Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Aislin looked at Ruth in surprise, then tilted her head back to recall her interactions with Gilbert after his body recovered: ”It seems like, there’s no difference, except he’s more annoying.”

Ruth smiled helplessly: ”At first, I didn’t suspect anything, also because of this point.

Gilbert, when dealing with you, is always full of energy.”

If it’s really as he thought, Gilbert Hainarson indeed gained that sliver of fate... then the inexplicable hatred between him and Aislin could be understood.

This was the point he hadn’t been able to figure out all these years.

Clearly, Gilbert, due to his physical condition, was the least likely to compete with Aislin for power, yet Aislin was the most wary of Gilbert’s existence.

Sometimes, she would even abandon Oliva to trouble Gilbert first... When dealing with someone like her fellow disciples, where she could only bother and not kill, Aislin’s primary choice was generally Oliva.

They have fought for so many years, already to the extent where they can find each other just by catching a whiff.

However, Ruth also knew very well, his attention to Gilbert easily caused Aislin, who was already sensitive to this aspect, to develop a rejection psychology.

So he didn’t think much about it.

It turned out to be like this... the aura on both sides is in absolute conflict, not fighting is abnormal.

If Aislin didn’t have a bit of her own will, these two guys would definitely have fought behind his back until they turned into two dead dogs.

Aislin curled her lips: ”Anyone normal would dislike his mouth, can a human speak such words?”

”He probably would also say, can a human do what you do?” Oliva drifted lightly to the top of Ruth’s spaceship, ”Aislin, have you become too arrogant lately?

You even dare to let the teacher talk to you from so far away?”

Ruth and Aislin together suppressed a sigh: Has this guy finally realized what happened earlier, and why Ruth had to go see Gilbert?

But, although his reaction was indeed a bit slow, once he understood, he immediately flew back to try to make the scene more natural, which made Aislin somewhat touched.

She wasn’t unaware before that Oliva often let her... but at that time, Aislin was very confident.

She preferred to believe that Oliva chose to retreat because he couldn’t beat her.

Sure enough, only in times of true crisis can many things become clearer.

Aislin sneered, directly flew onto Ruth’s airship, and looked sideways at him: ”You came at the right time, the teacher is talking about Gilbert.”

”Gilbert, what about him?” Oliva asked a bit unnaturally... if something really happened to Gilbert, what about the aroma therapy?

Ruth, who knew him well, and Aislin quickly received the signal of his wild imagination.

Ruth directly interrupted his eldest disciple’s wild imagination... the more this guy thinks, the more likely he is to say something stupid: ”Don’t you think his Flying Eagle is too outstanding?”

”Teacher... to me, that eagle’s difference from a year ago to now is just a few more feathers.” Oliva answered sincerely, ”At least the attack array was something Gilbert had long planned.

Back then, he seemed to think that once the Flying Eagle was used, it couldn’t be retrieved, so he was considering ways to go down together with it.

He was always thinking about how to self-destruct it at just the right moment.

Now, I think it’s because he regained a bit of sanity after his Mental Sea recovered.”

Compared to a self-destructing Flying Eagle, this one is indeed more understandable.

Ruth shook his head helplessly... Oliva talked for a long time but didn’t get to the main point.

”The teacher feels his array ability is too rapid in improvement.” Aislin couldn’t help explaining.

Her senior brother, when capturing the main point, is always, forever off mark.

”Some things, he used to mention when chatting with me.” Oliva pondered for a while before speaking, ”He really likes piecing things together to form a composite array.

When I helped him repair the Side Tower, he liked using the multiple patterns on the walls.”

”I know that...” Aislin, who also helped modify Gilbert’s underground passage, nodded, ”So, the teacher only feels he’s improved too much, not that there’s really a problem with him.

Adding to other doubts, it always requires some verification.”

Oliva puzzledly asked: ”Then what else is wrong with Gilbert?

Even argued with you without actually fighting?”

Aislin’s long-suppressed Mental Sea couldn’t help but start to surge... The ’Aislin’ sleeping deep within her soul was instantly awakened.

”Do you plan to argue with your senior brother for a thousand years?” The ’Aislin’, slightly fatigued from dealing with Rosero, was very surprised, ”You’re about to disappear, and yet you can still rage over his thoughtlessness?

When I was crafting the false mask, did I put an extra spoonful of emotion?”

Aislin had nothing to say.

After observing the surroundings and sensing the incense candle Ruth was burning, the ’Aislin’ slowly said: ”Isn’t the scent of snowgrass supposed to relieve emotions?

