More than twenty days later.
Late at night, clear skies, a sky full of stars.
Outside Atlantis, on a protruding piece of ground on the plain, a seemingly ordinary yard is built.
In the yard stand three stone buildings, with the tallest one in the middle having six floors. On top, there is a huge elongated tubular structure slowly turning, as if soone is using it to observe sothing in the sky.
This is the residence of the 361 Institute.
On the ninth underground level, there is a large and empty room.
In the center of the room is a complex-looking set of chanical equipnt that connects to the top, with nothing else around it, not even basic furniture like tables and chairs.
An old slender tall man, appearing to be in his seventies, wearing an indigo robe, stands in front of the chanical equipnt in the room’s center, fiddling with it.
His na is Nicolaus Tycho, a powerful yet highly reclusive wizard, having reached the level of a Level 4 Wizard decades ago, but rarely heard of on the Main Continent. This is mainly because he has a peculiar hobby—stargazing, researching the mysterious and infinite starry sky, spending most of his life away from the crowds to eliminate aningless disruptions, secluded in sparsely populated places to observe and record the trajectories of stars.
Precisely because of this hobby, he was invited to Shalin two years ago to beco the supervisor of the 361 Institute.
With a face full of wrinkles, Tycho squints his eyes at the glass aperture of the equipnt, pressing his hands on two crystal hemispheres on its surface.
A finely controlled stream of mana flows into the crystal hemispheres, causing them to flash. Inside the equipnt, the sound of densely packed gears can be heard, with high-intensity energy waves activating the magic runes spreading outward. Under his manipulation, the equipnt makes slight adjustnts, its many internal structures operating, causing the stargazing telescope on the external ground to change angle and direction.
Tycho continues observing the constellation forming in the glass aperture, occasionally pressing several other buttons on the equipnt, appearing focused and smiling.
The process lasts for dozens of minutes as Tycho concludes this session of stargazing, pulling down a white lever heavily on the chanical equipnt, leaving it and turning to look toward the door.
No more than half a minute later, the sound of quick and small footsteps co from outside the door. The door gets pushed open halfway and a young male wizard apprentice enters, holding a glowing crystal ball, greeting respectfully: "Master Tycho, the star map you observed today, I have recorded it for you in the next room. Compared to last ti, there’s a slight change. Would you like to check?"
"Hmm, hand it over." Tycho says, gesturing with his hands as the crystal ball under extraordinary power leaps from the apprentice’s hands, arcs through the air and is caught by Tycho.
Tycho grips the crystal ball, infusing it with mana. The already glowing crystal ball brightens further, while the light pouring from the room’s top dims rapidly. Countless dots of light fly out from the crystal ball, dispersing through the room and occupying fixed positions to form a three-dinsional star map.
Tycho raises his hand to lightly push the star map, letting it slowly rotate, occasionally pausing to observe one of the dots for a long ti.
This way, Tycho watches for another few dozen minutes, grabbing the collection of dots in one handful to stuff them back into the crystal ball, waving to restore the room’s brightness.
Holding the crystal ball, Tycho looks at the wizard apprentice still standing at the door, asking curiously: "Why are you still here? Is there sothing else you need to tell ?"
"Yes, Master Tycho," the apprentice eagerly looks over, "There’s one more thing—Master Erson from the 362 Institute ca earlier, saying he has sothing from the ’Number Nine Research Project’ to hand to you."
"So, Erson has been waiting for for almost an hour?"
"Yes," the apprentice answers nervously, "I wanted to inform you earlier, but you reminded not to let anyone disturb you during stargazing or when observing the star map, so... "
"Not bad, you’ve done very well in this matter." Tycho nods approvingly, "Make that arrogant gambler wait a while longer. I heard this ti he proposed to Lord Richard using more than seventy percent of next quarter’s budget as a bet; if we at the 361 Institute fail to deliver on the tasks, the funds would be diverted to their 362 Institute."
"Ha, indeed, the old bastard has never stopped scheming to annex us. But he dreams too beautifully; we at the 361 Institute are no worse than the 362 Institute. Not only did we complete Lord Richard’s tasks, but we did so ahead of schedule and with great precision. So if he wants to win, perhaps next lifeti." Tycho confidently holds the crystal ball.
The apprentice earshot asks tentatively: "Then, Master Tycho, should Master Erson wait a little longer?"
"Forget it," Tycho waves his hand, "Making him wait this long is enough; anymore and that guy might go badmouth before Lord Richard. Get him inside now."
"Yes," the apprentice nods, turns, and walks out.
Soon, the sound of hurried, pounding footsteps reverberates down the hallway.
Then, with a ’bam,’ the double-leafed door flies open inward fiercely as if ramd by a siege battering ram, crashing onto the walls on both sides as a dark-faced Erson strides in.
Tycho raises an eyebrow, observing the furious-looking Erson, his facial wrinkles seem ironed smooth with a smile appearing, "Mr. Erson, you have ti to actually grace the 361 Institute with your presence."
"Hmph, I’m just inspecting what’ll eventually be a branch of our 362 Institute to consider how best to renovate it," Erson says expressionlessly.
Tycho pauses with a gentle laugh, "A branch of your 362 Institute? You’re dreaming. This ti, you didn’t win the bet; you finished your tasks, and we finished ours—a tie."
"I know," Erson replies blandly, "But eventually, I’ll win, where the 361 Institute bears little value in existence and will ultimately fall under the helm of our 362 Institute."
"The future is uncertain, don’t jump to conclusions so soon."
"No, when I say it’ll happen, it’ll happen," Erson emphasizes, tossing a grey crystal ball to Tycho, "By the way, take this—it’s the content of our institute’s ’Number Nine Research Project,’ docunting the positions, influence scopes, and testing thods of several dozen ancient High Spirits in the Void as inquired from a captured High Spirit.
I see no practical value in this, but since Lord Richard insisted I deliver it to you, just take it. Don’t waste the ti I spent."
Tycho catches the thrown grey crystal ball, ready to provoke Erson with words, but Erson gives no chance, turning around and exiting swiftly without a backward glance.
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