Baiyi had just done what they least expected him to do. Although they wanted more information, no one would have expected him to be so casual with the old book, which may or may not be a treasure which countless people had thrown their lives away in an attempt to obtain. Was he not worried that someone would claim it from him there and then?

  “It does not matter what I say, right? So maybe you people will be more convinced by your own eyes,” Baiyi said, placidly — a stark contrast to the intense emotional shock his action had caused Great Sage Tom.

  It only took a short while for the stunned man to recover his composure, and a glint of excitement appeared in his eyes, closely followed by surprise, confusion, and greed. However, he said nothing, and instead, he sat down and wrapped his psychic energy around the book.

  The crowd of representatives no longer acted reserved; they huddled closer around the great sage like kids attracted to the fanciest toy in the neighborhood. However, no one tried to disrupt the Great Sage’s concentration. They silently watched the Great Sage with complicated gazes.

  Baiyi, on the other hand, seemed to have been forgotten completely. He was enjoying the scene, however. He took another seat further away and watched them examine the book, while the Voidwalkers tried to come up with names for his future Academy.

  Great Sage Tom concentrated on the appraisal so much that he shut down his sense to everything else. He sat so still, it was as though he had become a statue. Only his lips moved from time to time, mumbling, “Hmm, is this…… is this what Ancient Rohlserlese is? Very difficult to understand…… Mm…… what a strange reaction. What does it mean?”

  A long time later, he opened his eyes, and an expression of confusion appeared on his face. He began to look around, searching for Baiyi, obviously needing answers.

  When the crowd saw this, they opened a path for his line of sight to fall on Baiyi, who seemed relaxed.

  “Master Hope, this book actually—”

  Great Sage Tom had only just begun to speak when he felt his hand lighten. He looked down and saw it empty. The book was already back in Baiyi’s hand.

  “Alright. Now, if anyone has any further questions, you can go to Great Sage Tom,” Baiyi casually said and put the Book of Servitude away before leaving the conference room. The ostensible purpose of the quorum was already achieved, so it could be considered over.

  After he left, Great Sage Tom was bombarded with all sorts of questions regarding the book. One particular question was asked more than others: What exactly was that thing?

  The Great Sage was embarrassed and stammered, “I…… I don’t know either! All I know is that the tome is from the Ancient Rohlserlian time…… Probably related to forbidden spells? I’m not sure about anything else!”

  \r \r \r

  That answer was quite similar with what Baiyi had initially told them, and since they did not dare to do anything to Baiyi, they took their frustrations out on the old man from the Doors of Conundrum, Great Sage Tom. Some were more tempestuous and grabbed the Great Sage’s robe, while some grabbed his beard.

  “Ow! Ow! Put me down, please! Everyone calm down! I did not lie to any of you. This treasure really is uncharacteristically cryptic, and I can’t be certain if it is the Book of Servitude of legends…… Aaaah, my little brother! My butt!” The Great Sage’s cries spread so far that it reached Baiyi, who was already some distance away, and he could not help laughing in his mind.

  The Book of Servitude was just a moniker because a book was one of the forms it could take. Its true form was actually a group of golden light orbs that could shapeshift into any form he willed it to. If Baiyi wanted, he could easily change the book into a club-shaped object obscured by pixelation and rechristen it ‘The Stick of Servitude’.

  Now, didn’t that just give us the grand feeling of a horndog who builds his harem the ‘hard’ way?

  So, as it was shown, it wasn’t as simple as a magical tool or weapon. The Archmage could even shift its appearance when he started activating his second Territory. It was even emblematic of the Rohlserlian’s royalty— an object with so much significance attached to it like that would never fall into the hands of anyone this easily, especially when Baiyi had to go through this much to get it.

  Most importantly, though, there was no actual manual or instruction in the Book of Servitude. It was built on the Laws themselves to the point that it had the ability to manipulate the Laws on certain degrees! How could something this powerful even comes with an instruction manual? So whatever Great Sage Tom had seen and sensed was exactly what Baiyi had wanted him to see.

  Baiyi thought he was being kind to the old man for only showing the illogical, chaotic content, seeing how he was this old and yet still managed to do things like these. The Soul Armature could have just shown him a few clips of Philosophy ♂.

  “Now I have someone to share the burden of this fame,” Baiyi said in the Void. “But honestly, the Doors of Conundrum is not very loyal, isn’t it? I mean, I know I lied about being one of them, but still, it makes me one of them nonetheless. Do they really want my secret so much that they would betray me like this in public like that? Geez, that’s too far.”

  “With all due respect, the survivability of a purely academic organization throughout millennia, in a world marked by constant wars, requires…… Certain condonations,” the actual Great Sage of the Void, the Scholar, tried to explain.

