Bobbobovic rambled on for a long time, and Richard learned about the whole affair.
It turned out that Harry and Cathy were indeed Bobbobovic’s students, but he had dozens of them. Bobbobovic alone, teaching so many students, even with the help of Wizard Apprentices, simply couldn’t keep up with the daily demands. So at first, Bobbobovic didn’t notice anything amiss, and at that time Richard had just begun to educate Harry and Cathy on philosophical knowledge.
As Richard introduced more and more philosophical knowledge to Harry and Cathy, both of them couldn’t help but come up with all sorts of novel ideas. Both were children and couldn’t keep things to themselves, inevitably sharing with other students in the academy, and little by little, they influenced everyone else.
By the time Bobbobovic sensed something was off in the atmosphere of the academy and investigated, he was furious. He found that nearly half of the students had been influenced by a branch of knowledge he had never heard of called "philosophy." This led to several students, not even Wizard Apprentices, beginning to ponder the difference between wizards and ordinary people.
Was this reasonable? It was completely unreasonable!
And the source of it all was Harry and Cathy, or more accurately, Richard, who stood behind the two of them.
Bobbobovic couldn’t tolerate this continuing. He couldn’t stand to see his numerous students "poisoned" by Richard, so he came knocking at the door.
After Bobbobovic finished his tale, he turned to Richard and loudly expressed his dissatisfaction, "This is too much, you’ve really gone too far. Harry, Cathy, and the others, they’re just children, how can you bear to lead them down the wrong path?"
"Wrong path?" Upon hearing Bobbobovic’s words, Richard wasn’t much angered but rather spoke quite calmly, "Wizard Vici, why would you say that? I think that letting them think more isn’t a bad thing."
"They need to think about the right things, like how to improve their meditation efficiency, how to perfectly cast spells and so on. As for contemplating completely impractical, unrelated, and useless things, that’s not right," Bobbobovic said.
"Wizard Vici, how can you be so certain what they’re thinking about is useless? Many things are best not concluded so soon," Richard said.
"There’s no need to hold off conclusions; I am their teacher, I know more than they do, see further. They can’t see the harm, I can; they can’t see the uselessness, I can, which allows for conclusions," Bobbobovic said.
"But even you, Wizard Vici, can’t know everything, can you? Don’t be so absolute," Richard said. "Thinking about the unknown, keeping an open mind, it’s never a bad thing."
"Hard to say!" Bobbobovic insisted, "Actually, I think I know enough. What I teach the students is enough for them to ponder, they don’t need to think about other things."
Richard fell silent, then after a long pause, looked at Bobbobovic and spoke, "Wizard Vici, you seem very confident in your knowledge. Then, if I may, could I ask you a few questions?"
"Ask away," Bobbobovic waved his hand, a confident smile on his face, full of confidence, "Just ask, and I shall have an answer."
"Very well," Richard pondered, then asked his first question, "Wizard Vici, what do you think is the essence of our world?"
"What is the essence of our world?" Richard repeated the question.
Bobbobovic’s expression visibly stiffened as Richard’s question caught him off guard.
To be honest, before coming here, he had prepared some for what Richard taught Harry and Cathy, ready with answers and rebuttals, but he never expected Richard to play by his own rules.
After opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, Bobbobovic said dryly, "Your question is a bit..."
"A bit vague?" Richard inquired.
"Yes, yes, vague," Bobbobovic nodded quickly, his voice growing louder, "Your question is too vague, the scope too great, it’s difficult for me to answer—not that I can’t, just that it’s difficult. To really answer it would take too long; perhaps you should change the question."
"Very well, I’ll change the question," Richard said. "I would like to ask, Wizard Vici, do you think time has a source? Does the world have an edge? What was the first life in the world? Where did the initial consciousness of life come from?"
"Ah!" Hearing Richard’s four questions in succession, Bobbobovic exclaimed as if in awe. Then, under the dusk sunset, his body "petrified," motionless.
Finally, Bobbobovic moved slightly and looked at Richard.
"Your answer?" Richard inquired.
Bobbobovic exclaimed again and became still.
Beads of sweat appeared on Bobbobovic’s face, and he couldn’t help but raise his hand to wipe them away.
"Your answer?" Richard asked again.
Bobbobovic quickly retracted his hand as if struck by lightning and refrained from wiping his sweat, his face taut with concentration.
After a good while, the western sun had almost completely set behind the mountains, and darkness was gradually enveloping the sky.
Bobbobovic had been in the same position for so long that he was starting to feel numb and couldn’t help but twist his body a bit. Seeing Richard about to speak again, he hastily spoke first, "Well, I did say I would give you an answer to your questions. However, I never said it had to be today."
"So, I will tell you tomorrow morning," Bobbobovic said. Having said that, he quickly jumped onto the coach, signaling the Coachman to move toward the distance.
As the carriage traveled tens of meters away, Bobbobovic’s voice floated back with his reason, "I don’t like to think on an empty stomach, so I’ll talk after dinner."
Turning his head slowly, Richard looked at Harry and Cathy and spoke, "Your Wizard Vici seems a bit different from what I imagined."
"A bit strange?" Cathy asked.
"A little," Richard replied, though what he was actually thinking was that the man seemed somewhat rigid and harsh, but knew how to adapt.
Knowing how to adapt was good; that meant they could communicate, even persuade, and not be stubbornly at odds with him, avoiding inevitable conflicts that might force him to take action.
He wasn’t afraid of Bobbobovic, but he had come to Jialan City intending to study some things in peace. If possible, he would prefer to avoid trouble.