Locke took the True Sight Orb, thought for a moment, and said, "When I entered the Mage Plane this time, I discovered the overall scale of the Demon Race has already become very small."

"The threat to you should no longer be that great. Perhaps you could have the Plutarch family wizards enter this plane to protect you while you attempt to break through to Second Circle wizard."

Grand Wizard Sulla shook his head slightly. "The wizards within the Land of Six Towers have complex thoughts. I don't trust them."

"Once I tried to implement institutional reforms in the Land of Six Towers. I reformed five times in total. Each time was very successful at the start, but after one or two years, things reverted to their original state. In this process, many family wizards became wary of me, believing I had betrayed them."

"Therefore, I can't easily trust those family wizards, not even the Plutarch family wizards."

Locke opened his mouth to speak, but after thinking about it, remained silent.

Witch Sophia had warned him not to become deeply involved in the grudges of the Land of Six Towers. Besides, as an outsider, it was difficult for him to judge such matters.

Grand Wizard Sulla glanced at Locke and smiled. "You think I'm strange, right? That's because the environment I encountered in my youth was different from the environment you encounter now. The Land of Six Towers then was even more chaotic than now."

"Back then, the Land of Six Towers was thrown into turmoil by black wizards. It was very difficult for wizards to trust each other. Once a wizard leader couldn't satisfy those wizards' wishes, they might be secretly killed. Today's student and subordinate could be tomorrow's executioner who personally slits your throat and your family's throats."

"For a wizard who grew up in such an environment, suspicion has become a mark buried in his soul that can no longer be erased. Moreover, being prone to suspicion is itself a huge flaw in my character. I've struggled with this flaw all my life, but it's more stubborn than disease."

Grand Wizard Sulla said, "Are you curious why, when you first met Alicia, she was so innocent?"

Locke nodded slightly.

Between the two, it had always been Grand Wizard Sulla confiding while Locke simply listened, neither saying much nor offering opinions.

Grand Wizard Sulla clasped his hands behind his back. "This is what I believe: dealing with people and controlling hearts can all be learned later through three or four years of gradual study. But only sincerity, kindness, sense of responsibility, courage, love of learning, perseverance, and rationality—these most beautiful qualities of being human are precisely the most difficult things to cultivate later in life."

Grand Wizard Sulla extended his right hand. Immediately bloodline power condensed into a blood butterfly that landed on his index finger, its wings trembling slightly.

Grand Wizard Sulla said, "And these qualities can greatly increase a person's upper limit. Throughout my life, I've been harmed by my own suspiciousness and selfishness, as well as narrow-mindedness and pettiness, so my achievements have become extremely limited. Therefore, my cultivation plan for Alicia placed special emphasis on teaching her from childhood something I didn't have—kindness."

"Alicia possesses more compassion than other wizards in the Land of Six Towers. That kindness will guide her thinking, making her love thinking, love wisdom, love the Plutarch family, love the Land of Six Towers."

"Ability to handle affairs, cunning, deception and lies—all these can be improved through several years of later training. Only kindness is so precious that it's difficult to obtain through later cultivation. Therefore, I could only first keep Alicia in the most innocent environment, letting her obtain what I didn't have—kindness."

"And during this past year, I've tried my best to teach her the second half of the curriculum plan I arranged for her."

A flash of guilt appeared in Grand Wizard Sulla's eyes. "Speaking of which, I'm still very selfish, aren't I? I used Alicia, making her live according to my plan, deliberately cultivating her kindness, making her feel responsible for the Plutarch family, and ensuring she won't abandon this family."

"I've always felt guilty toward her. Originally, like you, she should have been free to pursue everything she wanted, with infinite possibilities. But I confined her to the Land of Six Towers."

"I don't know if my cultivation plan was correct."

Grand Wizard Sulla laughed self-deprecatingly. "I've suddenly said so much."

"When I was young, compared to Alicia, I was more like Eric. Of course, I was far more capable than him. But now I've become indecisive, perhaps even my younger self couldn't understand my current self."

Locke hesitated, then asked with confusion, "Then, Grand Wizard Sulla, there's something I want to ask. What exactly happened between you and the black wizard from Spiral Basin? You seem to be more than just simple enemies with them."

Since Grand Wizard Sulla had said so much, Locke took the opportunity to ask this question.

Grand Wizard Sulla was stunned for a while, then sighed. "That black wizard's name is Uliel."

"He was once my ghostwriter."

"When I was young, all my papers were written by him. But at first I really just wanted to become friends with him. I just didn't know that while I simply became friends with him, my family—the higher-ups of the Plutarch family at that time were secretly pressuring him every day, making him give up his research results to me."

A flash of regret appeared in Grand Wizard Sulla's eyes. "No, actually I had already sensed it, but I was always greedy, so I always pretended not to notice such things happening. Later, I hurt this former close friend, and in a moment of soft-heartedness, helped him escape to Spiral Basin."

"After that, the next time Uliel's name was mentioned was in the Spiral Basin journal 'Spiral.' He gave up bloodline magic and turned to researching prosthetics."

"He published many high-quality prosthetic articles there."

Grand Wizard Sulla sighed. "As for why he would compete with me for this Mage Plane, it's because my former assistant, Witch Medea, discovered through divination magic that I had entered this plane, and she found an entrance to a planar gate to this plane in Spiral Basin. My luck was truly bad."

"Witch Medea brought Wizard Uliel into this plane to compete with me for this plane's resources. She did it to take revenge on me for expelling her from the Land of Six Towers." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Grand Wizard Sulla sighed. "Actually, it wasn't that I wanted to expel her from the Land of Six Towers. It's just that she was one of the main clerical officers in charge during my fifth attempt to reform the Land of Six Towers. After the fifth reform failed, the family wizards needed to vent their anger, so I could only helplessly expel her and a group of others from the Land of Six Towers, and tell the family wizards that I was merely deceived by those commoner wizards."

"Witch Medea therefore held a grudge against me and vowed to take revenge on me. Clearly, she has succeeded."

Grand Wizard Sulla came back to himself. "Alright, I've said too much at once. Wizard Locke, I wish you good results in the Cloud Marsh Cup."

Locke had remained silent throughout, acting as a simple listener. Only at the end, before leaving, did he exchange a few parting pleasantries with him, then passed through the planar gate, left the Mage Plane, and returned to White Dragon Tower.

Early the next morning, Locke took his project team to the wizard airship docking area and boarded the airship.

Heading toward Cloud Marsh Wetland!