[Chapter 60 Comment]
[Seby_Spina: nice]
[Xinhuan: Surely he will stick around in spirit until the 2 students completes the trials and speak to them too?]
Theo smiled at Lemin. Although he agreed with the comments, he couldn't say those words out loud.
Lemin's expression had shown him that he had already accepted his death a long time ago. The only reason why he stayed behind was not to kill people, but to leave behind his legacy.
It was obvious that Lemin wanted to disappear right away as his goal had been fulfilled. However, leaving all the rewards in Theo's hand was merely fulfilling the minimum requirement of his wish. This wasn't what Theo loved to do.
That was why Theo said, "There will be someone carrying your legacy in the future."
Lemin raised his eyebrows, surprised by Theo's words. He fully understood what Theo wanted to say.
It seemed that he planned to leave Lemin's legacy to another person. Unlike Theo, who was already a master of illusion, this person wouldn't have anything other than the fact that he was an illusionist. This way, he would learn the illusion Lemin had left behind.
This way, Lemin would have a true successor. It might not be someone from this world, but that person would definitely carry Lemin's true legacy.
Theo believed this was the only way to truly repay Lemin for all these gifts.
Lemin, who had already fulfilled his wish, couldn't help but tear up. Theo saw through his struggles and reluctance. It was obvious that he didn't want everything to be over. This was the reason why he set up the tower in the first place. He simply had no choice because the people of this world were lacking.
But Theo wanted Lemin to continue to live on... something that he had given up. Theo had no reason to do it for him because Lemin's last request was to challenge him in a fight.
That was why he felt extremely grateful for Theo. Of course, Theo did this for another reason. Since he was bound to leave this reality sooner or later, it would mean that the real Theodore Griffith in this reality would die for real. If he could train someone to a certain level, he could protect all the connections he had in this world, including the families and the students he had to leave behind.
Hence, Theo suggested this.
"Please wait here, Theo." Lemin hurriedly ran to the hut in the corner as if trying to take out something.
After a few minutes, Lemin returned with five books. "Can you give my successor these five books? I have drawn several inscriptions to understand the core of my illusion."
Theo smiled. "Of course. You can leave it to me."
Theo showed the Space Ring that Li Wei lent him to make the books disappear. This way, they wouldn't know anything about these books.
In fact, Theo only wore one ring, which was his marriage ring. The other ring was hidden with his illusion. Even Baold didn't know of its existence. If he wanted, he could smuggle everything from this place, but he was a fair person no matter how greedy he would be.
"Alright. I have accepted your wish." Theo nodded with a smile.
"Since that's the case, it's time for me to go..." Lemin was satisfied. But before he could pass on, he heard Haruka's voice coming from the side.
Just like earlier, Haruka took a peek of this place to find her teacher.
"Huh?" Lemin was startled. As he was about to disappear, Theo's students had to come. At the same time, he remembered Theo's illusion. "They..."
"They are the real ones." Theo shrugged.
"Did I take too long?" Lemin gasped. "No, the trials were designed to last for a few hours. But not a single hour had yet to pass... Did they pass the trials within an hour?"
Lemin couldn't believe it, but Theo made a wry smile. "Sorry. I used your tower to teach my students."
"Ah!" Lemin instantly understood what happened. It turned out Theo had been helping them from the start. Since Haruka and Avalon weren't illusionists, Theo helped them so that he could take away the illusionist part and used the illusion to teach them.
Theo waved his hand, calling them. "Come in. Let me introduce you. He is the owner of this tower, Lemin Balkman."
Lemin didn't know what to say. He was about to pass on, but because of the appearance of the two students, Lemin couldn't do it immediately.
On the other hand, Haruka gasped as she recognized Lemin. "Wait a minute. Aren't you the soul I saw on the first floor?"
"Huh?" Lemin widened his eyes in shock, never expecting someone to recognize him. At the same time, Theo shook his head and explained what was going on. "Haruka, it seems that you're still a bit lacking."
"What do you mean, Teacher?"
"Ahahaha..." Lemin scratched the back of his head. "Instead of a tower, you should think of this as a room."
"A room?" Haruka tilted her head in confusion.
"That's right. This tower is just another illusion. Currently, we're still at the ground floor since this is the only place that this place has. Everything you see, including the different floors, are simply an illusion. In other words, the reason why you could see him from the outside is that you haven't been affected by his illusion yet."
"Ah!" Haruka gasped after Theo's explanation. "Is that the reason you asked us what we saw before entering?"
"Correct," Theo confirmed without hesitation. He had seen through the illusion from the very start.
