"Teacher, before you leave, perhaps we should talk again."
Lin Ke tried to keep his tone as casual as possible.
He needed to find a balance to prevent Ove from becoming too agitated and unleashing a heavenly thunder, while also ensuring Ove wasn't so unenthusiastic that he wouldn't want to stay.
"What?" Ove asked gently. Lin Ke's questions often had a unique quality, sometimes even providing Ove with a sense of sudden understanding.
"I often feel confused because when I close my eyes, the world disappears, and when I open them, the world appears again." Lin Ke's face was full of confusion: "I feel that the essence of the world is just about whether I choose to believe in its existence."
The essence of the world, hinging on belief or disbelief?!
Ove's expression grew serious. He stood up abruptly and said, "Child, close your eyes."
Lin Ke complied immediately.
Ove took Lin Ke's hand and placed it in his palm, "Do you feel my warmth? Do you think the world has disappeared now?"
Lin Ke couldn't help but nod, "The world is still here."
Then, he opened his eyes.
Ove's stern wrinkles softened a bit, advising, "It's normal—absolutely normal—to have doubts at the beginning of learning as you encounter other knowledge... Yes, entirely normal. But you must remember in the future that the foundation of the world must be material."
Ove began to reflect if perhaps he mentioned those foolish idealists too often, thereby affecting Lin Ke's perceptions.
It's practically a sin!
Such a promising young mind shouldn't be led astray by casual remarks!
"Yes, I understand, teacher." Lin Ke nodded slowly, though the confusion on his face hadn't yet faded.
Ove noticed Lin Ke's confused expression and felt a pang in his heart, growing nervous: "Little Lin Ke, do you have any other thoughts?"
Though unspoken, he had already unilaterally considered Lin Ke as his disciple, his first disciple.
He didn't want Lin Ke's thinking to be polluted by the foolish ideas he had mentioned before, as the world would lose a gifted materialist scholar.
"Well... Teacher, I didn't know about this world before I was born, but as I was born, this world appeared before me, and upon my death, this world will vanish for me, at least that's how it seems to me."
Lin Ke expressed confusion again.
This is trouble... Ove instinctively tightened his grip on the Magic Staff, pacing back and forth, energy unconsciously circulating in his body, as purple currents flowed across his skin.
Standing still, Ove's voice turned gentle, "Child, I've taught you geography and history; before you were born, this world already..."
To create enough impact, Lin Ke directly interrupted, "This could be a deception; everything follows my existence and will extinguish with my demise, everything is fake."
Historical nihilism!
Ove was alarmed.
His eyes widened, brows furrowed involuntarily: "How can you prove these things don't exist? I've told you before, child, only things that can be proven true or false can be called partial truths!"
Proving or disproving is science; what cannot be proven is superstition.
Lin Ke saw Ove's emotions starting to get stirred up and breathed a sigh of relief, "Then teacher, please find things outside my cognitive realm, so we can prove this world isn't created by my mind."
Here it comes, the deadly move!
People can't create things beyond their cognitive realm.
All creation or innovation is merely arranging and combining what is already known.
Lin Ke's meaning was clear: Ove must bring out some logical and effective things to prove this world isn't created by Lin Ke's mind.
Upon hearing Lin Ke's words, Ove suddenly froze, speechless.
The purple currents instantly withdrew back into his flesh, rendering him like a statue.
Meanwhile, John and Knicks had long succumbed to drowsiness; at first, they could grasp bits of the discussion, but eventually, it became mere incomprehensible canon.
All that talk of creating and destroying worlds seemed too distant for them; they'd rather think about what to have for dinner.
Seeing Ove's state, Lin Ke couldn't help but gently call out: "Teacher? What do you mean?"
"Boom!!"
Endless light exploded from Ove, but it was instantly absorbed back into him.
Lin Ke only felt a violent aura for a moment before it calmed.
"Yes! Yes! By proving those foolish idealists wrong with unseen theorems and rules, they'll realize their errors!"
Ove grew excited, his white hair and beard moving as if in a breeze.
Lin Ke was stunned.
Could it be that in this world, historical nihilist idealists are rampant?
"Little Lin Ke... I understand your intention, you... want me to stay, don't you?"
Ove smiled genuinely at Lin Ke.
He always knew this child was incredibly wise; he wondered how Lin Ke could fall into historical nihilism with such intellect.
While he hadn't interacted much for the past century, he wasn't foolish.
He finally understood Lin Ke's thoughts.
Lin Ke surely wanted to learn more knowledge from him!
My knowledge is almost drained by you... Ove felt a bit embarrassed inside, which was the reason for his upcoming departure.
He had nothing left to teach!
Not referring to teaching the servant and Rabbitman, who hadn't fully comprehended even the first day's method of power stacking.
He had nothing to teach because anything he started would be fully expressed by Lin Ke, even revealing insights unknown to him.
Thus, after exhausting his century-old wealth of knowledge, he prepared to slip away, to research in his own realm for several hundred years.
But now that Lin Ke had voiced it, Ove recalled what he'd always wanted to do.
He wanted to take Lin Ke as his disciple!
Yet his social anxiety always made it hard to broach; he felt his mere nineteenth tier had no right to guide.
However, now was the perfect opportunity!
In this Naseng, knowledge is power!
To acquire knowledge, the best way is naturally to apprentice and join the faction.
Thinking of this, Ove felt slightly tense, his palms sweaty, and his elderly yet pure gaze dodging Lin Ke's.
...
Lin Ke felt slightly anxious.
After all that groundwork, it was time to apprentice.
Would a powerful nineteenth-tier being even consider him, given he was only a Viscount's insignificant son?
Though gifted, perhaps in these powerful figures' eyes, only reaching Celestial Tier mattered, right?
Genius and Celestial—a single character difference, as vast as a chasm.
Moreover, the rank was far too low.
A Duke might have endless resources for research, but a Viscount, just meager gold coins each month.
Lin Ke felt a slight sweat on his back, ready to dodge Ove's gaze.
This elder's pure gaze like an infant's always made him feel inferior.
Yet as he prepared to evade Ove's gaze, he suddenly froze.
He saw Ove nervously avoid his gaze, fingers subconsciously stroking the Magic Staff, even the toes in his boots seemed clenched.
Eh? What's Ove Teacher nervous about? Did his social anxiety return?
Lin Ke looked at Ove with slight concern, ready to speak, when suddenly he heard Ove virtually roar:
"Lin Ke, are you willing to become my disciple!"
When Ove spoke, his throat even flashed with purple light, as if facing a fearsome enemy instead of a child.
Then Lin Ke was stunned.
Eh?
What's this about?
Why so aggressive?