Chapter 40

 In a short period of time, Oke had already mingled with the villagers.

 He was a master magician, yet he almost treated the villagers as equals.

 Surprisingly, the villagers were easily influenced by him, setting aside the distance that ordinary people usually keep from magicians due to reverence and fear, and instead becoming close to him.

 Du Mingna looked at Oke and took a deep breath.

 He turned to ask Old John, "Did he really hug me like that when I was a child?" Then, for the first time, Du Mingna saw a hint of conflict on Old John's face.

 "Yes, young master, that was when Lady Daisy was still around, you were young and probably don't remember.

 At that time, Master Oke had not yet announced his departure from the Par family.

 He was traveling around and happened to visit this area, attending a banquet hosted by the Viscount, and he hugged you at the banquet.

 He quite liked you at that time.

" Du Mingna shuddered.

 Daisy was Du Mingna's mother's name.

 His mother was not the legitimate Lady of the Hall Viscount, but a woman brought back by the Viscount from a trip to the capital for a noble meeting.

 No one in the Hall family knew Daisy's background, and the Viscount himself said she was just a destitute beauty he had saved.

 The Viscount was lustful, and Lady Daisy sought protection.

 The two ended up together.

 Daisy gave birth to Du Mingna for the Viscount but passed away when Du Mingna was five years old.

 Daisy, who was once healthy, suddenly fell seriously ill, and even the treatment potions were ineffective.

 She passed away within two days, still delicate and beautiful as in life.

 Daisy's funeral was not grand.

 The Viscount was infatuated with her but had to consider the family's reputation and the feelings of his legitimate wife.

 Du Mingna was targeted by his elder brother and the Viscountess because he was not born of the same mother as his elder brother.

 Previously, everyone had expectations of him, so no one dared to mistreat him.

 But once he was judged to have no cultivation ability, everything changed.

 Du Mingna never expected to have such a connection with Oke.

 He silently summoned the system panel, opened the teacher's file, and checked Oke's information.

 [Name: Oke

 Age: 43

 Hometown: Cardia Stone Forest, Gray Rock Country, Aomori Continent

 Current Teacher Rating: Three Stars (out of Five)

 Current Teaching Abilities:

 Basic Magic: A Level

 Wood Magic: A Level

 Water Magic: B Level

 Bush Planting: S Level

 Botany: B Level (He only loves bushes, otherwise, why would he learn more about plants)

 General Magic: E Level (You can't explain to someone who thinks 'having hands means knowing' how to cast such simple general magic, how to avoid mistakes)

 Fire Magic: F Level ...

 Basic Magic Medicine: F Level

 Basic Alchemy: F Level ...]

There was a long list of teaching abilities to follow, all of which were F Level.

 Du Mingna glanced over it roughly, realizing that Oke could teach almost all common magic.

 Spells of major elements like wind and earth, Oke should know some.

 It's just that his teaching abilities in this area are not strong.

 As for magic that magicians can learn, such as magic medicine, alchemy, magic arrays, Oke definitely knows them, but like his other magic, he's not good at teaching them.

 This could be because Oke himself is not good at it, or it could be like general magic, he knows it but can't describe it.

 After flipping through this long list of teaching abilities, Du Mingna finally saw other information.

 [Current Level: Ninth Tier Magician

 Current Teaching Willingness: B Level (With land, able to plant bushes, spend some time teaching others, and tidy up what has been learned, it's okay)

 Intimacy with You: 72/100 (Full 100 can activate the bond system) (The children I hugged unknowingly grew up like this, and there's a bit of fate. If I can get closer and get some land, it would be great, I can cultivate it myself) ]

 Du Mingna's mouth twitched.

 Du Mingna glanced over the intimacy notes and his mouth twitched slightly.

 His gaze finally settled on Oak's level.

 Ninth-level mage.

 So be it.

 When Old John was uncertain if the newcomer was Oak, he came to protect him, yet he was not particularly cautious.

 Defensive posture, but overall still relaxed.

 What strength does Old John really possess? When he asked Old John before if he could protect the well-built school, Old John only said that the shadow goddess statue he used for daily prayers could definitely protect the school from danger and prevent monsters from causing havoc, but he did not mention how strong he himself was.

 Could it be that Old John is above the ninth level? But if Old John has this strength and is still afraid of what lies beneath the Screaming Bird...

 then, how powerful is that thing really? Du Mingna felt that he was not doing well at all.

 But considering the presence of the goddess relic in this area, and the fact that the power of this relic should be stronger than other goddess relics that have already appeared in the world, Du Mingna felt that it was not surprising.

 The festive time ended.

 Following his previous preparations, Du Mingna told the villagers the story of the necromancer of the Red Dan County.

 As he expected, the villagers listened with great interest.

 After the history class ended, Du Mingna accompanied Oak to select land.

 There were many vacant stone houses in the village that Oak could use for residence.

 However, after selecting the land suitable for planting shrubs, Oak had no intention of finding a house to rest in.

 He took out his wand from his storage backpack.

 There are various ways for mages to cast spells, such as chanting spells, hand gestures, silent incantations...

 all are acceptable.