  “Understandable,” Baiyi replied generously.

  With the way things had turned out, Baiyi should no longer have to deal with questions regarding the Book of Servitude, at least for a while. After all, he had given it to them temporarily, yet even a Great Sage was unable to uncover how the book worked. Since they were still not sure what the book was, no one would dare cause trouble for him.

  This was much better than the alternative, for if the public were to get wind of the true identity of the book, those who are primarily motivated by greed will begin to target him. Although these cretins would not be a problem for Baiyi, he still had to be careful because of his young students.

  Contrary to what Baiyi had thought, he continued receiving visitors, even at night; he just could not catch a break. Unlike the visitors who came during the day to sit and talk with him, the visitors who came at night arrived with ill intentions and face masks, definitely with the intent to rob him. Whether they were doing this of their own volition or because someone paid them to remained to be seen.

  Unfortunately for the robbers, Baiyi’s mutated plants had no need for sleep, so the robbers had their behinds handed to them. The more professional robbers, who were able to slip past the mutated plants, could not break through the Aegis Mansion’s many defense formations, which Baiyi had set up a long time ago. Therefore, Baiyi had no need to take action personally.

  Some interested parties took another approach to try to get closer to Baiyi; they targetted his female students. For days after the failed robbery attempts, the Aegis Mansion was visited by a variety of handsome men, who could all pass off as models on magazine covers. Some were prim and proper; some could pass off as the handsome boy next door; some were plain bad boys, and others had cheery and enthusiastic dispositions. It was as though someone had turned Baiyi’s home into a massage parlor for ladies.

  These visitors caused more headache for the Fifth Walker than other visitors did. Some of them even had the gall to profess their love for Baiyi’s girls, with roses; some came over with harps and played love songs, which Baiyi found sickening, and others came shirtless, showing off their toned bodies and firm abs.

  Baiyi was having none of it, though. Whenever he saw them, he would sic the Jawflower or Zakum the fox on them.

  Thus, the male hotties had no choice but to flee while whimpering, while the girls watched them with expressions of pity.

  “They are just shallow men borne with good looks. None of them could ever deserve any one of you!” Baiyi declared with confidence. “If they want to win your heart, they would have to go through me! And only the best can do that!”

  ‘If there is a boy whose strong, smart, and brave enough to beat me up until only my head is left, then I could maybe let the boy ‘hang out’ with Nota for a while……’ Baiyi added quietly.

  “But…… they all look pretty…… um, hot,” Laeticia mumbled.

  “What do you mean? Am I not hot?” Baiyi exclaimed as he patted his head and tidied up his bandit-like veil. “And, what’s more…… I’m deep.”

  “Mr. Hope is different, though,” Laeticia chuckled, and her face gradually reddened. The redder she got, the more adorable she looked.

  After seeing so many of their attempts fail, the unseen parties decided to play their trump cards. The next day, there were a few adorable and docile girls, who were dressed in proper clothes, innocently standing outside the mansion.

  These girls are all the features that self-aspiring lolitas would kill to acquire, and they all plead, with tender and flirtatious voices, with Baiyi to take them in as his student.

  Baiyi’s students silently watched the girls from inside the mansion, with curiosity written all over their faces.

  After making sure that the Cleric Walker, Paladin Walker, Engineer Walker, and the other members of the Void’s gentlemen club were muted, Baiyi opened the gate. Like a venerable senior, he smiled gently and patted the heads of the visiting girls and kindly said, “My Academy is not established yet. When it’s open, I’ll welcome your registration.”

  He closed the gate after that and sighed, then he kicked the Jawflower all the way to the door, scaring the girls outside away.

  ‘You guys can stop the advances now, right?’ Baiyi thought to himself, sighing.

  He summoned Mia to his side, and the girl came over with a puzzled expression.

  Baiyi just rubbed her soft cheeks almost violently……

  Seeing their trump cards fail, most of the unseen parties decided to give up. However, there were some who still felt confident in their chances.

  That night, Baiyi was in his underground magus lab, when he felt a strange undulation emanate from his yard. Alarmed, he rushed out of the lab and hurried outside just in time to see his mutated plants toppling over. A family figure stood in their midst.

  “Long time no see, Duchess Wright,” Baiyi said calmly, as he stared at the mutated cabbage plant lying beside his feet. “You better hope they are not dead, or else I’ll peel your pretty skin from your bones……”Er, are these representatives even, well, adults? I don’t understand…… How does bullying a senior enlighten anyone on what that treasure really is?Philosophy ♂ again! Gods! Stop the fairy ♂ reference from coming up again!!! Gaaah!]Or, no one. I bet no one can do that…… Little girls.Trying to scratch an “aroused itch”, I think. You know what sort of itch that is, I presume?