A hand suddenly reached out to Emi.
It was about to touch her skin when furious winds swept by and flung the suspicious figure that tried to grab her.
Jinmu realized what happened and quickly teleported them out of the place.
Several figures arrived on the scene after their departure. The one leading them was no other than Veron and Haera.
"Zukov, give up. They have already escaped."
A red-golden armored elven stood up with difficulty. He was no other than General Zukov who wandered here after not hearing of Harruga for a day.
The general was furious and wanted to teach the bandits a lesson. Instead of the bandits, however, he chanced upon Veron and Haera.
He tried to go past them and went to the four students who were nearby. He was already at the chivalric ascension stage, the realm of knighthood before becoming a radiant knight.
His sensory skills were next to Veron so he was able to quickly determine the location of the four students.
"You nobles are all the same. You're just envious of me and my achievements! You even set me up! That mysterious group, and the Otherworld, they're all false!", he shouted in desperation.
Veron slapped him using wind. The general easily slumped on the ground, almost lifeless.
He looked nothing compared to a grandmaster magus.
General Zukov tried to stand up again, "What are you going to do with me now, huh? Imprison me for treachery? For not listening to the empress's directives? What bullshit!"
"You're delusional. Don't tell me your ego has also clouded your perspective of reality as well.", Veron coldly said.
"What clouded myself? Those things are illusions you all created, and that merchant caravan, they-!"
It was the last thing General Zukov said before Veron knocked him out.
If Eluard was here, he would label General Zukov as someone high on illegal drug intake.
There was physical evidence, loads of them. The missing elves were real as well. How could such a general reject such proof of validity that the Otherworld was on the move?
"Haera, I will let you take things from here. Imprison him, but do not kill him. We have evidence.", he took out a paryus very similar to what he had given to Jinmu before.
It was the original paryus containing Zukov's contract while what he had given to Jinmu was just a copy he created on the scene.
He put it back and vanished.
Haera sighed deeply. She ordered the guards of the Zumfiel Household to take the general back to Sanctuary City to face his charges of colluding with the Manor in order to commit a crime.
A dangerous one at that.
Aurpiel, the man-in-charge of the merchant caravan that Zukov wanted to capture, stepped forward and thanked Haera.
"Miss, I am thankful for your help."
Haera nodded to him.
Aurpiel was in disbelief at things that just happened. Should Veron and Haera hadn't known of this, his merchant caravan might have been captured by General Zukov and his underlings.
Thinking about it made him shiver in his spine.
He suddenly remembered the four students as well, wondering what happened earlier when their figures flashed out of the area.
…
Heavenly Magic Academy.
Lucan went over and assisted him.
"Jinmu, you don't look that good. Let me assist you to the medical area."
He picked Jinmu up by the shoulder and went on their way. He looked back and said to the two girls.
"Emi, Olivia. I'll take care of Jinmu. Go get some rest."
Lucan was perceptive of what happened just now. As a royal descendant, assassinations and plots weren't new to him.
'I don't know who tried to grab Emi out of the blue but you're going to pay the price!'
After Jinmu told them of his plans, the rest realized that the academy master wanted their identities to remain hidden for now.
However, Lucan was ready to retaliate even if it opposes the academy master's plans. He did not want anybody to easily make a target of the academy and its students.
He wanted to show the world the consequences of messing with them.
Unfortunately, the next day passed and they didn't see the academy master. They were rather excited to show off their skills and report what happened back in the Dark Forest.
"Where do you think the academy master is?", Lucan asked.
"I think the academy master is resting.", Jinmu replied.
"Resting?", the other three wondered.
Jinmu sighed. How could they not see the recent efforts the academy master just did?
"Don't you remember? A week ago, flames rampaged in the academy grounds before that tall tower from afar appeared here.", he pointed at the tall tower that breached the heavens.
"I see. Academy master must have summoned that building from somewhere. It must have taken him quite a lot of power to do so.", Olivia finally understood.
A smirk surfaced on Lucan's head, "Do you guys want to check it out?"
…
The four arrived in front of the strange tower.
"That is mighty big.", Lucan shook his head in disbelief.
The tower was very far from the academy's grounds. It took them almost an hour to reach it. After seeing it up close, the tower was as wide as 25 meters.