 Whether to use spellcasting tools depends on the mage's preference.

 Different spellcasting tools can provide different amplification effects for the mage.

 Oak held up his wand and chanted a spell.

 In no time, vines sprouted from the ground, quickly extending into the shape of a fence, enclosing the piece of land Oak had designated.

 Oak grinned.

 His smile at this moment was particularly bright.

 "Headmaster, let me plant shrubs here! I can't wait any longer! Do you know how many days it has been since I last planted shrubs? Eight days! It has been a full eight days! There are no shrubs planted by my own hands around me!" Du Mingna blinked.

 Only eight days? Shrubs? Just eight days? But looking at Oak's appearance, Du Mingna decided tactfully not to disturb him.

 What could cause trouble for a ninth-level mage? If there is, it's not something he should worry about.

 He might as well hurry back and prepare to continue teaching the villagers.

 This morning, he taught classes to several regular students like Dora and Belinda.

 In the afternoon, it was time for the public class.

 In the evening, there were classes for students like Daniel and Montserrat.

 Old John was helping Du Mingna compile a list of people in the village who were interested in attending school, so that Du Mingna could create a schedule after the school was officially built.

 Currently, only the students who needed to attend classes regularly knew when to come and when not to.

 Considering that Du Mingna had not been here for long, his progress so far was satisfactory.

 The classes lasted only two hours.

 For a rural area with not much nightlife, it was already late, and everyone should rest.

 But for Du Mingna, it was just the beginning.

 Who could resist the temptation of practicing on a late night? At least he couldn't! Du Mingna suspected that after repeatedly failing to condense the elemental core, he began to try to condense it every night until his mental strength was exhausted before focusing on sleeping.

 Tonight, Du Mingna was also making such an attempt.

 But Du Mingna did something he had never done before.

 After forcibly introducing elemental particles into his body with mental strength, he immediately stopped perceiving the movements of the elemental particles.

 His perception was much stronger than Jard's; he could control what he perceived and reject what he did not want to perceive.

 His previous knowledge told him that after the elemental particles entered the spiritual sea, they must be actively guided by the practitioner in order for the elemental particles to condense into a core.

 Almost everyone condensed an elemental core in the shape of a sphere.

 Those who condensed irregular spheres were lacking in talent and could only be considered barely successful.

 However, Du Mingna deliberately did not interfere with his mental power this time.

 He was only responsible for guiding the elemental particles into his body.

 He believed that his affinity with the elements was very high.

 This was not only the result of his previous tests, but also his own feeling.

 If those elemental particles were not willing to be in harmony with him, they would not come near him at all.

 Just with a thought, the elemental particles would happily run into his spiritual sea.

 So he was certain that his failure stemmed from another aspect.

 It should be similar to the speed at which Jia De perceived the dissipation of energy in the blood of the monsters.

 Du Mingna mechanically guided the elemental particles into his body.

 He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his forehead, as if it was already saturated.

 He dared not guide the elements anymore and instead turned his mental power to his spiritual sea.

 With a solid foundation from his original body and the high talent of this body, after several attempts at cultivation at night, he could enter a state of introspection with just a thought.

 At a glance, Du Mingna couldn't help but be amazed.

 What a beautiful sight! Countless elemental particles flowed continuously in his spiritual sea.

 The elemental particles he guided into the spiritual sea still did not condense into spherical elemental cores, but they were arranged in a special way and continued to flow...

 Unfortunately, as soon as Du Mingna noticed them, they became a group of shy little creatures and fled one after another.

 Even as they tried to escape from Du Mingna's body, they still maintained a certain order...

 Wait! Order?! Du Mingna was shaken.

 Perhaps he and Jia De had both misunderstood something! The elemental particles he perceived and the energy in the blood of the monsters that Jia De perceived actually wanted to let them know what the correct flow of energy was.

 If they continued to cultivate in the old way, it would not be the best way.

 Or rather, not the best way as the Goddess of Magic thought.

 This land was influenced by relics of the goddess.

 And they were the ones who received more attention from the relics of the goddess.

 So their cultivation, especially, was under the scrutiny of the relics of the goddess.

 Even though they were weak, they could not resist the power of the relics of the goddess.

 Those elements, those energies in the blood of the monsters, could not resist either.

 Generations of practitioners had long concluded that without mental traction, elemental particles and other energies would dissipate into the heavens and the earth.

 The part of the energy that he guided into his body should have also lost its correct guidance from him, which caused it to continuously dissipate.

 The more he perceived, the more the elemental particles felt that he could not provide the correct guidance, and the more they should leave as soon as possible.

 But this time, there were too many elemental particles guided into his body.

 When they dissipated, they still followed a certain trajectory, which Du Mingna forcibly remembered.

 Initially, it was relatively easy.

 It was like a river, where initially there was only the main stream without any tributaries, and one could easily distinguish the main stream.

 But when the main stream branched out into countless small tributaries, the main stream became finer and finer, until the main stream and the tributaries were almost indistinguishable, it became difficult to discern the position of the main stream.

 Du Mingna tried hard to remember the position of the main stream.

 The more he remembered, the more he felt that he had grasped something.