The next morning, the Academic Symposium officially opened.
In the circular conference hall, there was already no empty seat, and participants from various wizard organizations took their seats in turn.
Hundreds of sixth-level, thousands of seventh-level, and even eighth-level wizards gathered in one place.
Despite the large number, the wizards themselves were of outstanding quality, and there was no noise.
Soon, a soft silver-white column of light lit up on the podium at the center of the hall, and Savien's figure emerged from it, walking slowly onto the stage. Today he wore a dark gray formal robe, with the emblem of the Void Architecture Academy pinned to his chest.
A ring of space runes floating in midair around the edge of his robe flickered faintly, as if the man had naturally merged with the surrounding space.
Savien just stood there, casually scanning the hall, and everyone's gaze immediately focused on him. According to Jie Ming's understanding, the opening ceremony speech should come first.
Only Savien said calmly: "Welcome everyone to this Academic Symposium. I hope you all can gain something here!" After saying this, he directly raised his right hand, and with a "whoosh," a huge spatial model filled the entire hall.
Millions of three-dimensional runes floated in midair, nested and combined with each other, finally constructing an extremely complex spatial structure diagram. This meant that the opening speech was over, and the keynote speech segment would now begin.
Jie Ming blinked, not entirely surprised.
Perhaps because of the existence of supernatural power, wizards did not need to rely on lengthy speeches to demonstrate their authority, so up to now, all the opening ceremonies Jie Ming had encountered were very concise.
Next, Savien began to talk about his latest research results on spatial theory.
From the underlying law models, to spatial resonance structures, to the stability applications of large planes...
Every time he proposed a theory, the corresponding image was immediately projected; every time he completed a derivation, a complete runic framework emerged. Not to mention nonsense or filler, the entire speech was dry and dense.
Rather than an opening ceremony keynote, it was more like showing the entire spatial academia the research direction for the coming period. The seventh- and eighth-level wizards were still taking notes quickly, but Jie Ming noticed that some young sixth-level wizards had completely given up taking notes. They just stared blankly at the constantly changing model data above, eyes vacant, looking like they might drool.
Jie Ming also listened seriously, continuously recording relevant content.
Relying on the automatic knowledge organization function of the Entropy Brain Talent and the sensitivity to this kind of law knowledge in the Dao Integration state, Jie Ming was barely able to keep up with Savien's speech.
The theoretical derivations Savien provided benefited Jie Ming greatly.
Only when the last spatial model slowly dispersed did Savien nod slowly: "That's all I wanted to say, thank you."
After saying that, Savien directly walked off the podium.
In the venue, it was unusually silent, with no applause, but Jie Ming could clearly hear countless people letting out a long breath at the same time. This was not an awkward silence, but because the amount of information in that speech was too large, everyone's minds were still immersed in the derivations. "..." Some people had simply abandoned their brains.
Looking at the few high-level combat wizards who were sitting together at the very back of the hall and were clearly lost in a daze, Jie Ming silently added a supplementary remark in his heart.
There was no helping it; combat wizards were like that, even at high levels.
Although their combat power was guaranteed, they were still lacking in the brains department.
And as Savien left the stage, the hall changed.
The original seats sank into the ground like liquid, and then long tables laden with all kinds of desserts and drinks slowly rose from the floor. Around the hall, the originally smooth walls slowly unfolded like curtains, revealing wide passageways.
Jie Ming recalled the academic conference process written in the handbook: after the keynote speech at the opening ceremony came tea break and public exhibitions.
So behind these passages should be the exhibition area.
Jie Ming followed the other wizards and randomly walked into a passage. Behind it, a wide exhibition area came into view.
Compared to the academic conferences on Earth with a few posters and a display board, the wizard civilization's academic exhibition was obviously much more ostentatious. Each sixth-level wizard participating in the display had an independent area.
Those who directly projected and displayed the runic structures they had researched were already outdated.
Some had built complete experimental platforms and demonstrated the entire research process on site. Others unfolded corresponding magic arrays, letting onlookers personally experience the theoretical effect. Still others simply placed the newly refined wizard artifacts in the center of the exhibition stand and, at intervals, fired a shot at a specially arranged test area.
People continually shuttled through the various areas separated by isolation arrays, with all kinds of rumbling sounds, law fluctuations, and spatial tremors rising one after another. These exhibition halls were less like an academic conference and more like a science and technology expo gathering the latest achievements.
Jie Ming walked and stopped, soon stopping before a spatial fold theory booth.