Look at how thoughtful your teacher is!

Don’t wake me up again.

Really, when daylight comes, Rosero will definitely come here again; he won’t give up observing my situation.

You better behave.”

Aislin could only remain silent.

Only after sensing ’Aislin’ fall asleep once more did she turn to look at Oliva... Indeed, only a natural fool void of contamination could prevent a cunning existence like ’Aislin’ from suspecting anything.

Then she gazed once more at Ruth... Her own teacher surely knew how to guide Oliva into speaking.

In recalling the past, Aislin remembered numerous times when Oliva would make her choke on words: Indeed, on most occasions, their teacher’s keen presence was evident.

Ruth couldn’t help but laugh.

Indeed, did Aislin, having recently become evidently tense and much smarter, notice his obvious actions?

No choice; although he didn’t know as much, Aislin was nonetheless someone who knew Oliva thoroughly.

”I only wondered because during recent encounters with Gilbert, he never once addressed me as ’teacher,’ and I was a bit perplexed.”

Ruth bent down casually and replaced the almost burned-out candle with another one... Even though these candles indeed looked identical, some of them bore markings of nail indentation on their wax seals.

Of course, not all candles with nail marks were special.

Among those various nail impressions, two had particularly shallow marks, seemingly made when some gentleman inadvertently pinched the wax while lifting it with his fingers — these were the candles he truly needed.

If it hadn’t been for previous conversations with Gilbert about the Hainarson Clan’s stories, he wouldn’t have understood the young man’s hints.

Lighting a new candle, Ruth then looked at his two students: ”However, when alone with him, there was really no problem.

So, a while ago, perhaps he truly wanted to pick a fight.”

”Indeed...” Oliva quickly grasped Gilbert’s mood, ”How could he offer the teacher a chance to mediate?

No matter what, one has to scold first before anything else.

If I had Gilbert’s mouth...”

He couldn’t help but glance at Aislin, letting out a deep sigh: ”How many more years could one live!”

-----------------

Touching his ear, Hilbert kept feeling a bit itchy.

”Teacher, all the steel plates in the foundation have been laid.” Russell approached, ”Is this enough?”

Hilbert looked at the lad, knowing what he was fishing for: Compared to the Tower of Dark Enigma, the Sia Tower is less secure, so why not build underground passages?

”This will suffice.” Hilbert couldn’t resist a smile, ”We are not too familiar with this place after all.”

Only pathways that are intended for personal use are safe.

Although Hill trusted that the earth wouldn’t betray him... yet the dominion of the earth completely controlled by others wouldn’t necessarily still possess autonomy.

Anywhere else might be fine, but below the Sia Tower, it’s likely all filled with traps like the Grand Abyss.

Russell suddenly realized... his teacher, albeit powerful, was not yet beyond the shadow cast after the Sia Tower.

This self-assured behavior was due to recent smooth successes making him somewhat complacent.

Because he noticed that his teacher from another world hadn’t shown too much fear, Russell became overly confident in his approach.

He should have imagined that, given his teacher’s temperament, if he truly could face opposition head-on, why would he humble himself and call someone less capable ’teacher’?

Even with someone as strong as the teacher needing to conceal his identity, secretly leveraging strength against strength, he, a junior mage, must be even more cautious and discreet.

Russell scratched his hair, chuckled in embarrassment and lowered his head: ”Then, teacher...”

”I’ll go carve the array, and you call Carpenter back. Although you can’t fully scrutinize the combined defense and surveillance array yet, there’s not much difference in the foundational elemental pool at the start.

Observing more will be beneficial to you too.”

”Yes, teacher.”

Russell staggered as he flew, going to summon Carpenter... He had just learned the Flight Art, still unfamiliar with flight posture.

Landing at the foundation, Hill raised his hand to glance at the cat’s eye stone bead string on his wrist, gently plucking a transparent and colorless small diamond from the central bead, he pressed it onto the steel plate a meter thick that was reserved for the elemental pool.

Initially, a Magic Tower’s elemental pool should connect to the earth... However, the earth was unwilling.

Therefore, mages can only opt to use a three-stage elemental pool approach: the tip, the midsection, and the base of the tower working together to barely reach the energy intensity of a mid-tier magic tower like Teraxil.

But this also led to a minor issue: even the earth beneath the Sia Tower wouldn’t refuse to assist with channeling earth system energy upon sensing Hill’s presence.

Hill could only choose to let Gilbert continue as the master of this Magic Tower.