Of course, praying for blessings is not something you can immediately get a response from the Virtual Realm by shouting a few words in it. This kind of service quality is not even provided by the Falconer Hall receptionist. In fact, the ritual for praying for blessings is very complex. It not only requires various Artisans as materials but also assesses multiple Artificing factions. Therefore, it is a faction that requires many prerequisites…”

Sitting in the back row, Adra held her face and stared closely at the elf on the podium.

“Professor Xilin is really handsome…”

“Huh?” Furia looked at Adra in surprise. “I thought you would make a comment like ‘Is there a blessing that can increase gambling luck, and the test is best to lose the ability to reproduce.’”

“How is that possible? I always listen attentively to Professor Xilin’s classes!” Adra said with a pout. “Of course, if there is such a blessing, I wouldn’t mind it either!”

At this time, the staircase classroom was filled with people. Not only the aisles but even the windows were crowded with people. Everyone came to listen to Professor Xilin’s class. Professor Xilin can be said to be one of the most popular professors at Camon Comprehensive University. His academic achievements, appearance, and teaching level are all top-notch. Unfortunately, due to his work as a senator and other external commitments, he has not been a resident professor for several years and only occasionally comes to the university to give one or two lectures.

In addition, the most popular aspect of Professor Xilin is that his classes are free! No tuition fees are required, and anyone can audit them. Foolish people would miss out on such a free lecture by a Second Wing Artificer.

If it weren’t for Adra saving a seat for Furia, she would have to be leaning against the window to listen to the lecture.

“…However, Artificers who can greatly leverage the power of the Virtual Realm are ultimately few. For example, the example I just gave of increasing one time to ten times the amount of Artificing, I’m afraid even a Fourth Wing Legendary Artificer would have to give their all to achieve it. Therefore, compared to ‘adjustment,’ ordinary Ritualist Artificers prefer to complement blessings through ‘conflict.’”

“Suppose I have two blessings now. The cost of the first one is ‘I will never taste the flavor of food,’ and the cost of the second one is ‘I will taste the flavor of everything in my line of sight.’ What do you think will happen?”The students looked at each other, and Adra stood up to answer, “Both costs take effect at the same time, but sorcerers can taste the food by looking at it while eating, which means that the second cost weakens or even suppresses the first cost to some extent.”

“Yes, this is the mystery of ‘conflict’. By using the conflict between different costs, the negative impact of the costs can be reduced,” Professor Xilin nodded approvingly. “Of course, not all blessings can achieve such a clever combination. The more common combination is to gather multiple costs that act on the same area.”

“Suppose I have two blessings. The first cost makes me lose my vision, and the second cost turns the world in my field of vision into a bloody quagmire. After praying for these two blessings, although I still lose my vision, I don’t have to bear the second cost, which is equivalent to taking advantage of the virtual realm.”

A student asked, “If I have ten blessings, all related to the eyes, do I only need to sacrifice my eyes to gain the benefits of ten blessings?”

“Yes, that’s the idea,” Xilin smiled. “Prayer, adjustment, conflict, and ritual. Artificers can use clever combinations to obtain the maximum benefits from the virtual realm with the minimum cost.”

Another student was puzzled, “If the ritual faction is so powerful, why is it gradually declining now?”

Xilin said, “There are two reasons. The first reason is what I just mentioned. The entry barrier for the ritual faction is too high. Almost all silver factions must be mastered to perform rituals. Therefore, the minimum threshold for ritual artificers is a two-winged gold level.”

“Faction with high entry barriers like this is often difficult to pass down. Once there is an unexpected interruption, it will disappear in history until an artificer obtains the inheritance from the virtual realm and makes improvements to revive these past treasures.”

“The second reason is that the ritual faction is too dangerous.”

A student laughed, “Isn’t the magic faction dangerous? The water faction, which is good at healing, can also kill people invisibly.”

Xilin shook his head, “As I said before, although the virtual realm is stingy in granting benefits, it is very lenient when it comes to ‘harming others without benefiting oneself’. In certain forbidden rituals, a two-winged gold artificer can sacrifice themselves to pray for a destructive storm comparable to a full-force attack by a four-winged artificer!”

“We artificers can be greedy, adventurous, and unscrupulous, but no matter what, we must survive and cherish life! The ritual faction goes against this direction. In addition, many blessings can cause physical and mental disabilities, making artificers become extreme, violent, and disregard life, naturally unable to spread.”

“It is impossible to learn about the ritual faction in the virtual realm, but in reality, any wise artificer will prohibit the spread of the ritual faction. Not only for social stability, but also because the ritual faction is too easy to create mad artificers. Except for evil and chaotic organizations, the ritual faction is not beneficial to any stable organization.”

“I held this lecture to clarify the dangers of the ritual faction to everyone. If you encounter the inheritance of the ritual faction in the virtual realm in the future, remember not to be blinded by greed and use this dangerous knowledge cautiously.”

