Arriving At The Academy
“It’s a matured giant storm sprite!
“Damnit! How could we meet with this kind of things on this path, didn’t we clear it before?”
“Where are the Magi of the various academies? We need their help!”
A few flustered voices sounded.
“Let us first activate the large-scale defense spell formation. If not, those acolytes will surely die!”
After some incantations, all the walls on the dirigible were enveloped by a layer of milky white light. All cracks in the dirigible flashed with a green light as vines climbed up and firmly blocked any openings.
“Hu hu…... “Leylin’s face turned red as he panted heavily.
When the giant storm sprite spoke earlier, the acolytes had all felt an ice-cold force pressing down on them.
Immense, boundless, and raw malice! Leylin found it difficult to breathe.
Fortunately, after the defense spell formation was activated, Leylin felt much better as the pressure lifted.
Otherwise, most of the acolytes in the hall might just die from suffocation moments later.
“Human beings, you must pay the price for your folly!” the giant storm sprite howled.
As the sound waves travelled through the defense spell formation , the milky white light vibrated.
“Mighty being of nature! Please appease your fury! We have a letter here!” A familiar voice rang beside Leylin’s ears, it was the dirigible captain.
“This is the letter of agreement that we had with His Majesty, the storm king sprite, which grants us passage through this area!” Kirkwul said with a voice full of confidence.
“Letter of agreement?” The giant storm sprite’s voice contained suspicion, which he followed up with a furious roar, “Pendra is free! The agreement does not bind me to it!”
“Keep roaring! Rage on! Damikan Buthra!” With the incantation spoken, the thunderstorm outside became ten times more violent than before.
“Damn! It is actually a wanderer, I have hit the jackpot!” Kirkwul’s voice sounded once again, but it did not carry the usual confidence and was infused with exasperation instead.
“Everyone attack together!”
* Rumble! *
Many bright coloured lights flashed continuously outside the window, clashing with the lightning.
The dirigible gradually started to sway.
Leylin’s face turned slightly pale. He could only pray for the Magi to use their might and chase that darn giant storm sprite away, otherwise he would not even be able to escape since he was stuck high up in the sky.
“Bang!”
There was another rumble, and the dirigible recovered its stability.
“Has it left?”
“It is only a giant storm sprite that has just matured, it is only comparable to half of an elemental Magus at most. There are nine of us here, so it running away is natural!
The voices of the Magi discussions sounded from outside. It obviously did not take a lot of effort for them, which eased the minds of the acolytes.
As expected, when the acolytes heard those words, they all shouted and cheered loudly.
“Woo! To our great Magi!”
“Damn it! I thought I would fall and be smashed into minced meat!”
“Haha! Look at that coward; he actually peed in his pants!” The acolytes all mocked an unlucky acolyte and vented the fear that they had held in their hearts.
Leylin’s eyes scanned the surroundings.
When the giant storm sprite spoke earlier, Jayden had already released the vines binding Kaliweir, and right now it seemed like Kaliweir had escaped. However, although Jayden’s face was rather pale, he stood his ground and maintained the pose of a victor.
“The A.I. Chip did not detect that Jayden was carrying a magic artifact earlier. It seems like it was only acquired recently, and the only means of that is through Dorotte!”
“It seems like after obtaining the magic artifact, Jayden has been leading Kaliweir into picking a fight with him impatiently. If not for this incident, it is very likely that he would have succeeded!” Leylin thought to himself.
Because of the interruption from the giant storm sprite, the fight between Jayden and Kaliweir remained unsettled as it drew its curtains.
From then on, Kaliweir tried his best to avoid appearing in the same place as Jayden. It seemed like he was afraid of his opponent’s magic artifact.
This fight had greatly influenced Leylin’s thoughts.
“Kaliweir has already ignited his internal life energy, and got through the bottleneck and became a full-fledged Knight. However, in front of an acolyte with a magic artifact, he is still as weak as a lamb! It seems like the strength of Magi greatly surpass that of Knights!
“Originally, I thought I must ignite my internal life energy. But after this, if I haven't ignited it before reaching the school, then I’ll give up on it! I definitely have to pour all my attention and energy into my studies to become a Magus!” Leylin made up his mind.
The time slowly passed, and the dirigible finally reached another continent.
In addition to the incident with the giant storm sprite, the dirigible had several encounters with other flying creatures. This led Leylin to realise that not only was the Death Seas difficult to navigate through, it was the same in the skies.
Fortunately, Kirkwul’s letter of agreement was still rather effective in front of the various large creatures and no conflicts were started.
During this period, the dirigible alighted several times and sent several Professors and acolytes off. The dirigible slowly became more vacant.
Another dozen days passed unknowingly.
* Bang! * The dirigible landed and the whole interior shuddered.
