199: Ellie's Psychic Research (I)

“I’ve been researching Mind Cultivation for years. The Mind Bottleneck is a hurdle and a threshold that all wizards cannot bypass, so naturally, I had to research it.”

Ellie said calmly.

“Indeed. I’ve been busy learning the inherited knowledge of the Botany School and managing reforms. Now that I have free time, I’d like to hear your insights, Ellie.” Green added from the side.

“Absolutely, absolutely. Ellie is an expert specializing in the Mind School. We’d also like to hear…” Oakes chimed in.

“Alright, Esteemed Ellie, I, Old Xiong, would also like to listen and broaden my knowledge. Perhaps it can even help me overcome the Mind Bottleneck of an Advanced Wizard Apprentice.” Adler’s booming voice rang out.

“Oh, Adler, you’ve found the Mind Bottleneck of an Advanced Wizard Apprentice?”

“Yes, why?”

“Then you’ll have to prepare well. After the gathering, we’ll help you figure out how to resolve your Mind Bottleneck, Adler. I didn’t expect you to reach the Advanced Wizard Apprentice realm.” Green said with a sigh.

“Hey, it’s still early days. I know this Mind Bottleneck is very difficult. More than 90% of the Wizard Apprentices in the academy stop here. I don’t hold too much hope.”

“If I can pass, great. If not, then so be it. It won’t stop me from drinking and eating meat, hahaha…”

Adler’s face was full of indifference.

“You are quite open-minded…”

“However, we still have to help where we can.”

“With me and Ellie here, we should be able to help a little. Alright, Ellie, please share your profound insights. I see everyone is eager to hear.”

...“Hmm…”

Ellie gently brushed the hair from her brow.

“The concept of the Mind Bottleneck only appeared after the Ancient World War.”

“According to excavated historical records, Ancient Wizards didn't have any Mind Bottlenecks. They focused more on the rapid increase of Spiritual Power. As long as their Spiritual Power met the standard, they could quickly advance. Therefore, Ancient Wizards had an immense demand for resources. I speculate that this is one of the main reasons why Ancient Wizards were keen on participating in invasions of foreign wars to plunder resources from other worlds.”

“After the Wizard World War, the main task of the World's Will was to restore this broken world. And the Ancient Black Wizards, who demanded resources without limit, were naturally abandoned by the World's Will.”

“If they continued to support a group of Black Wizards who consumed more than they produced, leading to a deficit, when would the world's path to recovery and revival ever see hope?”

“Therefore, the era where our White Wizards took charge arrived. White Wizards, who loved research and development, became the new chosen ones, favored by the World's Will, and developed rapidly. At the same time, the Mind Bottleneck also came into being.”

...“How did destiny and the Mind Bottleneck become related? These two are completely unrelated, aren’t they?”

“Yes, this is a bit strange. We talk about destiny all the time, but destiny is elusive. We only know to do more good deeds, deeds that benefit the world, such as planting trees, which will accumulate destiny for ourselves and our descendants.”

“Exactly. Does overcoming the Mind Bottleneck also require doing more good deeds? But I’ve seen many wizards who have planted trees in the deserts of the Great Northwest for decades, and they are still trapped by the Mind Bottleneck.”

“Yes, I also feel there’s no connection between the two?”

...“Your feelings are not wrong.”

“I didn't say that destiny and the Mind Bottleneck are directly linked; in fact, they are independent of each other. There's only an indirect connection.”

“Destiny is related to the good deeds done by the wizard themselves and their faction, contributions made to world development, which can benefit future generations and their faction.”

“The concept of the Mind Bottleneck, on the other hand, is entirely related to a wizard's own spiritual cultivation, their level of self-cultivation, the tenacity of their soul will, the degree of their inner regrets, and so on.”

Ellie explained unhurriedly:

“I’m talking about a famous theory—”

“The Dual-Layer Advancement Shackle Theory!”

“To put it simply, the advancement of White Wizards has been fitted with two shackles: one is destiny, and the other is the Mind Bottleneck. The two shackles are independent of each other, and only by completely overcoming both can one successfully advance.”

“The higher the wizard realm broken through, the greater the difficulty of these two shackles.”

“For individual White Wizards now, having two additional shackles certainly makes the success rate of breakthroughs far inferior to that of Ancient Wizards. This is also why the Wizard World today is dominated by the Wizard Apprentice class, and high-level wizards are extremely rare and difficult to achieve.”

“But for the Wizard World, the existence of these two shackles has greatly accelerated the world's recovery and development.”

Everyone perked up their ears, listening attentively. Such esoteric knowledge could greatly broaden a wizard's horizons and deepen their foundation; no one wanted to miss out... “Firstly, destiny can guide all White Wizards onto the correct path.”

“No matter which wizard, as long as they wish to receive the favor of the World's Will and advance smoothly, they must follow the rules set by the World's Will: to strive, to struggle, and to expend energy for the restoration of this world, the development of civilization, and the growth of their own race…”

“This is the main theme of our era of great development and great recovery. Tell me, can the existence of this shackle of destiny accelerate the world's recovery and benefit the Wizard World?”

“That’s for sure.”

“Indeed, to acquire destiny, our academy invests countless resources every year into the deserts of the Great Northwest, precisely to restore that environment and transform those battle-scarred ruins into places suitable for our human race to produce and live.”

“Exactly, Ellie is right. And our academy also organizes a large amount of manpower, material, and financial resources to build large fishing vessels, specifically to clear the sea beasts in the nearshore of the Mist Coast, clear the waterways, and expand our human race’s activity space. For this, we’ve fought many battles with the Sea Race.”

“Yes, your and Green’s successful breakthroughs were also due to sufficient destiny, the collective accumulation of countless people, which gathered sand into a tower and fur into a robe, helping you both break through smoothly.”

...“Indeed, without the collective dedication of countless Wizard Apprentices, how could one person alone accumulate enough destiny to successfully break through to a Formal Wizard in a short period?”

“And this is the role of the Mind Bottleneck shackle.”