This wizard only wishes to be a teacher

"Tastes good?"

Lucien was stunned for half a second before he belatedly realized that the goblin priest named "Abu" meant exactly what seemed most direct and obvious.

He couldn’t help but tremble, feeling an urge to bristle.

"Don’t worry, there’s not even a hint of divinity on you, so you have no value as food." Abu smiled gently, but his words still made Lucien feel an uncontrollable shiver in his body.

"To be honest, among the training systems of a dozen top civilizations or higher civilizations, the taste of wizards definitely ranks in the top three. You have that enticing aura of independent research and mastery... it’s very captivating, much tastier than those who rely on faith or relics left by ancestors to achieve their magical positions. That group is much less delicious than compressed biscuits."

"Magical? Are you referring to the ’Otherworldly Faith Gods’ that appeared during the era of the Wizard Empire?" Lucien swiftly recalled the relevant knowledge as he thought of the bits and pieces he had read inside the Greybone Academy. However, he never expected to hear the specialized term "magical" again, this time in the context of evaluating their taste—and quite negatively at that.

"Top civilizations?"

At this moment, Lucien did not know what the goblin priest was planning, but considering Abu’s ability to manipulate and move emotions in others, he did not pursue the topic any further. Instead, he asked about something that interested him more.

"Yes, in the vast Star Sea, there naturally exists a hierarchy among civilizations," Abu said, laughing softly.

"Although it’s said that as long as a world gives birth to a ’main god’ or ’dominator,’ that world gains the ability to expand in the Star Sea and can be called a ’civilization.’ The number of cultivator civilizations active in the Star Sea may not reach a thousand, but there are definitely several hundred."

"Among these civilizations, those with only one main god, the lower civilizations, form the vast majority. These weaker civilizations luck out and produce a main god. However, they also tend to get demoted back to ordinary worlds quickly after the fall of their main god. These civilizations can only be considered lower civilizations."

"As for higher or top civilizations, they actually have a systematic ability to nurture main gods! Given time, these civilizations can cultivate new levels of main gods, according to their own training systems. These civilizations have at least three or four main gods at the helm, and some even have up to a dozen... Of course, understanding this is not to your advantage right now. To learn more about the main god level, it would be better to ascend to godhood first."

Abu’s hands rested lightly on the table, his green eyes calm and unusual, even showing a faint concern for Lucien in his words.

Lucien, however, felt somewhat uncomfortable. Suppressing the urge to look back at the judge paper figurines, he reminded himself over and over to stay calm and managed to nod to the goblin priest with composure, "Thank you for the warning."

"A small matter," the goblin priest smirked, "Your Wizard civilization is also one of the six top civilizations. Even if I don’t tell you, you would eventually learn this information through other channels. I’ve merely given you a head start."

"Heh, by the way, that ’Gray Mist World’ that little fellow is from, is one of the higher civilizations closest to being a top civilization. The realms they rule are the closest to the borders of your Wizard civilization, and there have been several small-scale border wars between your civilizations in the past, hehehe..."

The goblin priest spoke of the judge’s background without any pretense of courtesy, the instigative intent in his words seemingly unmasked.

"However, as far as I know, compared to the Gray Mist civilization, it’s your Chaos civilization that’s the true enemy of the other top-tier or higher civilizations, right?" In Lucien’s gaze toward the goblin priest Abu, there was not a trace of fear.

After all... you are the infamous ’World Devourers,’ the destroyers of civilizations. While other civilizations conquer territories for resources or faith... you are much greedier, even sweeping clean the cores of worlds you hunt, leaving behind ’voids’ within the Star Sea."

Lucien shook his head, his tone slightly heavier, hoping to provoke the goblin priest into revealing his true intentions sooner.

"If the strife between the Wizard civilization and the Gray Mist World is just a minor disagreement, then the Chaos civilization is the common enemy of all other civilizations." Lucien sneered, while his body tensed slightly, ever vigilant for a sudden attack from the goblin priest.

"Beings are born, and naturally they also die; worlds are created, and naturally they are also destroyed." Abu shook his head, showing no sign of eruption, his voice even more calm and peaceful, as if he were a high monk in deep meditation during a debate. "The Mother Goddess merely enforces the rules of the Star Sea; it is you folk who have misinterpreted Her will..."

Lucien’s brow furrowed slightly, and his hand quietly moved toward his storage ring.

Should the situation call for it, he was prepared to destroy the storage ring he wore and forcefully extract the feather pen to awaken the great being that lay dormant within.

"Your heart seems to be in turmoil," the goblin priest said, looking at Lucien with a smile on his lips.

"I just want to take a look at the stone tablet," Lucien said, even as he thought of what Earl Sanaxis had mentioned earlier, that the feather pen combined with the stone tablet could have an even greater effect...

"Are you thinking of using that feather pen? Let me think, if I were you, I’d definitely want to try some method to extract the feather pen, and then when I’m not paying attention, use the pen to alter the content on the stone tablet?" the goblin priest shook his head and chuckled. "Too bad, though, while the power of the stone tablet can’t seal the feather pen that comes from the same origin, the moment you pick up the pen, you become a rule-breaking existence."

"Do you think the rules will let you off?"

Lucien’s body stiffened.

"Well, by then, you will surely be erased by the power of the rules, whoosh—just like that, not even a trace left behind," the goblin priest said, leisurely gesturing as if erasing a blackboard, "Can’t we just have a quiet chat here?"

"Boy, I... I can’t hold on much longer!" From behind Lucien, came the somewhat strained voice of the Judge’s paper effigy.

"Indeed, after you use the feather pen, I will be in big trouble, but all this is based on the premise that you’ll die, not for the benefit of your civilization but for that youngster from the Gray Mist World... hmm, judging by his aura, he’s probably on the verge of being promoted to a deity-level Order Mage."

The goblin priest chuckled, "His ascension requires harvesting a certain amount of divinity to help him forge a new Order Scales, so his target has always been me. And you... are just a piece of paper that will be discarded after it’s wiped clean."

"I won’t resist, but... what choice will you make?"