Its color was black with some magic lines embedded on the walls that perfectly blended on its surface.
Touching the wall, Jinmu felt that it was similar to a polished granite block but was filled with mysterious power.
Jinmu thought that it wasn't mana but something else.
The texture was smooth and there seemed to have no friction even if he dragged his hand or fingers around it.
When he rested his head on the wall, a chaotic rhythm exploded, disturbing his thoughts and messing up his mind.
Jinmu couldn't think properly for a moment and pulled out his head in panic.
The chaotic rhythm subsided and his calmness returned. Still, his breathing was unstable, surprising his classmates who observed on the sides.
"I think it would be best for the academy master to tell us what this tower is all about.", Jinmu advised without telling anything more.
He gestured for the rest to leave it alone. They returned to the academy grounds with bored expressions.
On the way, they agreed to continue doing the weekly special task that the academy master placed on them.
Jinmu argued that the system might be the one in charge of actually checking their progress and the academy master was there to place it on top of their things to do.
Later that day, the system did track their progress and automatically handed out their rewards.
It all came from the equipment that Eluard bought back on the Elven Emporium. He deposited the items into the academy resources from his inventory in advance in case he forgot to do it.
The students were satisfied with their rewards.
Olivia received the rare Ice Crystal Staff. It was the staff Eluard purchased from Wyn using 200 blue magic crystals.
Holding it made Olivia feel colder and stronger. With a wave, the staff glowed in sky-blue, emitting a cold aura on the surroundings.
Olivia casted a spell, generating many icicles around her, and launched it to a dummy target in the distance.
The dummy target was instantly destroyed.
She caressed the staff and thanked the academy master for his generosity.
On the other hand, Jinmu received a normal mind-calming bead. Even though it was useless to him, he could research the material itself to understand the mysteries that lay behind its mechanisms.
He mused that if he knew how the mind-calming bead worked, then creating a new but better one was worth it in the long run. The additional knowledge would help him as well in the other fields of magic.
Meanwhile, Emi received a strange-looking necklace. It was carved out of wood and in the center was a tree with a hole emitting a light-green light.
[ Life Giving Necklace (Rare) ]
[ Improves the wearer's healing spells by 25%. Enhances the power of the wearer's nature, water, earth, and wood magic spells by 10%. ]
She giggled and complimented the academy master deep in her heart.
The little girl wore the necklace and was astounded when vitality gushed throughout her entire body. She became energetic and started playing around.
As for Lucan, he received a fire bracelet. Its design was simple. The surface was engraved with two red lines parallel to each other.
[ Flame Bracelet (Normal) ]
[ Enhances the wearer's fire-based spells by 5%. Generates a warm current when equipped. ]
Lucan felt the warm current on his right hand as he equipped it. Despite its low enhancement effect, Lucan was still grateful to the academy master.
At least his efforts were rewarded regardless of their quality.
Everyone tried the equipment they received. Since the academy master wasn't around, they had the freedom to do whatever they wished.
Over the next two weeks, the four students became autonomous and started practicing and studying on their own.
Even without the academy master's reminders, they etched it deep in their hearts to cultivate properly and become a student that the academy master was proud of.
Things were going smoothly not until the third week that the academy master was missing.
The students noticed that there were frequent patrols from the elven guards recently in the Dark Forest. Jinmu thought of this strange event being connected to what happened a few weeks ago.
'Are they really searching for us?', he reminisced that senior's words that day.
He realized that their appearance back on Leeveria Forest might have invited suspicion from some concerned parties in the Sanctuary.
Thinking about it made him angry. There was no point in establishing a hostile relationship with them.
The Sanctuary would incur a huge loss if they did. He didn't want to make an enemy of them either.
Moreover, the academy master's patience wasn't infinite. Although he was magnanimous in certain situations, his wrath wasn't a good thing to experience in any case.
However, Jinmu didn't arrive at an immediate conclusion and chose to investigate it instead.
The problem laid on how to gather the information that will answer his questions without inviting attention or suspicion from the elven guards.
He looked at the map and stared at it for a while.
His eyes landed on the Leeveria Forest area and noticed a single main road nearby. Jinmu smiled and left the Dark Forest, informing his classmates of what they were going to do next.
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