In the center of the booth, a palm-sized miniature teleportation array was continuously demonstrating the complete teleportation process.
The entire array compressed the traditional teleportation array's spatial anchor points to less than 1% of their original size, yet still maintained extremely high stability. "This approach isn't bad..."
Jie Ming was enjoying the sight when he suddenly sensed a figure stop beside him.
He turned his head and saw a slender middle-aged wizard.
The man wore a flawlessly tailored black-gold robe and had a gentle smile on his face.
Although the fluctuations on his body were restrained almost perfectly, the obscure aura emanating from him still revealed his level—an eighth-level wizard.
Jie Ming was slightly startled but quickly resumed his calm.
At last night's welcome reception, because he had been questioned in turn by three big shots, everyone else had politely retreated, so he had guessed that someone would come looking for him today.
After all, this segment of the Academic Symposium was the golden time for socializing.
"May I ask who you are...?" Jie Ming took the initiative to ask.
Hearing Jie Ming's question, the middle-aged wizard actually bowed slightly, his etiquette so meticulous that Jie Ming's eyebrows jumped.
"Wizard Jie Ming, sorry to disturb you. I am an elder of the Mobius family, Lane."
"Hello." Jie Ming nodded with a slight look of confusion.
Lane held up a recording crystal with both hands and offered it to Jie Ming: "I have come specially to apologize to you."
"Regarding the attack you suffered on your way to the Academic Symposium, we have already found out the truth. That operation was carried out without authorization by an unworthy descendant of our family. As soon as the family learned of it, we dealt with it immediately. This is a complete record of the entire handling process. Please take a look!"
Although the noise around was great, the situation on Jie Ming's side still attracted the attention of many wizards.
Especially when they heard the words "apologize," they all involuntarily looked over.
Jie Ming reached out to take the crystal, extended his mental power into it, and a scene unfolded before his eyes.
In the scene, there was a dim hall. A wizard with disheveled hair knelt in the center, and all the family emblems on his robe had been torn off. Although he looked extremely disheveled, judging from the wizard's appearance, he had probably been an elegant person before this.
But in the scene, his face was ashen and his expression vacant, as if he had not expected to end up in such a state.
A female elf servant seemed to be crying and trying to stop it, but was casually struck by the wizard in charge of the execution and instantly turned to ash.
Then, as the punishment array activated, the dazed wizard, from flesh to soul, was dissolved into the most basic particles in a vast stream of energy and dissipated. The entire punishment process was neat and clean, without any dragging.
The picture in the crystal ended there.
Jie Ming slowly withdrew his mental power, his expression still calm, but a trace of surprise flashed through his mind.
It wasn't because the poor guy had been executed, but rather because the family's movements were too fast.
This was only the first day of the Academic Symposium... Even counting yesterday's welcome reception, it was only the morning of the second day, and they had already finished handling it.
As for whether the images in the crystal could be faked or anything, Jie Ming didn't doubt it much.
As long as this wizard family had any brains, they wouldn't do such a stupid thing.
After all, the other side had done this precisely to make connections with him, and if they had resorted to deception, they would have truly offended him deeply. Even if Jie Ming didn't care much later, the families around this family wouldn't mind selling him a favor.
Right after last night's welcome reception ended, the man was dead by this morning.
Moreover... the other party's attitude was too "respectful."
Under normal circumstances, when facing a sixth-level with extremely high potential, even if that sixth-level might be promoted to an eighth-level wizard, an eighth-level wizard in front of him should not be this "respectful."
Although he had never heard of this family's name, since even an elder was eighth-level, it was obvious that this wizard family should have more than one eighth-level.
But facing a wizard with eighth-level potential, this was indeed not the attitude one should have.
Since the reason was not on his side, Jie Ming quickly figured it out.
Before last night, he really was just a new sixth-level with good potential. But after being publicly endorsed by three spatial studies authorities—Savien, Basian, and Morna—his status was already completely different.
Now, if anyone touched him, they wouldn't be slapping only Jie Ming's face, but the faces of all three spatial studies authorities.
More importantly, judging from the other party's attitude, although they were all eighth-level wizards, senior eighth-level wizards like Savien were probably a completely different concept from ordinary eighth-levels.
The Mobius family, having become an eighth-level family, naturally wouldn't fail to see such a situation clearly.
So they chose the fastest and most thorough way to handle it.
They would rather decisively clean their own house than give others a chance to exploit the matter.
Thinking of this, Jie Ming couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Families that could stand for countless years in the circle of eighth-level wizards were indeed not simple characters.