Chapter 294: Zuan's Magic Book

Silas is a rebel, but not a revolutionary. This is Levi's evaluation of him.

The discrimination and rejection he experienced since childhood made him completely devoted to his single identity as a wizard, and the years of dark life in prison inevitably made his temperament extreme and radical.

The liberation he wanted was only the liberation for himself and his fellow mages.

As for the civilians of Demacia...

Let's put it this way, if Levi doesn't intervene, in the "future", the first thing Silas does after regaining his freedom is:

The barbarians from the Freljord in the north were lured into the pass, and they burned, killed, looted and fought their way to the capital of Demacia.

Yes, barbarians...

For ordinary people, there are not many people in this world who are worse than the nobles.

However, Silas was able to invite a group of even more heavyweight primitive slave tribes to let everyone taste the benefits of feudal society.

Obviously, he was a little crazy.

"Little girl, you said that the Magic Forbidden Zheng Ce was just a tool of the nobles to rule. But what I saw was that almost every Demacia person, from the bottom up, spontaneously and fanatically pursued the Magic Forbidden Zheng Ce!"

"No one is forcing those civilians. But they just fear us, hate us, and regard us as damn demons!"

"Because mortals and mages are inherently different! They can't be our friends!"

Silas's angry roar, which was more of an emotional outlet, seemed to be more effective than Sona's previous lengthy theoretical propaganda.

Many mages present resonated with this and nodded secretly.

Yeah... mortals are friends?

They only need to think back to their own experiences to find it difficult to answer yes.

"No, you are wrong." Sona tried to wake them up: "The common people in Demacia do discriminate against mages, but where does this idea come from?"

It was originally a cultural tradition spontaneously formed by the ancestors of Demacia, who suffered greatly in the Rune Wars, out of fear and hatred of magic.

But it has been almost 1,000 years since the Rune Wars.

The Demacians in the past thousand years have not experienced the suffering of their ancestors. Why are they more hostile to mages than their ancestors and ban magic more extremely?

"Because the policy of banning magic was formulated as a national policy by the nobles of Demacia a long time ago, and it has continued to develop to this day."

"It is under the subtle promotion of the royal family and the nobility that this cultural tradition of extreme discrimination against mages has formed among the people."

"Think about it, should we blame the common people of Demacia or the nobles for this?"

Sona tried hard to help the mages recognize who was the enemy and who was the friend.

What she said was not difficult to understand.

but……

"Ms. Sona, we understand what you said. But no matter who instigated it, these civilians are discriminating against us now, aren't they?" the mages questioned.

"..." Sona was speechless for a moment.

Because the attitude of the mages now is:

I understand the logic, but we don't accept your theory.

It's like a pigeon that looks bigger than a car in the distance in a photo...

This pigeon looks just that big. You tell me why it looks just that big.

"Alas." Sona sighed deeply.

In fact, Levi had already reminded her and Lux of the situation she was facing before they returned to Demacia.

Levi believes that the racial conflict between mages and mortals is similar to the ethnic conflicts between Zaun and Piltover, and the national conflicts between Demacia and Noxus that he has analyzed before.

These contradictions exist objectively. They will not disappear just by talking about theories or shouting slogans.

In fact, mages and mortals are inherently different.

In Demacia, due to the cultural traditions formed over hundreds of years, mortals have indeed formed a systematic oppression of mages.

"We pursue the ideal of internationalism, but we must also be realistic and recognize that:"

“Contradictions exist objectively.”

“When the surrounding environment constantly shows you racial, ethnic and national inequality, makes you feel the real oppression brought by different identities, and makes you face the fierce conflict between ideals and reality, it is difficult for you to persist in the ideals that are difficult to realize at the moment.”

"Just like the people of Zaun in the past..."

"When every Piltover person they meet calls them sewer rats with the most contemptuous tone, they can't believe that Piltover people can be their friends."

Sona thought back to Levi's words.

