I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha

Bernard's face lit up, seemingly his true interest wasn't in the corpse of the mutated giant, but in the giant after it had become a wooden sculpture.

He looked at Roland: "What's your name?"

Roland bowed and said, "Roland, sir, my name is Roland."

Bernard nodded and said, "Well, boy, you have a big problem with how you conduct yourself in the world. The little whelps of the Alexandra family are all arrogant, presumptuous, and suicidal fellows. But you're too perceptive and too humble!

If others saw you, they'd think you were an imposter and drag you into the woods for a brutal interrogation. You're lucky you met me and I asked a few more questions, otherwise, if you ran into someone else, even after they searched your soul and knew who you were, it wouldn't matter. Because you'd already be dead. They'd grind your body to dust, throw it into the sewer, and then pretend nothing happened."

Roland was stunned.

He never expected that he would almost lose his life for not showing off!

So, in this magic sect, if I don't show off, I'll die?

But if I show off, won't I die even faster?

At this moment, a team of watchmen passed by with torches. When they saw someone here, they walked over.

"Stop there, don't move! Hands up!" the watchmen said, holding up their torches.

Roland frowned and glanced at them, coldly saying, "Get lost! You blind insects."

The watchmen were furious, but when they saw the family crest on Roland's body and the smiling Professor Bernard beside him, they swallowed their anger like they had eaten flies, bowed, and left.

Roland sighed inwardly.

Bernard said with a chuckle, "Not bad, not bad, a promising student. But you just called them the wrong thing. Watchmen are 'dogs,' apprentices are insects—including the instructors are lackeys. Only formal wizards count as people, understand?"

Roland nodded and said, "I understand, Professor."

Bernard nodded in satisfaction and led Roland away.

Roland thought to himself, 'If I keep attracting attention like this, I don't know how many people will harbor resentment towards me.'

Bernard led Roland to a large wooden cabin. In the center of the cabin was a large heated kang, surrounded by many animal skins, sleeping blankets, and hammocks. It reminded Roland of the adventurer's inn in Valerian.

No one had lived here for several months, and the cabin was quite dusty.

Bernard told Roland that every year at the start of the term, some people who hadn't received invitations would go to great lengths to find this place. These people usually came from the secular world or from fallen wizarding families that had mixed into the secular world.

Essentially, these people were all Muggles. Through various opportunities, they had learned about the existence of the wizarding world. Of those who could find this place and climb the mountain, the academy would give them a chance.

This large wooden cabin was specifically for housing these people.

Roughly speaking, dozens of Muggles ran to the academy every year.

These people's talents were usually very ordinary, but they had a tenacious thirst for knowledge. So most of them were able to stay in the end.

Some of them, even if they didn't pass the magic test, the academy would still give them a menial job, giving them the opportunity to come into contact with knowledge.

Bernard sneered, "Those hypocritical White Chess wizards always have 'the meaning of knowledge lies in inheritance' on their lips, but they practice bloodline theory. Wizard descendants with slightly mixed bloodlines are subjected to cold shoulders and discrimination, and may never be able to access true magic in their lives. But we don't stick to conventions. As long as they can pay the price, not to mention Muggles, even a squirrel with a thirst for knowledge, we will open the door of knowledge to them!"

Roland was a Muggle, and he deeply felt Bernard's words.

Bernard said, "You can stay here tonight. There are indeed other temporary dormitories in the academy, but this place is the safest. That idiot Nading has already notified the administration department, and someone will come tomorrow to arrange your admission."

After a pause, he added, "If you don't want to live with the 'insects (apprentices),' you can find Wallace. That old codger isn't good at anything else, but helping you arrange this kind of thing is no problem. There are many empty rooms in the academy. As long as you have the guts, there are plenty of places to live."

Bernard told Roland that he would report the giant task to the academy, and the task reward would be issued by the logistics department. In addition, he had already undergone trials outside the school, so he didn't need to be tested.

"Work hard and survive here. I'm rooting for you. Don't let me see you at the undertaker's one day, new blood, haha."

After Bernard gave his instructions, he left.

It was very cold on the mountain, but the large cabin was very dry. Roland was in very good physical condition and didn't feel too cold, so he didn't bother to light the fire pit.

He cleared a space next to the fire pit, sat on the animal skin on the ground, and flipped through the Book of Demons for a while.

'Ah, headache.'

'I have to think of a way to solve this big problem tomorrow.'

He originally wanted to use the Book of Demons to summon a reliable servant.

But he ended up with a dancing ghost!

'No, I have to find a way to turn her into a dancing maid, or I'll be dead!'

Roland understood that once the Ballet Ghost ran out, it would have to catch him everywhere.

