"In the secret realm, life and death in the blood duel are at one's own risk. Are you trying to violate the contract?"
Beneath the massive lightning array,
"Enough!!!"
The black-robed figure standing before the three academy heads spoke up. A massive emerald-green hand reached into the sky and seized. Buzz!!! The enormous lightning was scattered by the great hand.
"I told you to follow the rules!!!" The black-robed figure's voice was low and deep.
At the same time, the blue-bearded old man across from them spat out a mouthful of blood, the rage on his face entirely replaced by fear. He immediately dropped to his knees. "Please forgive an old man who has just lost his nephew, my lord!!!"
"Just this once! Otherwise, I'll rip out your soul and roast it in the flames of the abyss for ten thousand years!!!"
The black-robed figure spoke again.
The blue-bearded old man returned to his academy's group and shot Jiamen a vicious glare.
The hatred and unyielding determination behind that look made even Duolote's head ache, his skeletal frame crackling with a series of pops and snaps.
"This time may have gone fine, but unless he hides in the academy forever, Jiamen will definitely be hunted by Blue Beard!!!"
Leilin's eyes turned cold.
Just moments ago, the Chip had detected several waves of detection spells from the other side.
Clearly, they were searching for the person who had killed their talented apprentices! If Leilin still had those marked items on him, he would have ended up just like Jiamen.
For the instructors of the opposing academies, their painstakingly nurtured students and successors were dead—and killed by a hostile force at that. They had to pay in blood!!!
As for Black Bone Forest Academy's casualties, which were ten or a hundred times greater, those were completely ignored.
Though there were the constraints of the contract and the oversight of the Black Night Lighthouse, for wizards, as long as they were willing to pay a price, they could absolutely circumvent the contract and carry out their revenge!!!
For example, they could avoid getting their own hands dirty while hinting for wizards outside these two academies to act. Or they could simply post a bounty on the black market.
……
Late at night, Leilin had already returned to his dormitory and was lounging half-reclined on his bed, idly turning a pale yellow test tube over in his hands.
The test tube was made entirely of pale yellow crystal, surprisingly heavy, with a weighty feel when held.
This crystal was a rare material—nitrogen-infused crystal. Even wizardry below twenty degrees could do nothing to it.
Test tubes made of nitrogen-infused crystal were commonly used to preserve extremely valuable potions.
According to records, potions preserved in nitrogen-infused crystal test tubes had maintained their full potency for over a thousand years.
Inside the pale yellow test tube, there was a blob of translucent liquid.
Leilin casually shook the test tube, and under the reflection of the lamplight, the liquid inside began to refract rainbow-colored light that constantly shifted and flowed. It was quite beautiful.
"The legendary Gelin Water that can help apprentices break through the bottleneck to formal wizardry!" Leilin stared at the test tube, muttering to himself.
Earlier, under the forceful suppression from the lord of the Black Night Lighthouse, the heads of Gothic Sage's Cottage and White Forest Castle had been forced to submit and lead their remaining apprentices away.
Even Torexas's instructor wasn't foolish enough to anger a high-level wizard again.
Leilin and the others had also returned to Black Bone Forest Academy under their instructor's guidance.
Leilin made a point of checking—right now, all the apprentices in Black Bone Forest Academy numbered fewer than fifty.
A normal academy would have at least a thousand apprentices!!!
It could be said that Gothic Sage's Cottage and White Forest Castle had all but accomplished their mission of severing Black Bone Forest Academy's generational lineage—if not for the deaths of several talented apprentices in the secret realm!
Even so, out of over two hundred apprentices who had entered, more than a hundred had successfully survived until the end of the blood duel.
Compared to Black Bone Forest Academy, that was a tremendous victory.
"But... none of that has anything to do with me!" Leilin stared at the dreamlike potion in his hands.
"As long as I have the Gelin Water, that's all that matters! And the academy even used an anonymous exchange format—they really do look out for their apprentices!"
After returning to the academy, Leilin and the other surviving apprentices were informed that the contribution points earned from killing enemy apprentices, as well as the subsequent redemption process, could all be handled privately.
Furthermore, the person in charge of the redemptions was an alchemical creature created by Headmaster Sly, devoid of any human emotions and incapable of leaking the apprentices' secrets.
It could be said that while Black Bone Forest's rules were quite brutal, steeped in the law of the jungle, the protection they offered to truly capable and talented apprentices was remarkably well done.
Leilin managed to scrape together just fifty contribution points, redeemed a standard portion of Gelin Water, and left.
The various rare materials, first-level spell models, and spiritual power potions on the redemption list left Leilin's eyes spinning.
At that moment, Leilin truly regretted not having collected the badges of those talented apprentices as well.
