Chapter 373: Why
Listening to Ace’s words, everyone present looked somewhat bewildered. They felt that the people of the High Tower were quite united internally, with no significant conflicts. How could the danger come from within such a vibrant and enterprising group?
As for Ace’s analysis of the external dangers, it also seemed to differ from everyone’s views. Everyone held their breath, trying hard to listen to and consider Firelinker Ace’s thoughts.
Ace looked around at the crowd and spoke slowly in a majestic voice: “Our external environment is indeed fraught with crises. Whether it is Demons, Devils, or Divine Descendants, they all believe that eliminating us best serves their interests. At this time, our relationship with them is one of irreconcilable conflict; we must fight until one side perishes.
“However, when we thwart their attacks and cause them heavy losses, the conflict changes.
“If the cost of eliminating us becomes too heavy and does not align with their interests, they might be forced to call a truce with us. If cooperating with us in the future can offer them greater benefits, they might cooperate with us.
“And as our strength expands, if one day we can easily eliminate them, we will have no need to share living and development space with them!
“This is my view on the outside. As a collective, our High Tower’s relationship with other external collectives is a dynamic, contradictory relationship. The goal of every collective is to maintain and develop its own interests. Our relationship with them can be hostility, war, armistice, cooperation, and so on. Everything depends on interests!”
Ace’s interest theory was deafening, like the morning sun breaking through the haze, illuminating the gray earth and clarifying the general idea of the High Tower Territory’s foreign policy.
Stars twinkled in Daina’s eyes as she looked at Ace with infatuation. She loved this side of Ace—always proposing new viewpoints and insights that were enlightening and opened people’s minds.
“I will follow you all my life, Teacher Ace.”
Betty, on the other hand, frowned. Having presided over the overall situation of the High Tower Territory during this period, she also had her own views on the whole picture.
“This line of thought or argument is logically correct. The theory of dynamic contradiction and interests can indeed serve as the guiding ideology for the High Tower’s external actions. But how do we act specifically? How do we force the enemy to cooperate with us and continuously strengthen the High Tower?”
The Wizard Apprentices watching below were also discussing spiritedly. their thoughts gradually converged, but it was like grasping something inside a fog—they didn’t know where to start.
Ace continued, “As for how to act specifically, everyone can pool their wisdom and report your good ideas to the Review Panel of the Magic Council Councilors. You don’t need to worry too much; I have already planned how to resolve the crisis of the invasion by the eight Great Heroes.
“Now, I want to emphasize the internal crisis of our High Tower. what do you think our internal crisis is?”
Everyone scratched their heads. The High Tower was so young that there were few signs of internal corruption. Many of them had never felt that danger came from within.
However, since Ace had raised it, they began to think.
“Perhaps our internal control isn’t strict enough. The invasion of the Pain Believers this time was a warning!”
“We should strengthen intelligence work, both internally and externally!”
“We should strengthen the research and development of detection spells and detection magic tools.”
“Our internal personnel should be screened regularly. I suggest using the Fidelius Contract; all Wizards must establish a stricter and higher-mystery loyalty contract.”
…
A wide variety of ideas were proposed one after another. Ace felt that many ideas were worth learning from, while some were slightly naive, but none of them touched the core Ace wanted to mention.
Ace shook his head and said loudly:
“Our internal control and intelligence work indeed need to be strengthened, especially in the Regional Magic Councils in enemy-occupied areas. This work is a matter of life and death!
“But this is not our deepest internal crisis. Our crisis comes from our understanding of the path of magic.
“In the past, I always emphasized that we should have confidence in our path. But confidence does not mean complacency; that leads us astray!”
Ace paused, leaving time for everyone to think.
Everyone, including Betty, didn’t quite understand the difference between confidence and complacency mentioned by Ace, nor what the “wrong path” Ace referred to was. They pondered carefully but still couldn’t figure out where the problem with their path lay.
“Although our High Tower Wizards have shown explosive development in magic research—we have divided magic into six major categories: Soul, Life, Element, Astrology, Alchemy, and Contract, and cross-derived dozens of sub-schools…
“Through the mentor research system and the academic paper system, we conduct moderate competition and theoretical sharing. The knowledge reserves of the High Tower are increasing day by day. Our path seems to be constantly deriving, new things are emerging endlessly, and everything is so beautiful.
“However, have you noticed that all our theories originate from the empirical summary of supernatural things, and a series of theories are developed based on this?
“The so-called empirical summary, logically speaking, is incomplete induction. The laws we induce using incomplete induction cannot logically be proven to be universally applicable.
“Our brilliant magic is like a castle built on sand; there is no stable foundation to speak of. We need more reliable methods to make our path more solid!”
Like peeling away the fog, like tearing open a brocade coat, the deepest latent problem of the High Tower’s magic research was directly revealed by Ace.
Many Wizard Apprentices couldn’t understand Ace’s thoughts at all. Although universality couldn’t be proven logically, the fact was that spells could be used, and potions were indeed effective—wasn’t that enough?
Warren was also pondering Ace’s words. Beside him, Su Lu whispered.
“Isn’t it fine as long as it works? Why do we need to know so many ‘whys’?”
Warren felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He murmured, “Why… why? Yes, exactly ‘Why’!”
He used the “Amplification Spell” to say loudly:
“We shouldn’t just know how to apply it. We shouldn’t just know how the Morning Light Meditation Method can best absorb mana. We should think about why it can absorb mana better, and what principles are hidden behind the Benefical State Astral Projection Hypothesis. We shouldn’t just focus on the supernatural appearance; we should research the deep-level ‘Knowledge’!”
Ace’s eyes lit up. He pressed his hands down, and after everyone quieted down, he said, “Warren is very right. This is our current crisis, a crisis almost no one has discovered!
“We High Tower Wizards have been intoxicated in pursuing supernatural appearances and supernatural power in the past, ignoring the ‘Why’ behind the supernatural power!
“Our power never comes from the appearance, but from our thinking, our research. Only by asking ‘Why’ more deeply can we ensure that we are striving to approach the truth!”
Everyone’s brains buzzed. Many were made dizzy by Ace’s barrage of “Whys,” while a small number were thoughtful.
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