Pillar of Yita

Hilveld nodded, and the basement fell silent for a moment.

The old man put down his pipe, his gray eyes flashing with insightful brilliance: ”So that’s it, the little girl from the Albert family, I wondered why you would challenge Old Copper Nose for no reason. You intentionally revealed your identity to make those old folks pay attention to the upcoming competition, right?”

Hilveld smiled, indicating agreement.

Ande laughed, shaking his head: ”Those old folks fell for your trick again, except for me, others probably haven’t realized it yet. You’ve successfully left them with a deep impression—”

He glanced at the crystal beside him, sighing: ”Old Copper Nose must be cursing now, no one who saw that performance wouldn’t be curious about this little fellow. But what’s more interesting is that they must think this little guy is a ’student’ I picked up from somewhere.”

He chuckled, expressing: ”Ha, well, let them guess. It saves those folks from nagging behind my back, saying I have no successors.”

Ande said, as he looked at Fang Hong with his silver-gray eyes.

The latter was clueless, but understood his ship’s officer lady had secretly set a trap for him again—Fang Hong turned back, looking somewhat annoyed at Hilveld beside him, only to see that the noble lady seemed to sprout a pair of fox ears on top of her head.

Pointed, and they slightly moved.

Ande shifted his tone: ”But my opinion alone is insignificant, at most it influences those old folks. Moreover, if you wish to take the Heart of Fairy, it’s the culmination of your grandfather’s generations, and the opinion of the Elders’ Council is just one aspect; you also need to gain Vilavito’s approval.”

Vilavito Silin Sibika — the current Count Rose, Delice’s father. Before they came, Hilveld had mentioned it to others, so Fang Hong wasn’t surprised. If they want to do this, it’s naturally necessary to gain the consent of the current ’owner’ of the Rose Workshop.

”We have our arrangements, Mr. Ande,” Hilveld replied.

”I believe so,” Ande smiled faintly: ”If the little girl from the Albert family plans to do something, wouldn’t she consider it thoroughly?”

”Alright.”

The old man finally nodded.

Although he said ’good’, he neither approved nor disapproved of the answer to this matter.

Hilveld and Fang Hong exchanged a glance, both understanding the other’s intent to first observe for a while. It’s not unusual; the old man was once the assistant of her grandfather and had a unique affection for the Rose Workshop, unlikely to make decisions lightly.

In truth, Ande also recognized Fang Hong’s extraordinary talent in Alchemy, but sometimes, talent doesn’t explain anything. It could even lead matters in a bad direction; if talent is used wrongly, it will only make one stray further from the goal.

Moreover, having blind faith in talent only leads to laziness, with countless examples of this, the old man would naturally not mention it, to avoid hurting young people’s confidence.

However, he believed, with the little girl from the Albert family being so wise, she should also be able to see this point clearly.

Thereafter, the group’s stay in Dulun was extended for a few more days unexpectedly.

At the old man’s request, in the following days, Fang Hong practically visited with Hilveld every day, sometimes alone, mainly to supplement basic Alchemist knowledge under the guidance of this legendary Alchemist.

To prevent similar mishaps at the Rose Workshop, such as not recognizing ’Liox’s Beast Chess’, a humorous event; it wouldn’t be as funny if it happened again at the Elders’ Council.

Both hailed from the Kapuka Artisan Association, belonging to the same School, thus Ande showed great interest in Fang Hong’s background.

In the old man’s distant memory, the Kapuka Artisan Association was fairly attentive to the basic education of Alchemist Apprentices, but what puzzled him was how could the Kapuka School educate such a common-sense deficient Alchemist?

Or has the Kapuka School declined nowadays?

When leisure allowed, the old man asked Fang Hong this question. Fang Hong, slightly embarrassed, blushed and answered: ”I’m an Invoker, Invoker’s training period is only six months, Mr. Ande.”

Well, compared to the ten-plus years of Native Alchemist Apprentices, Invoker is indeed considered fast-tracked, so it’s not surprising to be lacking in common sense. But Ande nodded and remarked: ”But other Invokers aren’t like you, are they?”

That comment hit hard.

Fang Hong was left speechless, because regular Invokers also have three years of trainee training, and a year of trainee assessment, followed by a two-year newcomer transition period; adding it all up, becoming an official Invoker takes at least five or six years.

In fact, many trainees start from the age of seven or eight, entering designated trainee camps, learning Earth knowledge while studying Eteliria’s common sense, and by the time they become true trainees, they’ve already gained considerable common sense about Eteliria.

Like Gita, Luo Yu, and Tianlan, are all classically trained trainees.

And he was merely self-taught; his understanding of Eteliria came from self-study from the community, where the higher knowledge was abundant, but related common sense was somewhat lacking.