Chapter 414: Chapter 361: Rewards and Death by Old Age

In Professor Clark’s laboratory, Jeming was immersed in handling a set of complex energy flow data.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Viola next to him sighing at a pile of rune structure diagrams, her pretty face, usually carrying a hint of mischief or laziness, was now furrowed like a bitter melon.

"Senior, what’s wrong with you again? Isn’t the war over?" Jeming couldn’t help but pause his work, curiously asking.

Viola suddenly raised her head, glared at him viciously as if she’d found a vent for her emotions: "Over? Yes, it’s over! But what did I get from this trip?! Nothing!"

She became more agitated as she spoke, vigorously poking at the data on the virtual screen with her finger, as if it were her enemy: "Apart from wasting several years in that damned place, worrying constantly, and being forced to recuperate in the end! I even poured a lot of high-level military merits to shorten that damn recuperation period! And what for? Resources? Knowledge? The measly stuff I brought back isn’t even enough to fill the gaps in my teeth! What’s most frustrating is that I already owed a huge debt before! Now it’s worse, I’m totally bankrupt!"

She grew more excited, eventually almost roaring, losing all her usual elegant composure.

Beside her, Professor Clark was cautiously adding some shimmering stardust into a miniature reaction core.

Without looking up, he inserted a faint comment: "Unsteady foundation, impatience for success. I advised you long ago to accumulate more knowledge before acting; if you had accumulated enough, it wouldn’t have come to this."

His words were like a precise needling, instantly bursting Viola’s fury.

Her momentum slackened, muttering under her breath to defend herself: "But... but even Seventh Level Wizards fell in droves this time... Can it all be blamed on my lack of preparation..." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Professor Clark finally stopped his meticulous operation, slowly turned his head, his eyes calm as a deep well looking at Viola.

Though he didn’t speak, nor did he release any aura.

Viola instantly stiffened like a cat with its neck scruff pinched, and fell silent, forcing a smile uglier than a cry on her face, quickly changing the topic, turning her head to Jeming:

"Oh right! Jeming! You brat! The rewards from the expeditionary army should have been handed out by now, right? You were the first merit! Hurry up, let me see, so I can soothe my wounded mind!"

Jeming was stunned.

He had been so busy these days, helping the professor handle the backlog of experimental projects, he actually forgot about the rewards.

Under Viola’s incessant urging and curious gaze, Jeming opened the Magic Network Terminal, connected his personal account, and found the notice from the expeditionary army’s highest command concerning the post-war summary and merit rewards for the codename "Justice" plane incident.

The first thing that caught his eye was his separately listed, marked as "Primary Intelligence Contribution and Key for Breakthrough" reward:

High Level Military Merits: 1,000,000 units

"One million?! High level military merits?!" Viola’s eyes widened instantly, her voice abruptly raised by eight degrees.

She first looked at the string of numbers in disbelief, then at Jeming, as if drained of all strength, and simultaneously ignited with all her grievances.

With a "thud," she collapsed on the ground without any image, even started tapping the smooth floor with her heel, emitting a cry full of sorrow:

"Ahhh—no justice! Why! I worked hard, almost lost my life, blood money and no return! You kid wandered in once, died once and came back, yet got one million high level military merits?! One million!! And they are high level!! I can’t live—!"

Jeming watched Viola making a scene on the ground without any demeanor, helplessly rubbed his temples: "Senior, calm down. The cost of the Death Replacement Doll I consumed far exceeds this amount. This reward can’t even cover a fraction of it, I’m the one who’s truly suffering a loss, okay?"

He no longer paid attention to Viola’s fake crying and real fuss, refocusing on the post-war summary report.

The front intelligence analysis section was more or less what he knew, but when his gaze swept over the "Personnel Loss and Return Statistics" column, he couldn’t help but pause.

"Return rate of fallen personnel in this incident: about 87%"

"Eighty-seven percent returned?" Jeming looked somewhat puzzled at Viola, who was finally stopped by a look from Professor Clark, dejectedly crawling up from the ground, "This proportion... Could it be that the casualties were considerable, wasn’t it said no battle took place? Why didn’t everyone come back?"

Viola brushed off nonexistent dust, leaned over to glance at the light screen, and a mix of sneer and understanding cold smile appeared on her face: "Casualties? Only two unlucky ones were confirmed dead this time. The rest... hmph, chose not to return themselves."

"Voluntary stay?" Jeming was taken aback, "Star Ring Federation... allows this?"

"Why wouldn’t they allow it?" Viola retorted, her tone carrying a kind of worldly indifference, "Star Ring Federation, or rather the upper echelons of Wizard Civilization, never care about the specific choice of individual Wizards."

"All the tribulations and adventures we experience are fundamentally a series of harsh selections meant to forge elites truly capable of bearing the future of civilization. Those unable to withstand the pressures and risks of the Wizard path, preferring to immerse in a false but ’happy’ lifestyle, prove that their will only goes as far as this."

She paused, her mouth curling up into a cold arc: "So what if they stay there? Existing in that modified plane as ’excellent studs’ widely proliferating their offspring to increase the probability of future Wizard apprentices emerging in that plane may not be a bad thing for the overall civilization. Waste utilization."

Jeming fell silent for a moment, digesting this cold logic.

He continued flipping through the summary report, suddenly seeing a brief record in the appendix "Background Information Supplement":

[Regarding the Creator Civilization of ’Justice’: ’Era of Enlightenment’ civilization confirmed to have utterly perished due to unknown reasons seventy-three thousand standard years ago, with no direct inheritors found.]

Upon seeing this information, Jeming felt something stir in his heart, he looked up at Viola:

"The Sage who created ’Justice’... the whereabouts of the Ninth Level Sage, is there any news?"

Upon hearing this, the sneer on Viola’s face receded.

She was silent for a moment, then spoke in a slightly complex tone: "Before I returned, I heard some unverified gossip circulating from the command. They said that Sage had already died of old age."

"Died of old age?" Jeming was astonished.

This manner of death, placed on a Ninth Level creature, seemed too mundane, even a bit absurd.

Even the nearby Professor Clark, always absorbed in his experiments, momentarily paused, evidently drawn by this piece of news.

Viola nodded to confirm: "Yes, died of old age. It’s said he resolutely adhered to his ideals, in the world ’Justice’ created where all extraordinary powers were suppressed, never liberated his own power, lived out his life as an ordinary mortal, experiencing birth, aging, sickness, and death, ultimately... peacefully reaching the end of his life."

The laboratory fell into a brief silence.

Jeming opened his mouth, only to find his throat a bit dry, not knowing what to say for a moment.

The Sage, cherishing Utopian ideals, sparing no effort from the entire civilization to create "Justice," attempting to establish an absolutely fair world, ultimately met such an... ordinary end in the "utopian" he created.

This conclusion was laden with an indescribable irony and desolation, yet it seemed to carry a bizarre, unwavering harmony.

Beside him, Professor Clark slowly shook his head upon hearing this, seemingly wanting to negate something, but soon, he lightly nodded instead.

In the end, he did not make any comments, just bowed down again, concentrating all his attention on the shimmering reaction core in his hands, continuing his unfinished alchemy experiment.