He and the Ballet Ghost had to submit to one of them!

He had no idea what to do about it for the time being, so he could only put the book away and meditate quietly.

The effect of this meditation was far less than before, but it was still five or six times more efficient than usual meditation.

Roland thought to himself, 'It's a pity that I only have one mermaid fruit left, otherwise the effect of meditation would be even better. Wallace will be coming to work tomorrow, I need to have him arrange a separate dormitory for me to grow herbs and refine potions.'

'It's indeed necessary to find a secluded place to live. Otherwise, once the things in the book are leaked out, guys like Bernard will definitely put me on the experiment table!'

Slowly, Roland let go of his distracting thoughts and entered into meditation.

A few hours later, there was a noisy sound of footsteps outside the door.

"Children, there are indeed other temporary dormitories in the academy, but this place is safer. Wait a moment, it seems a bit dirty inside. Strange, hasn't Carol brought Roland over yet?"

In Professor Nading's voice, the door was opened.

Roland got up and put his hand on his chest to greet Professor Nading, who nodded in response, thinking that Carol had brought Roland over.

He strode into the big house, lit the fire pit with a spell, and cleaned the dust in the house with a spell.

"That lazy Carol, doesn't she know to clean up? It's so dirty, the children will get sick if they stay here overnight."

Carol was an instructor/assistant under Professor Nading. He thought that Roland had been sent by Carol.

When Professor Nading waved his wand to clean the room, four dejected little guys filed in. Judging from their pupils, they seemed to still be in shock.

They hadn't recovered from the Ballet Ghost incident. From their perspective, the Ballet Ghost incident had happened just a few minutes ago. One second, that ghostly thing was still on their faces, and in the blink of an eye, they were next to Professor Nading.

They were now extremely nervous, afraid that a wooden puppet would suddenly appear in front of them in the blink of an eye.

It wasn't until they saw Roland that they finally calmed down.

When everyone saw Roland standing by the fire pit, they all showed surprised expressions and gathered around.

"Senior Roland~~ Wuwuwu."

Helena threw herself into Roland's arms.

Senior Roland said that he would lead everyone to leave safely, and he did.

Nading said, "You are all good children, rest well here tonight. Don't worry, it's okay. The old school workers abide by the regulations of the old academy, and no mysterious things will come to this location."

Nading had to work tonight, and there were still many unlucky little ones who had been turned into wooden puppets waiting for him to dispel the curse. After comforting everyone, he left.

After the professor left, Helena and the other three looked at Roland pitifully: "Senior, that puppet won't come looking for us again, will it?"

"No, it won't." Roland took out the books he had bought during the day, intending to study them and learn some daily spells.

After flipping through the book for a while, he found that several people were still looking at him expectantly. Roland couldn't help but sigh inwardly: 'In the end, they are all fourteen or fifteen-year-old children. In comparison, the Black Abyss apprentices seem to have better psychological qualities.'

Back then, the blonde and red-haired freshmen had experienced so many SAN-dropping things in the Yellow-Brown Fern Forest, but they followed Catherine all the way into the ruins without being frightened by what had happened before.

Even after witnessing the statue of the suffering and learning about the evil gods, they still maintained high morale when entering the underground palace.

Although these two Black Abyss apprentices were both idiots, they had strong psychological qualities. Before they died, they were thinking about profit, not fear.

In order to appease everyone, Roland coaxed everyone: "So, the logic is like this, it won't chase after us. Okay, everyone, rest early."

After hearing this, everyone's faces improved a lot. Adam and the other boys warmed themselves by the fire for a while, then each chose a place to rest, but no one wanted to go to other rooms. They all chose to stay with Roland in the hall of the big house.

It seemed that Roland gave them a great sense of security.

Helena lingered near the fire pit for a while, then turned to Roland and said, "Se-, Senior Roland, ca-, can I sleep with you?"

Roland: "Huh?"

"N-, no, no, I mean, I'll sleep here." Helena pointed to a piece of animal skin rug next to Roland.

Roland chuckled and said, "Sleep soundly, nothing will happen tonight."

"Okay!"

Helena nodded, took out a pillow and blanket from her pocket, and lay down.

She watched her senior's back as he slowly turned the pages of his book, gradually calming down and falling asleep.

Roland secretly touched the Book of Demons in his arms and sighed in his heart, 'Rest assured, even if it appears, it will come looking for me first. Alas, how should I deal with this ticking time bomb?'

Roland now only hoped that the Ballet Ghost Miss would be too tired from dancing during the day and could rest for two more days.

There will be two more chapters at 11 o'clock, and the others may be in the afternoon. There should be 3-5 updates today.