Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 246 Did you hear a familiar name again?

"The essence of potions is external stimulation, which causes the soul to grow excessively, and then feeds back to the body and mind. However, the raw materials for making potions are not completely harmless, and humans do not have as deep a grasp of the soul as they think. Therefore, many extraordinary people who gain power through the potion system lose control of themselves and fall into madness and obsession. They either become beasts dominated by instinct and only know how to vent their desires, or they take the initiative to end their lives in pain and unwillingness, and even their bones are reduced to dust and ash."

Saint Charity used a metaphor to describe this phenomenon: "It's like climbing a mountain in complete darkness. You can't see the road under your feet, and you can only take steps based on your feeling. And every step you take is accompanied by fear of the unknown: Will you be safe or will you fall? No one can tell at the moment when you don't have a foothold. So the pressure always lingers in your mind and gradually increases as you climb. The closer you get to the top of the mountain, the greater the pressure. In the end, those who can't bear this kind of pressure will lose their minds, give up, and throw themselves into the dead silence of darkness and sink completely."

When Ling Ge heard this, he couldn't help but speak out his truest thoughts: "It sounds like a road full of difficulties and dangers. Is there no way to stop this from going out of control?"

"Sheng Tumi also had similar ideas and had been looking for solutions. In the end, he came up with a solution called 'acting method'."

"Acting?" Linger thought for a moment, "It sounds like the code of conduct for opera singers."

"It is indeed related to this. It is better to say that all the performing cultures of modern civilization, including stage plays, operas, dramas, dances, speeches, etc., are derived from the acting method proposed by Saint Tomi." Saint Shalia casually said a historical secret that was enough to stir up a storm in the art world, but she did not care at all and continued to narrate: "The acting method requires the extraordinary to adjust their will to a state that is consistent with the corresponding law, never do anything that violates the nature of the law, and do not resist the changes it brings to themselves. This can effectively reduce the probability of losing control."

"But it's only lowered?" Linger keenly noticed that her statement was not absolute.

"That's right. It can't be completely solved by just reducing it. Moreover, the role-playing method also brings another problem. For the extraordinary people of the Order Kingship, the role-playing method requires them to pursue beautiful things such as fairness, justice, knowledge, etc., but they often fall into paranoia or negativity due to the huge gap between ideals and reality, and thus take the path of extremes. For the extraordinary people of the Chaos Kingship, the role-playing method requires them to bring about negative things such as disputes, death, and disasters. They are often hated and abandoned by the world because of this, and are gradually controlled by primitive desires such as killing and destruction, and cannot extricate themselves."

"These two situations cause the probability of extraordinary people losing control to remain at a high number, and the higher the sequence level and the more active the spirituality, the greater the probability of losing control. Saint Tumi calls this phenomenon "erosion" and believes that the process of extraordinary people becoming stronger is the process of maintaining the purity of self and spirituality through constant acting and erosion."

She paused, keeping these words in her heart without saying them out loud.

He wanted to master the power of magic to help himself solve future troubles, not to make himself a big trouble.

"I don't have any idea about this for the time being."

"Unfortunately, no one can resist erosion. Therefore, the loss of control of the extraordinary is a foregone conclusion. It is only a matter of time." Saint Shallia repeated her words seriously, "This is why I don't want you to choose this path, Lingge. You are a rational person. You don't want to see yourself losing control, and..."

Lingge replied.

Saint Xia Liya seemed to be relieved, but her exhalation and breathing were equally slow and long, so Lingge could not hear any difference.

Suddenly, the lamb bleated beside it. It was already satisfied with its meal and finally remembered that it had an owner. When it turned around, it found that its owner was alone with that stupid human. In order to prevent a certain situation from happening, it quickly ran over to block the two people and barked at Lingge twice as a demonstration, showing a loyal and protective look.

Besides, I don't want to.

Lingge looked at it expressionlessly, and his silent gaze seemed very oppressive. The lamb immediately turned around and naturally changed its position, running behind Saint Xia Liya, sticking its head out, still bleating at him, but the scene had changed from loyal protection of the master to bullying.

"Don't make a fuss, little lamb."

