After Witch Melanie Carlyle left with her students, Halen Vera quietly explained to Locke, "Actually, Witch Melanie's character is quite good. She's just not very skilled at teaching students and doesn't pay much attention to what those students are actually thinking."

"Witch Melanie is the Pyrotechnic Academy's most resolute advocate for war against black wizards, and she's also the First Circle wizard with the purest purpose among the war advocates, simply because she feels the black wizards have desecrated magic and tainted the truth."

Now that Locke had become a formal wizard, Halen Vera subconsciously began telling him things that weren't quite appropriate to mention to apprentices. "Within the White Wizard Association, there are many pro-war wizards. They have many different reasons for supporting war. For example, some want to sell war weapons; some want resources from a certain region, but the current price is too expensive, so they want to devalue that region through war and then acquire it..."

"There are also those who feel that black wizards' massive use of undead creatures, and the undead's insufficient consumption capacity, will affect the economy, so they want to force black wizards to purchase large quantities of goods from our side and restrict evil necromancy magic..."

Halen Vera adjusted his plain glasses. "Everyone's thoughts are different."

Locke nodded slightly. During the wizard apprentice stage, everyone had always thought that the White Wizard Association deeply detested black wizards because black wizards were evil, they had no morals, no values, or it was simply deep historical hatred between two wizard organizations.

But after becoming a formal wizard, from what he had seen and heard, he discovered that all the White Wizard Association's actions against black wizards actually had special economic purposes behind them.

Many of the purposes hidden behind were primarily based on certain interests.

Take the White Wizard Association's restriction on using necromancy magic to create undead in white wizard society.

In the eyes of apprentices, it was because necromancy magic was dangerous and evil.

But in Locke's current understanding, it was because the White Wizard Association believed that massive use of necromancy magic to create undead labor would lead to insufficient overall social consumption capacity. The undead needed too few external resources, which would trigger an economic crisis.

Therefore, the association designated necromancy magic as extremely evil magic.

In other words, the biggest reason divine magic restrained necromancy magic was because necromancy magic would cause economic instability, violating the order within the Eight Wizard Virtues.

Understanding the principle behind this, Locke could better understand why divine magic restrained spells from the necromancy school, and could calculate the restraining relationship between the two magics through formulas.

No wonder during his apprentice stage, in the Universal Course, when calculating the influence factor equations between these two magics, he always got it wrong. It turned out he had incorrectly understood the principle behind it.

Halen Vera sighed. "Speaking of other wizard mentors not knowing how to teach students, but where am I any better?"

Rare confusion appeared in Halen Vera's eyes. He waved his hand, and the office door locked tightly. The soundproof barrier in the office took effect. Halen Vera rarely showed his vulnerable side to his student.

"About Anglon, I'm very heartbroken." Halen Vera sighed. "When he first came into my hands, I truly had great expectations for him. Even until the very end, I still believed he was material that could be molded."

"I know my own talent is limited. When I was young, I took the wrong path, choosing to stay in the southeastern quadrant, which also wasted part of my talent. So I like to help others achieve success. I like to discover those geniuses, then give them resources and let them thrive."

A flash of weariness passed through Halen Vera's eyes. "Watching those students achieve success outside, I feel as happy as they themselves do."

"Now the academy's upper management mistakenly thinks that Anglon's betrayal of the academy was deliberately guided by me, but actually this has nothing to do with me. Locke, do you believe that until the very last moment, I still tried to help him?"

Halen Vera sighed. "It's just that he was too stubborn."

"Perhaps... I may indeed have had some problems too. I was too eager for quick success and forced him to go to extremes. Actually, from very early on, I noticed that many data in the articles he published came from first-hand data that only black wizards had. He had close contact with black wizards, but at the time I didn't think much of it, thinking he could balance this delicate relationship well."

"Among white wizards, there are quite a few who find ways to obtain first-hand data from black wizard lands. But in the end, I didn't expect he would do such a foolish thing."

"The effort and emotion I invested in him was no less than in any other student."

Halen Vera looked at Locke with confusion. "Locke, do you think I was really wrong?"

Locke hesitated, then chose not to offer too many of his own opinions on this sensitive issue.

Locke said, "For me, Teacher Halen is a very good teacher. I only need to know this."

Locke bowed to Halen Vera. This wasn't an apprentice bowing to a formal wizard. The two were now equal.

This was a student bowing to a teacher.

Halen Vera was stunned for a moment, then looked at Locke and smiled bitterly. He nodded. "You're right. Asking you to answer this question is indeed my fault."

"Perhaps I should indeed listen to Lady Morgana's advice to pay attention to students' moral standards."

"The White Wizard Association's ethical review mechanism is indeed protecting oneself while also protecting others."

Locke took the opportunity to ask Halen Vera some questions. "Teacher Halen, regarding my future development after becoming a formal wizard, can you give me some advice?"

Halen Vera perked up, temporarily forgetting the sadness of Anglon, into whom he had invested so much effort and emotion, now being judged by the association and sent to wizard prison. Instead, he energetically began introducing to his now-excellent graduate student, Locke, the future paths after a wizard apprentice becomes a formal wizard.

"Fortunately, I have you, Locke, so I'm not too disappointed. On the contrary, you fill me with pride."

Halen Vera smiled. "As you can see, after a wizard becomes a First Circle wizard, he undergoes a transformation in life level and is no longer mortal."

"Your current intermediate meditation method should be at the fifth level, right? The fifth level corresponds to the vaporization stage."

Locke nodded slightly. "Yes, Teacher."

Halen Vera said, "The sixth level of the meditation method corresponds to the liquefaction stage, and the seventh level corresponds to the crystallization stage. And the intermediate meditation method only has seven levels in total. So the question arises: when a wizard has cultivated the intermediate meditation method to the seventh level, his path forward has clearly disappeared. How can he advance further and become a Second Circle wizard?"

Locke nodded, showing a look of understanding. "So, Teacher, you mean I need to obtain a higher-level meditation method?"

Halen Vera nodded. "You're very smart. Indeed, that's the case."

"However, this isn't the most urgent matter. The meditation method that can be cultivated to Second Circle wizard is a meditation method that goes deeper than the intermediate meditation method, called the advanced meditation method. But you need to first cultivate the intermediate meditation method to the seventh level before you can switch to the [Advanced Meditation Method]."

"So what you currently need most in the short term is to finish learning the intermediate meditation method in your hands. At the same time, keep an eye out for channels to obtain the advanced meditation method."

Locke asked Halen Vera, "Teacher Halen, do you have an advanced meditation method?"