This wizard only wishes to be a teacher

"I made quite a haul this time!" Rafael’s smile was radiant as he chuckled and whimsically pulled out a crystal from his pocket, tossing it to Hercules. "Roland, share and share alike."

When Hercules took a look, he realized it was a high-purity Magic Beast Crystal Core, only slightly less valuable than an Awakening Stone, certainly a highly prized treasure in the Dream World.

"Oh, looks like you stumbled upon some unexpected gains," Hercules weighed the Magic Beast Crystal Core in his hand and chuckled lightly, trying to mimic Roland’s usual teasing tone with Rafael.

"Hahaha, thanks to Doro, I found a Magic Beast Tomb in the valley up ahead. It wasn’t a wasted trip after all, hehehe..." Rafael beamed with joy, while Hercules narrowed his eyes.

Cave? Magic Beast Tomb? He had clearly been with a Knight from the Mondok family earlier. Besides, if there were a Magic Beast Tomb nearby, the High Altitude Eye should have detected it during its pursuit tracking. What a blatant lie.

While Hercules internally scoffed, he also breathed a sigh of relief. From Rafael’s nonsense, he could scent something—that the so-called "master" of this Dream World didn’t know he had tracked him with the High Altitude Eye.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spouted a lie that was so easily seen through, meant to deceive him. And those birds disrupting the High Altitude Eye looked more like a pre-set passive trigger...

Watching the laughing Rafael, Hercules remembered a special defensive technique called "Fate Mage" from the Wizard training system his aunt had once told him about.

The methods of a Fate Mage were somewhat similar to what he was experiencing now; they would pay a certain price, like sacrificing part of their soul or even including physical parts of themselves, using them as "anchors" to draw a red line for themselves in the river of fate.

Before the "anchor" was completely consumed, any enemy who touched the red line would suffer the whims of fate, encountering all sorts of coincidences and surprises. Under this array of coincidences and surprises, even gods could fall.

Rafael’s current situation seemed akin to the methods of a Fate Mage but on a somewhat lower scale; yet, the core idea seemed the same—"establishing a red line."

As long as he didn’t touch the red line, even the most terrifying countermeasures set up wouldn’t be able to harm him in the slightest.

And judging from the countermeasures he and Lucien faced, the "deity" arranging their challenges was probably not in a good state right now, even sneaking around suspiciously.

Thinking about this, Hercules felt invigorated. He even envisioned going back to the academy and proudly telling his aunt how he, leading another first-level Wizard, had slain a deity with the help of special means!

With such a feat, wouldn’t that be enough to earn him ten years’ worth of credits? Shouldn’t the laboratory’s equipment be upgraded too?

The 4070 model was too outdated; it was high time to switch to the 4150 model, if not... perhaps jump straight to a 4270!

Who then could talk behind his back, saying he was just a freak who could do whatever he wanted because of his aunt and grandfather? Who would dare?

With these thoughts, Hercules found his mood much improved, even finding the jumping Rafael in front of him less annoying than before.

"Found an entire Magic Beast Tomb, and you’re just fobbing me off with this?" Hercules squinted at the grinning Rafael, half annoyed, half in jest.

"Roland, the rest are for my future wife!" Rafael, being tested by Hercules, clutched his backpack tightly like a startled rabbit, just as he used to do.

It was clear that he was still trying his best to perform the role of Rafael and was still actively trying to "conquer."

However, Hercules was now not going to "sacrifice" himself for the sake of the plot.

He pretended not to understand the hint from Rafael, picked up the riding crop, and fiercely whipped the behind of the horse Rafael was riding on, then suppressed the smile tugging at his lips as he watched the horse carry Rafael off in a chaotic manner.

"It seems that this red line is looser than I imagined," Hercules remarked with a hint of panic on his face, yet he was sneering inside as he watched Rafael, who just barely managed to control the horse, still appearing somewhat disheveled.

That action was also a test, probing the mystical defensive red line, to see how far it was set.

If any action detrimental to Rafael was supposed to trigger it, then the malicious whip he had swung should have been accidentally stopped, or even recoiled back onto him.

However, from the current situation, his "malice" had not triggered any backlash and had even caused Rafael a minor setback.

"It’s a pity, if only I had Lucien’s talent," Hercules was envious at this point of the Mind Reading talent awakened by Lucien’s identity. If he had this talent, maybe he could now obtain more accurate information from Rafael.

"Right, Lucien’s identity seems to be a member of the Menter family. I should suggest he follow the family team over here..." Hercules thought further.

At night, when the team camped again, Hercules immediately contacted Lucien through the Communication Magic Cube.

{

I’ve discovered some abilities they use to create coincidences, similar to those of the Fate Mages in the Wizard World. Here’s the intelligence, take a look.

...

Also, I need your help, especially the Mind Reading ability you’ve awakened, which can help me more accurately capture some of Rafael’s psychological states.

}

After speedily reading through the long message sent by Hercules, and combining it with his previous encounter near the Mondok family mansion, Lucien quickly thought of a lot, but when he saw that Hercules invited him to travel together to the north to observe Rafael closely through the Mind Reading talent, Lucien couldn’t help but twitch his lips.

He wanted to go too!

But the problem was that his public identity was just a child.

"Kid, those guys who manipulate fate, they are just borrowing the power of fate, and once you roughly understand their red lines, there are ways to evade them in advance," said Earl Sanaxis, while Lucien was drafting his message.

"How to evade?"

"Cough cough, of course, it’s by muddying the waters, causing a part of the area’s destiny to become partially chaotic," the voice of Earl Sanaxis carried a thick, crafty tone.