But after catching sight of Jiamen's dark expression, Leilin quickly buried that regret deep in his heart.
Though Torexas's badge was worth at least fifty contribution points and could be exchanged for quite a few resources, the looks the other apprentices gave Jiamen were tinged with pity.
Was it really worth antagonizing a formal wizard over these resources?
Moreover, while the other instructors didn't know their apprentices' hauls, Duolote knew exactly how many contribution points Jiamen had. Setting everything else aside, at least half of Torexas's contribution points would likely be taken by Duolote.
After all, he had shielded Jiamen from the opposing formal wizard!
"Until I become a formal wizard, keeping a low profile can only help, never hurt!" After witnessing Jiamen's fate, Leilin's resolve only grew stronger.
His senior brother
Merlin's talent in Potionology could be described as truly extraordinary—without the Chip to cheat, Leilin would have been left miles behind by Merlin.
But so what?
Merlin had been targeted and focused down by the enemy precisely because of his fame, ultimately dying in the blood duel's secret realm.
No matter how talented an apprentice was, until they had grown strong, they were worth less than a stone by the roadside!
Instead, Leilin had always deliberately created the illusion that he was inferior to Merlin, letting Merlin stand at the front to draw fire, successfully diverting most of the enemy's attention. In the secret realm, almost no one had noticed him.
"However, this strategy won't work for the time being!"
Leilin turned the Gelin Water over in his hands, his expression growing increasingly grave.
After this blood duel, the entirety of Black Bone Forest Academy was left with fewer than fifty apprentices—that was even fewer than the number of instructors!
And anyone who survived the blood duel would surely be considered elite!
Under these circumstances, every single apprentice would come under intense scrutiny!
Leilin had absolutely no confidence that he could pull off any tricks under the watchful eyes of so many academy instructors without being discovered.
"Perhaps I should go out and travel for a while. If I can find the Advanced Meditation Method that Roman spoke of before, it would be far superior to Gelin Water..."
Before completing the Falling Star Pendant last time, Leilin had managed to extract from the evil spirit Roman information about an Advanced Meditation Method inheritance left behind by the Crimson Grand
According to Roman, the Crimson Grand Wizard's legacy was located within Dilun Garden in the Moon Lute Mountain Range.
Wizards who advanced to formal status using an Advanced Meditation Method were absolutely more powerful than those who broke through with Gelin Water! Moreover, they retained far more potential and had greater possibilities in the future!
If Leilin wanted to climb to the pinnacle of wizardry while still preserving the potential for further advancement, breaking through with Gelin Water would be the most reluctant option.
At the thought of the Falling Star Pendant, Leilin stirred, pulling the silver-gray cross from around his neck.
The surface of the silver-gray cross was inlaid with many colorful scattered gemstones, making it look like a flawless work of art.
But the Falling Star Pendant now looked distinctly duller, as though it had endured a great deal of expenditure.
"Falling Star Pendant: Low-grade Magical Item. Effect: Instant defense. Current status: Energy depleted. Charge level: 0%"
The Chip faithfully displayed the Falling Star Pendant's status before Leilin's eyes.
The Falling Star Pendant was unquestionably the greatest contributor to Leilin's survival and his killing of the enemy's powerful apprentice this time.
The defensive barrier projected by the silver cross had reached a remarkable level in both physical defense and spell resistance—below the formal wizard tier, very few methods could breach the Falling Star Pendant's defenses.
But in any world, the laws of conservation of energy had to be obeyed. Each activation of the Falling Star Pendant consumed energy, and once that energy was depleted, the pendant was nothing more than a slightly prettier trinket!
"The Falling Star Pendant's defense is great and all, but the energy just isn't enough!"
Leilin said with some regret. "Chip! Create a task: while maintaining the primary task's computational load, use the remaining processing power to explore methods for increasing the Falling Star Pendant's energy reserves!"
"Ding! Task created!
Leilin nodded, walked over to the adjacent laboratory, and placed the Falling Star Pendant at the center of an unusual magical array. Scattered around the array were many stones that emitted faint spots of blue light.
"Initiate charging sequence!"
Buzz!!! At Leilin's command, thin lines of pale blue light lit up across the array, and wisps of starlight were drawn from the stones by the array and channeled into the Falling Star Pendant.
"Falling Star Pendant charging. Current progress: 1%..." The Chip faithfully reported.
Charging the Falling Star Pendant was actually quite simple—all it needed was exposure to starlight. As long as it bathed in starlight when its energy was depleted, it would automatically complete the charging process.
But at Black Bone Forest Academy, getting access to starlight was virtually impossible, leaving Leilin with no choice but to use other methods to charge the Falling Star Pendant.