At this time, a masked student raised his hand and said, “Are there any members of the Four Pillar God Heresy who master the ritual faction? Could the natural disasters that have occurred before be the work of the Four Pillar God Heresy?”

“…The Four Pillar God Heresy has been completely suppressed by the Falconer Hall. All members, including the leader, have been arrested. This classmate, you should pay more attention to the news.” Xilin said coldly, “Your question is not valid.”

“Also, why are you wearing a mask in class? Can you take off your mask?”

Everyone looked over and found that the student who asked the question was wearing a crow mask similar to that of a medical practitioner, as if playing a role-playing game. Furia also noticed this scene and suddenly remembered that the heresy leader also had such a mask.

Could it be…

At this time, the student took off the crow mask, revealing an apologetic face, “Sorry, Professor, I really like this mask, so…”

Xilin stared at the student and suddenly covered his eyes with his gloved right hand. After a moment, he put it down, “Don’t wear a mask in class, it distracts me.”

As laughter and joy filled the room, Furia keenly noticed someone walking out. He had a backpack on his back, wearing a hood and a mask, passing through the classroom. It seemed that no one noticed him except for Furia. No one else’s gaze fell on him.

Although she couldn’t see his face clearly, based on his figure and attire, Furia was certain that it was Asho.

What is he doing here?

…

…

After returning to the apartment after class, Furia opened the door and was greeted by a strong fragrance.

“Welcome back, it’s time for dinner.”

“…I’m back.”

While Asho was placing the food, Furia couldn’t wait to ask, “Did you go to Professor Xilin’s class this afternoon?”

“Yes, did you see me?”

“Why did you suddenly go to class?”

“Well, there are two reasons.”

Asho picked up the cat food that Little Xian was eating, “The first reason is that I went to the university clinic to find someone to treat Little Xian.”

Furia was taken aback, “Is Little Xian sick?”

“Yes, it has a congenital cartilage disease. I saw it sitting on the ground in the afternoon, looking weak. I felt that it was uncomfortable, so I took it to see a medical practitioner. The medical practitioner said that if we want to relieve its pain, we need to take it for treatment almost every month.”

Furia held the folded-ear cat in her arms with a heartache, “I didn’t know… Thank you.”

“That’s great, I was afraid you would blame me.”

“Why would I blame you?”

“If it hadn’t received treatment, Little Xian wouldn’t know that pain can be relieved, nor would it know how comfortable it is to be healthy. It may be difficult for it to endure pain in the future, so you need to take it for treatment every month.”

Asho browsed through the videos for dinner while saying, “I was afraid that I would trouble you by taking Little Xian for treatment every month.”

“What trouble?”

“Isn’t it troublesome to take Little Xian for treatment every month?””How could it be!” Furia shook her head: “Why would I find it troublesome? It shouldn’t have to endure such pain. You were the one who saved it from its illness, I can’t thank you enough.”

Asho glanced at her: “That’s good… I’m actually quite surprised. You don’t accept any intimate relationships, yet you can devote yourself selflessly to a cat.”

“It’s not the same,” Furia muttered: “Humans aren’t as cute as cats, and Xiao Xian won’t leave me. It’s a friend with no expiration date.”

Asho laughed: “Do you consider the ‘expiration date’ when you make friends?”

“Why not?” Furia said confidently: “If the ‘expiration date’ is only a few hours, like a casual acquaintance, then you can be polite and act cute like Meiwa for a few hours; if the ‘expiration date’ is a week to a few months, you can hang out during holidays to bond, and chat about hobbies in your spare time; if the ‘expiration date’ is a few years, then you need to discuss political views as soon as possible, quickly judge whether the other person is a type you can be close with. If there are fundamental ideological conflicts, you need to draw a line immediately, and not interact outside of work.”

“So what conditions need to be met for you to think that a person’s ‘expiration date’ is a lifetime?”

Furia was stunned for a moment, she lowered her head and thought for a while, hesitantly lifting the cat’s paw: “At least they have to be as cute as Xiao Xian, right?”

Xiao Xian, struggling to breathe in Furia’s arms, pushed Meiwa away with its paw in disgust. Furia put it down and asked, “Taking Xiao Xian to the vet was the first reason, what’s the second?”

“I was passing by the school, so I thought I’d see how you teach.” Asho said casually: “Huh? The first episode of ‘Only Blame Me for Liking Married Women’ is out? Let’s watch this.”

“I actually wanted to continue watching ‘Tea Coffee Detective’…” Furia poked the Lalafell with her fork: “What’s so interesting about watching a class?”

“There’s nothing interesting.” Asho twirled his noodles with his fork: “So I left after a glance.”

“How strange.” Furia muttered, watching the knowledge screen while eating the Lalafell roe rice bowl.

But her mind was neither on the food nor the video.

For some reason, the strange feeling in her heart was getting stronger, and she was even… a little happy.

Speaking of which, what’s the ‘expiration date’ of this heresy leader…

She forced herself not to think about this question.