"To think the situation is like that..." Haruka contemplated, wondering what she had been doing this whole time.
"In any case..." Lemin took out a cube and said, "This will do the trick. It should shrink to the size of... four times your size? That should be small enough, right?"
"Yeah. I can handle that much." Theo nodded in agreement.
Lemin then turned to Haruka and Avalon. "I have seen your trials. I have to say that you are lucky to have him as your teacher. So, I'll be giving you one piece of advice before leaving."
Haruka and Avalon didn't understand what he meant by leaving, considering they had just arrived and didn't know anything about Lemin. But since he was the owner of the tower, his advice should be pretty useful.
With that thought in mind, both of them listened to him carefully.
"The girl can see souls, so you should make a lot of connections, allowing you to take advantage of their expertise. However, don't forget that you are in control. If you let the ghosts boss you around, there is no difference from being possessed. I believe that you can continue just fine after this with your intellect, so I'm not worried. Just listen to your teacher."
After that, Lemin turned to Avalon and said, "You are strong. I could see that you have an enormous raw talent. However, you have restricted yourself too much. Having a rule to restrict yourself can indeed make you stronger, but be careful because the rule will choke you without you noticing. You should carefully consider your own rules and understand each of them explicitly if you want to get stronger."
Both pieces of advice struck the core of what Theo was planning to teach Haruka and Avalon. He used the trials to make Haruka aware of her true talent and Avalon to be open-minded.
Haruka and Avalon fell silent. Those words stuck deeply in their hearts. Lemin was smiling because of how smart they were. Before he left, Theo said, "How about thanking him for the advice?"
"!!!" Haruka and Avalon's bodies shook as they hurriedly lowered their heads. "Thank you very much."
"Yep." Lemin smiled and patted Theo's shoulder. "Take care, will you?"
Theo nodded with a smile. In that instant, Lemin's body started to release golden particles and began to flicker as the essence that created his body began to dissipate.
"I see off, the illusionist of another world, Lemin Balkman." Theo politely bowed.
Lemin smiled as his body began to disappear. The farewell was serene and without tears. Every wish had been fulfilled, so the only thing Lemin had was the challenge of the afterlife, which he embraced with both hands.
Meanwhile, Haruka and Avalon were shocked because they finally realized that Lemin wanted to pass away but stopped because they disturbed him.
"Teacher..." Haruka called Theo with her head hanging low, feeling bad.
"You don't have to worry." Theo patted her shoulder. "I have done everything I can for him. And since we have completed the trials, I think it's time for everything to end. Get ready. I'll dissolve all the illusion."
"We understand." Haruka and Avalon took a step back, giving Theo the space to do everything necessary.
Theo raised both hands at the same time. All of a sudden, the peaceful atmosphere began to change. The temperature decreased, the scenery disappeared, and all the hidden items were revealed in the corner.
Meanwhile, Baold, who was still panicking in his tent, was searching for a way to bring back Theo. Because the door was closed so suddenly and couldn't be opened again, he was afraid that Theo had failed.
So, he had been burying himself in books about inscriptions, trying to break it.
However, his subordinate soon entered his tent and shouted, "Sir! You have to see this."
Baold was confused and hurriedly left the tent, wondering what he had to see.
Never in his wildest dream would he have thought the ancient ruin would emit golden particles. The only person who could do this was Theodore Griffith, whom he sent earlier.
"This is..." Baold gasped. The golden particles kept dispersing as the tower disappeared.
This was the reason why Lemin told Theo that the people in this world were incompetent. If they were as good as Theo, they would have seen through that most of the inscriptions outside were fake, including the tower.
They had tried to destroy it from the outside but never succeeded. That was because the real tower was only a single room that had been created with an illusion that could absorb the essence. The rest was the power of his illusion to make people believe that they couldn't do anything to this tower.
Of course, Theo didn't know that everything was an illusion because he wasn't good at Inscription. He could only realize everything when he entered the tower.
The tower continued to disappear until everything was razed to the ground.
Such a scene was witnessed by all the people outside. Baold had made his way toward the tower to see what was going on.
When he reached the tower, Theo and the others were already standing on the ground. All the walls that shielded them had disappeared, causing everyone's eyes to be glued to them.
Some of them were also eyeing all the treasures not far from Theo. As one would expect from the greatest illusionist, his items were all top-notch and could pique anyone's greed.
Though, before they could do anything, Baold had reached the place and called them out loud. "Mr. Theo? Did you..."
On Theo's hand, there was a piece of paper that contained Lemin's will.
He smiled at Baold and said, "I have completed my side of the agreement."
However, it seemed that everything had yet to end as they were about to face another problem.