Saint Xia Liya touched its head and said, "Lingge and I have something to talk about. You go and play with Alice and the others." Upon hearing this, the lamb showed a look of contempt and bleated as if saying: Alice is such a childish girl, I don't want to play with her!
Alice's life was really disappointing as she was actually despised by a sheep...but it was also wonderful.

Linger looked around silently and saw that the Plant Orchestra was still playing hard on the makeshift stage. The banquet gradually entered the most cheerful but noisy stage. Even the proprietress Shesta had left the kitchen and was standing at the counter chatting with the bartender. The two of them looked back at their youngest sister from time to time, with both worry and expectations in their eyes, but the latter was still unaware and still pulled Metien to chat with something enthusiastically.

The gentlemen rabbits began to take over the sovereignty of the hall. Some of them chased each other under the tables and chairs, playing racing games; some jumped onto the dining table and swept up the unfinished dishes; others held wine bottles and stabbed around, dueling with each other like experienced swordsmen... It is said that these two rabbits have been dueling since the beginning of the banquet, and there is still no winner until now.

Olvera, who was sitting by the window, seemed to be a little tired of watching the rabbits fight, so she spread her book on her legs, yawned, and flipped the soft white pages with her fingers, reading casually. Her unconscious drooping shoulders, slightly narrowed eyes, and occasional small movements of rubbing her eyes with her hands... all gave people the feeling that she might fall asleep at any time.

Although he knew that this sleepy and lazy look was a habit developed during those long sleepless nights, her behavior still made Ling Ge subconsciously think of some students who were drowsy in class but forced themselves to listen to the teacher, trying hard to leave everyone with the impression of being diligent and studious, such as...

"You guys!" A head suddenly popped up from the side, and its bright eyes moved back and forth between the two people's faces, full of a strong desire for knowledge: "What are you talking about!?"

Yes, this guy.

Ling'er's expressionless face became even colder, and he didn't look at the elusive maid with a good face. Saint Xia Liya didn't mind her sudden interruption, and said to her in a gentle tone: "We are talking about magic. Ling wants to learn magic. Alice, do you want to learn magic too?"

"magic!?"

The eyes of the golden-haired maid became brighter. "I want it, I want it. How can you not take me with you to such a fun thing? Lingge, you are really too mean. Are you excluding me because you are jealous of me because I have a game console and cartridges? Oh, you can't do this. People should be more broad-minded, have a longer-term vision, and be more open-minded. People who are jealous of others' talents usually don't have a good ending in the plot, right? Obviously, I, Alice, am such a virtuous person..."

In the end, it inexplicably turned into a criticism of Lingge. In response, the young man only used one sentence to shut Alice up: "Shut up."

"Oh."

Alice obviously couldn't disobey her employer's orders, so she shut her mouth obediently and made a zipper motion at the corner of her mouth in a funny way, indicating that she had sewed her mouth tightly. You can continue talking and I will never disturb you again. If I make any sound, I will only be able to eat picky radishes, fried bile, crying mushrooms, and all foods other than chopped onions for the next month... As for the fact that she can convey such complex information with just her eyes, isn't that another kind of talent?

In short, although there was one more listener (bleat!)... uh, two more listeners, neither Saint Charity nor Lingge was affected at all. One of them was still speaking seriously and the other was still listening seriously.

"The third system is also the most common system of mysterious power among ordinary mortals, that is, magic, also known as modern magic. Because the magicians who master this system call the blood system mastered by the aliens and the potion system mastered by the extraordinary people as ancient magic, and regard them as symbols of primitiveness and backwardness. They believe that only modern magic can keep up with the pace of the times and become a force to change civilization."

"The person who proposed this view is also the founder of the modern magic system. He is respectfully called the 'Ancestor of Magic' by later magicians. His name is Merlin Ambrosius."

“Wait!?” Alice, who had just vowed not to disturb anyone—well, she didn’t vow—in short, she was as quiet as a chicken, couldn’t help but shout after hearing the last sentence: “What did you say the name of the ancestor of magic was, Saint Shallia?”

The good-tempered shepherdess tolerated the guy's unreasonable noise in the classroom, just glanced at her, and then calmly repeated: "The ancestor of magic, Merlin Ambrosius."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)