“We have arrived at the Abyssal Bone Moor! Attention to all acolytes of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy! Please bring your belongings and leave the dirigible in an orderly fashion!” A voice rang through the cabins.
“We’ve finally arrived?” Leylin packed his belongings and quickly left the tiny space he had been holed up in during the past month.
“Jayden, Kaliweir, please take attendance!” Dorotte held a black staff, with a large green jewel embedded in its tip.
“Alright!” Jayden and Kaliweir nodded their heads and started accounting for the attendance.
Leylin glanced at Kaliweir. Ever since the incident in the dining hall, this youth had turned much quieter and often holed himself in his own room. Looking at his face now, he seemed to be gloomier than before.
On the contrary, Jayden was extremely lively, and according to some rumours, he had already been accepted by Dorotte as an apprentice.
Apprentices were different from other acolytes as their status were higher, and they could even freely obtain a lot of advanced knowledge from their professor.
A dozen or so people walked out of the dirigible.
“So this is our academy? It seems to be a little desolate!”
Leylin looked at the surroundings, and it seemed rather desolate. There were a few small trails with obvious traces of others using it before.
There was a wooden sign in the middle of a crossroad, riddled with several holes.
There were directions written in black, showing the various locations.
“The land of shadows and death - Bone Abyssal Moor!” The words twisted, and Leylin felt his scalp gone numb.
“Hehe…... Follow me!” Dorotte stretched his body leisurely, and his white bones creaked and crunched as if they were going to fall apart at any moment.
“Pay heed! Although our academy’s acolytes do a scheduled cleansing, there are still some living creatures, and polluted and evil beings roaming in this area. So if you were to stray off, I think we would be able to pay respects to your deceased body soon afterwards!”
Dorotte snickered, and the acolytes’ faces all changed. They followed behind Dorotte closely, for fear of losing him.
The group gradually traversed across the Abyssal Bone Moor.
“What is that?” Leylin walked in the middle of the group, and suddenly something black flashed in front of him. It seemed to be a blue creature with a horn.
“A.I. Chip! Begin scan!”
“Task initialising, Begin Scan!” The A.I. Chip chip’s robotic voice sounded.
[An unknown creature of high energy! Estimated Strength: 3-4, Agility: 4-5, Vitality: About 5, Assessment: Extremely dangerous!]
“Ss! Whatever it is, it’s much stronger than the direwolves and may have some strange tricks up its sleeves. A Knight would only die if they encounter one!”
Leylin hurriedly squeezed forward. In this land where danger lurked, it seemed like the black-robed skeleton, Professor Dorotte, was his only insurance.
“It seems like our little acolytes have finally understood the dangers!”
The green flames in Dorotte’s sockets flickered as he said indifferently.
The group proceeded forward, and very soon the barren earth lessened and more forestry could be seen around them.
Very soon, Leylin entered a black coloured forest.
He did not know if it was an illusion, but Leylin felt as if the sun in the sky had dimmed after entering the forest, and there was a layer of white mist in the surroundings giving off a chilly feeling.
[Warning! Warning! A high energy being is approaching! Position: In the air!] The A.I. Chip’s warning sounded.
Leylin hurriedly looked down and crouched.
“Kak!” A piercing sound rang.
A black raven with red eyes swooped down and passed by Leylin’s position, its sharp claws headed towards the face of a female acolyte.
Boom!
A ball of greenish liquid struck at the raven directly, and the raven cawed as it fell onto the floor. A white smoke arose, giving off a corroding effect.
The female acolyte remained rooted to the ground and suddenly cried loudly.
Only seconds later, the raven on the floor disappeared without a corpse and there was only a huge impression left in the corroded earth.
“It seems like these red-eyed ravens increased in numbers yet again. I think I will need to distribute more missions after we return, and let the acolytes cleanse this area!”
“What are you all looking at? Let's go!”
Dorotte’s voice sounded at the front and the crying female acolyte rubbed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she walked forward.
Leylin was startled, and hurriedly followed.
After another hour of journeying, the group arrived in the centre of the Abyssal Bone Forest.
“This is……” Leylin saw a spacious area in front of him.
And what was projected before their eyes was a large graveyard.
In the hearths of the Abyssal Bone Forest, a large graveyard sat there unknowingly.
This graveyard was extremely huge and was marbled in black and white, seeming luxurious.
Only, it seemed to have been forsaken for some time. Many of the graves had weeds growing on them, and some even had vines. Occasionally, the ravens caw on top of them, giving off a terrifying vibe.
“Welcome to your home of shadow and death - Abyssal Bone Forest!” Dorotte snickered, but no matter how Leylin saw it, Dorotte seemed to be taking joy in their unfortunate plight.