"The effect of talking about theory at this time is much worse."

“Even if many people can hear and understand the theory, they will choose to embrace a narrow identity rather than the ideals of leaders under the education of objective reality.”

What should we do then?

If we were in a world without magic, there would actually be no good way to solve this problem.

After all, people's awareness is different.

Some people can still "naively" stick to their ideals even after being beaten by reality.

Most people are like Silas, who can no longer accept ideals after recognizing the reality, even if they can understand Janna's thoughts.

For them, there is no better way than to carry out publicity and education and hope that everyone will realize it on their own.

but……

This is Runeland, a place where gods and magic exist.

Here, leaders can transcend all boundaries of identity in a real sense and bring everyone together.

This is the thing that brings everyone together:

"Faith." Finally, Sona spoke to the mages: "Under the faith of Goddess Jana, everyone is equal..."

"You must be joking!" Silas interrupted angrily, "Equality? How is that possible?"

"Does it mean that as long as we believe in your God, mages and mortals will be the same ?"

"Yeah." Sona nodded seriously.

"Why?" Silas laughed, "Magicians are naturally stronger than mortals, and mortals are naturally more numerous than mages. Why are we equal? Why are we the same?"

"By Janna." Sona said directly, "Whoever tries to create inequality, the goddess will destroy him."

Silas: “…”

This overly frank statement made it difficult for this crazy man to argue.

"Humph!" But he still said stubbornly: "After all, it's just superficial equality!"

"Isn't that enough?" Sona answered confidently, "For ordinary people, it is enough to achieve superficial equality."

"Leaders are people of faith. They will not only uphold equality through practical actions, but will also abandon prejudices from the bottom of their hearts and treat people equally regardless of their identities."

"So in the land blessed by Janna, the kind of collective rejection of mages by mortals that you worry about will never happen."

“……” Silas was speechless.

But he was still too stubborn to give in.

He still had the same attitude. He understood the reason, but he just couldn't let go of his hatred for Demacia.

Only the mage is his compatriot whom he can trust. Commoners may not be enemies, but... if they are not of my kind, their hearts must be different.

"Okay..." Sona sighed.

Talking to this crazy person obsessed with his extreme identity, her logic just didn't make sense no matter how hard she tried.

Let's just be practical.

"Mr. Silas, you think that only mages are your compatriots, right?"

"Of course!" Silas nodded heavily.

Sona didn't answer, but took out a book from her arms.

This book is not "A Brief Account of Janna's Thoughts", but:

"In fact, I just started learning magic recently. And this book is the magic textbook I brought from Zaun."

"If you are interested, take a look at it."

"Oh?" Silas and the mages looked confused.

They didn't understand why Sona suddenly started talking about magic while debating.

But in Demacia, where magic is banned, spellbooks are an absolutely rare contraband.

Many of the wizards present felt that they had never received any systematic magic education since their awakening, let alone had the opportunity to come into contact with the legendary magic book. They had to rely on their own unconventional ways to explore the world.

So everyone was very interested in the magic book that Sona suddenly took out.

So Silas took the book on behalf of the mages.

Strangely enough, this book was markedly different from any magic book he had ever seen before.

The covers of general magic books are made of exquisite animal leather. The covers are either imprinted with gorgeous and complex magic patterns, or have a dark and simple style, giving people a sense of mystery and heaviness.

But this magic book is made entirely of the most ordinary printed paper, and there is a childish cartoon bluebird pattern printed on the cover.

It only says:

"Magic Control (Elective) Grade 6, Part 1"

"Zuan Education Press."

Opening the title page, it clearly reads:

"Price: 1 silver wheel."

Silas: “…”

Mages: “…”

They were stunned for a long time before they asked hesitantly, "What does sixth grade... mean?"

"It's a textbook for 12-year-old primary school students," said Sona.

"?!" The mages were shocked: "Is this something that children learn in Zaun?"

"What's the point of those mortal children learning this?"