The head of Black Bone Forest Academy standing before the numerous professors was, to Leilin's surprise, a witch.
This was somewhat beyond what he had expected, and the other party's face gave him an inexplicably familiar feeling.
Leilin couldn't help but study her appearance carefully: golden curly hair, a face as delicate as a porcelain doll's, two eyes like shining stars, skin white as snow, a petite frame with a touch of baby fat on her cheeks that made her look exceptionally cute and charming.
From her body, fluctuations of peak second-tier condensed Spiritual Power radiated outward unmistakably.
"Hmm! This type of energy fluctuation is different from ordinary Wizards — it should be some branch of ancient Wizards. Another lucky one who obtained an ancient inheritance?"
"Lord Leilin!" The witch before him slowly curtsied, her voice as melodious as an oriole's. "Welcome back! Black Bone Forest will always be your home!"
The goodwill radiating from her was unmistakable, and her voice instantly transported Leilin back to the bonfire at the apprentice camp from long ago.
A face surfaced rapidly in his memory, but the changes she had undergone afterward were so dramatic that Leilin had quite forgotten what she once looked like.
"Are you... Niss?" Leilin spoke slowly.
The witch standing before him was none other than that girl Niss from the past — the one who had been deceived by her mentor, suffered a failed experiment, and been turned into a repulsive monster.
Compared to the nickname "Pig-face" she once bore, the current Niss was practically the embodiment of beauty.
"It's me! And — thank you for all your support and encouragement back then!" Niss's chest rose and fell rapidly, clearly with so much she wanted to say.
Then she swept her gaze around the area: "Lord Leilin is not an enemy! All of you, stand down!"
"At once!"
The rock ape bowed respectfully and led the other skeleton soldiers back to their original positions.
"Everyone! Allow me to make an introduction — this is Leilin Farell! The eternal pride of our Black Bone Forest Academy! Let us give him a warm welcome!"
Niss then addressed the professors behind her, her speech and bearing brimming with the authoritative demeanor of a leader — a completely different person from the timid girl she had once been.
"So he's that Leilin!" "The Toxic King, you mean?" "No, I heard..."
Leilin's reputation, even from before, had been thunderously renowned within Black Bone Forest, and his arrival immediately set off a wave of whispered chatter. Those among the wizards whose rank was high enough to have received prior intelligence, however, faced Leilin with far more deferential postures.
Niss waved her hand, and the murmuring below ceased instantly, demonstrating her formidable control.
She looked at Leilin and broke into a radiant smile, as if the entire cemetery had brightened with sunshine: "I know you must have many questions, and I have much I want to say as well — so let us continue this in the reception hall below!"
"Very well!" Leilin nodded, then, surrounded by the crowd of wizards, descended into the underground structures of Black Bone Forest Academy.
The surface of Black Bone Forest Academy was layer upon layer of graves, but beneath it lay an enormous complex of buildings — enough to house thousands of wizards along with countless attendants and menials — like a vast and intricate honeycomb.
At that moment, in a main reception hall, Leilin set down the cup of black tea in his hands and listened as Niss recounted all that had transpired since their last parting.
"...And so it was that I inherited that sage's legacy, successfully advanced to become a formal Wizard, and over two hundred years later reached the second-tier level. I was even elected as Head of Black Bone Forest Academy!"
Niss tucked the long hair behind her ears.
"Mmm! You've worked hard!" Leilin looked at Niss before him. Although she described it all so simply, he could imagine just how great a price this young woman had paid — and how much she had transformed — to achieve all of that.
However, since the person involved clearly didn't want to dwell on it, he naturally had no desire to pry open old wounds. More importantly, there was nothing to gain from doing so.
"That said, I originally thought there'd be some vermin and trash to deal with once I got to Black Bone Forest, but it looks like things have been considerably simplified!"
Leilin said with a smile, his words carrying a clear subtext.
When he had studied at Black Bone Forest Academy, three Wizard families had controlled everything — even the election of the Academy Head could only produce a candidate from among those three families.
And it was precisely because Leilin had crossed paths with one of them — the Lilitel family — that he'd been forced to leave his homeland far behind. Although he had dealt them a devastating blow afterward, various circumstances had prevented him from completely rooting out their family within the Academy.
But the fact that Niss was now able to serve as Head of Black Bone Forest Academy, and that no one from the Lilitel family had come to stir up trouble this time, spoke volumes.
"I've already torn the Lilitel family out root and branch. The other two families have also taken heavy blows and can no longer freely meddle in Academy affairs! Speaking of which, all of this ultimately traces back to you. If you hadn't been the one to kill their peak first-tier Grand Elder — a man poised to reach the second tier — it wouldn't have thrown the balance of power among those three families into chaos. That was the fuse that set everything in motion..."
Niss gazed at Leilin, her eyes brimming with a warm smile.