After class, Loren didn't rush home. As he expected, as long as he didn't go home immediately, Luna would find an excuse to come to his office.
"Good afternoon, Master Mentor."
"Good afternoon, Luna."
Luna gave Loren a feeling reminiscent of Spider-Man. If Luna was Spider-Man, Loren felt his own role was Uncle Ben. To prevent such an inauspicious thing from happening, the principles Loren taught were basically the opposite of Uncle Ben's.
Uncle Ben said, "With great power comes great responsibility," while Loren's view was, "Just protect yourself and those you love." When playing games before, Loren did whatever he wanted; even being a superhero was fine. If he died, he could just restart. But now it was different; Loren still had family to protect.
"If you were given great power, what would you do?"
Loren suddenly asked this question. Although Luna was a bit puzzled, she still answered Loren seriously.
"Hmm... I would do my utmost to protect the weak."
Luna wasn't wrong; she had always acted this way, even at the risk of putting herself in danger.
"You... love... love..."
"..."
Once again, Luna precisely caught the keyword and started stammering. Usually, when dealing with the Blackened, Luna was so ruthless, but when it came to matters related to her own feelings, she suddenly became like this.
"One must learn to hide oneself. Showing your edge too early will only break your own sword. Even if you harbor good intentions, some people will see you as a threat."
Loren had a lot of say on this point; he had always done this. Even now, people in the Church thought he was weak and defenseless, treating every encounter with a Blackened as a life-or-death struggle, relying entirely on firearms for damage output.
Today, Loren didn't talk much with Luna before going home. Words can't teach people, but experience can teach them in one go.
Luna would indeed care about Loren's words and remember them in her heart, but everyone knows the principles; putting them into practice is another matter.
Fortunately, she always wore the Abyssal Gaze Eye. Even if something really happened, Loren would know immediately.
In the evening, Eldrin delivered the Tear of Condensed Wishes as promised. After truly witnessing the effects of Ember Radiance, he put away all his little schemes and devoted himself to being Loren's lapdog. Before obtaining Ember Radiance, if Loren slapped him, he would smile and offer the other cheek for Loren to hit.
This time, Loren used the Tear of Condensed Wishes to refine another seventh-grade magical potion: [Spirit-Wisdom Enlightenment]. The effect of this potion was equally outrageous. It could directly improve a person's magical aptitude. In-game, its effect was just a ten percent increase in spell effectiveness, but in reality, it wasn't that simple.
It could genuinely change a person's magical talent. Even an ordinary person who couldn't learn magic before drinking it would have magical aptitude not much worse than that of great mages. In a fantasy world, this would be a great treasure that would make various sects fight until their brains spilled out.
Even here, it was extremely rare. Loren had searched almost the entire Gedlan Kingdom and hadn't found much. Over the years, he had only gathered enough materials for one dose. From the moment he transmigrated, Loren had been planning to seize the Tear of Condensed Wishes.
Refining Spirit-Wisdom Enlightenment wasn't like refining Ember Radiance; it didn't take as long. It was completed some time after class the next day, and he even chatted with Luna for a while.
After refining it, Loren drank it without hesitation. If he had the chance, he would refine one dose each for Anna and others, but right now, the one who most urgently needed Spirit-Wisdom Enlightenment to increase combat power was Loren.
Afterwards, Loren still returned the Tear of Condensed Wishes to Eldrin. Although he knew the method to restore the Tear of Condensed Wishes, he didn't reveal it. This way, he wouldn't draw Eldrin's attention.
This period passed very calmly, and Loren's life began to slow down. Every day was just a two-point routine: wake up at noon, go to class, teach one class, then go home. Sometimes, when Loren's laziness kicked in, he would even take leave from class, and no one dared not approve it.
However, two noteworthy things happened. After Loren talked with the students that day, Simone was fired, and all the prominent people cut off contact with her.
Only some minor nobles who didn't know what happened still associated with Simone. But after others found out, those minor nobles who associated with Simone went bankrupt overnight and also lost their noble status.
For greater benefits, the King didn't keep the matter of Ember Radiance to just himself and the Headmaster. All the high-level officials in the Gedlan Kingdom, and even all the high-level followers of the Outer God, had heard a little about it. That's why they spared no effort in sucking up to Loren. In a sense, Loren's words were more effective than the King's.
Not only that, a certain epidemic also began to spread in the Gedlan Kingdom, but its impact wasn't great. Simone had only transmitted it to some bottom-tier Ducks who would do anything for money, and they couldn't come into contact with many people. In the end, the epidemic was still controlled by the Church.
It's just that the fact that Simone was the biochemical mother suddenly became known to everyone. Originally, Simone had already lost her job and all her social connections, her husband was in prison, and just surviving was difficult. At this time, those she had infected found her.
Now, those people no longer feared Simone's status and didn't hesitate to take action.
And so, Simone died on the roadside. Her body was discovered only after stray cats had gnawed half of it away.
Her life before death was also very painful. Even her property was seized. The illness made it hard for her to sleep. The feeling of being abandoned by the world was more torturous than the illness. She was already close to madness; at this point, death was a release instead.
It's worth mentioning that the Church asked Loren to solve the epidemic problem, but the first potion he concocted based on his memory had no effect. Simone didn't just have one illness Loren gave her; she was originally the biochemical mother. With Loren's added push, the virus even mutated, and Loren had to expend some effort to deal with it.
The other matter concerned Luna. During this period, the number of Blackened plummeted, not only because the Church improved the treatment of the populace, but Luna also contributed significantly.
She took Loren's words to heart. Her actions decreased considerably, and she became much more low-key, but her goals changed.
From Spider-Man Peter Parker, she became the Flying Bat Ke Zhen'e. She no longer limited herself to defeating the Blackened but also began to care about the reasons people became Blackened. If someone was bullied, she would help get revenge; if someone couldn't get their wages, she would help get them back...
With the combined efforts of the Church and Luna, there were even several consecutive days without any Blackened appearing.
It's just that Loren knew, the big one was coming.