Chapter 9: Pan-Wizard Alliance

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Pan-Wizard Alliance

"Then what has value?" Chen Shang had a faint guess.

"Wisdom," Leia said, her expression turning serious. "Resources and energy are everywhere. Only wisdom can combine the two into something useful. It allows Wizards to evolve, leverages rules, and turns the ordinary into the Extraordinary.

"But unfortunately, in the Endless Star Sea, wisdom is the scarcest resource of all."

Chen Shang fell silent. For the first time, he felt the limitations of his own thinking.

War and slaughter were not the goal, merely the means. But clearly, Wizards possessed far more efficient methods.

It was like the alien movies he had watched in his past life: aliens with super-advanced technology would fly their spaceships across the galaxy to Earth, only to fight humans with spears and broadswords over resources that were abundant everywhere else in the universe.

Of course, the ones who traveled lightyears just to fall in love with humans were even more idiotic, leaving the audience feeling like they were being force-fed literal shit.

Leia continued, "Therefore, the rules established by Wizards aren’t out of kindness, but for maximum efficiency. Slaughtering all the natives of a world only yields a pile of resources.

"But studying their civilization and their wisdom might inspire new understandings of certain truths. In the Wizard World, there is no shortage of Great Wizards who have completed their research projects by studying new civilizations."

She leaned back in her chair and said softly, "It took those ancient old monsters tens of thousands of years to figure this out. Now, this is something every Wizard Apprentice must learn on their first day of enrollment."

Chen Shang pondered for a moment before asking another question, "Senior Sister, I have another doubt."

"Speak."

"Since Wizards don’t want to cause the destruction of wisdom, why do they continuously descend upon New Worlds?

"Wouldn’t it be better to leave these worlds as they are, completely undisturbed, to allow them greater diversity and reference value?"

Leia fell silent for a moment. She let out a sigh and said, "Many newcomers have asked this question. It’s even a subject of ongoing debate within the Wizard Council."

She didn’t answer directly. Instead, she asked, "What is the living condition of the creatures you’ve seen these past few days?"

Chen Shang froze for a moment. He recalled what he had witnessed recently: those massive silhouettes, the writhing plants, the bizarre natives, and that omnipresent sense of repulsion.

"Natural, cold, and undisturbed."

Leia nodded.

"You’re right. The creatures nearby haven’t evolved wisdom, and the natural environment is rather harsh. Their predation on one another stems mostly from survival instincts."

She paused, her tone growing slightly heavier.

"But that’s not the case for the other races in this world. It is the norm for one part of the population to oppress the other. The more a race evolves wisdom, the truer this becomes. A minority will always treat the majority as slaves.

"This holds true for the vast majority of worlds in the Endless Star Sea.

"Even though they look the same and bleed the same blood, some are born masters, while others are born as livestock."

Her voice was calm, yet it carried a strange solemnity.

"In such worlds, slaves live generation after generation without knowing what dignity or choice means. They don’t even realize they are being oppressed because it has been that way since birth. They think that’s just how the world is supposed to be."

Chen Shang fell silent for a moment before asking, "So, Wizards descend upon these worlds to save them?"

Leia shook her head.

"Of course not. Wizards are busy with their own paths of evolution, focusing purely on the pursuit of truth. Who has the time to meddle in such affairs?

"The point is that when Wizards arrive, they bring a new order, new rules, and a completely different possibility.

"The original order gets shattered. Slaves gain a chance to turn their lives around, a chance to come into contact with a Wizard’s way of thinking, and a chance to realize that it’s possible to live differently."

Leia paused for a moment and continued, "Then, a portion of them gains the opportunity to become Wizards."

Chen Shang was stunned. "Them? Those original slaves? They can become Wizards too?"

"Yes," Leia nodded. "And they are often more radical and more loyal than human Wizards."

"Loyal?"

"Yes. But they aren’t loyal to any specific Wizard, but rather to the Wizard’s Will itself."

She continued, "Those Alien Race Wizards who crawled up from the very bottom understand better than anyone else what Wizard Civilization brings. They genuinely believe that what they are doing is delivering civilization, progress, and hope. Therefore, after becoming Wizards, they are more passionate about descending upon New Worlds than anyone else.

"So, even though the Wizards’ territory is already too massive to manage, the pace of expansion still hasn’t stopped.

"A few years ago, the Pan-Wizard Alliance issued a new regulation: every newly promoted First Level Wizard is eligible to claim a small world for free.

"In the past two years, there was even a proposal to lower the standard to Third Level Apprentices, but it was rejected. A Third Level Apprentice lacks the ability to properly manage a small world, and doing so would only lead to disaster."

Chen Shang’s lips twitched. Newly promoted Wizards... claiming small worlds? Just how vast was their territory?

However, he also understood now. Wizards were chaotic neutral—neither good nor evil. They pursued truth, knowledge, and efficiency. Every single action they took had a highly specific purpose.

But good and evil were relative. The rules and order in the vast majority of worlds were far more abysmal. So, when a terrible world encountered neutral Wizards, it was incredibly easy for them to view the latter as the beacon of civilization.

"So, in the Pan-Wizard Alliance, there are many... non-human Wizards?"

"Of course. There are all kinds of races. As long as one possesses a Wizard’s way of thinking, they can become a Wizard. Many of those sitting in the Wizard Council aren’t human either."

"Aren’t you worried they might usurp humanity’s position?" Chen Shang asked, raising a doubt stemming from his days as a *Stellaris* player.

"No," Leia shook her head. "First, the power of human Wizards doesn’t rely on some council authority, but on their own absolute strength. That is the fundamental basis.

"Second, the non-human Wizards in the Pan-Wizard Alliance basically all suffer from severe human fanaticism. Some Wizards even discard their original physical bodies to reincarnate as humans. Even though the Alliance has issued regulations against it, such occurrences are still a common sight..."

Fair enough. Chen Shang stopped dwelling on the issue and asked his next question, "What exactly is a Wizard’s way of thinking?"

Leia turned back to look at him. This time, she didn’t answer.

"I can’t tell you that directly, otherwise it will be highly detrimental to your evolution. You need to explore it for yourself."

She walked back to the desk and pushed the silver-white Round Disc toward him.

"Master the basics first. Once you can read those Runes and understand Elemental Theory, you might just find the answer yourself."

She turned and walked toward the door. Just before it closed, she looked back and added one last thing.

"Oh, right. The Meditation Method is also inside the Round Disc. You can start tonight. Come find me if you have any questions."