Chapter 1: The Awakening of the Young Boy! Thaumaturge...

  "This is what you said and the medical practitioners inside are all familiar?"

  "Not even meeting one person, what's the point of being familiar or not?"

  Following Beru through a tunnel, down a sewer, up an airshaft, through a room filled with skeletons and many more bizarre and terrifying internal organs, and then several outdoor staircases that nobody seemed to use, Ailin was on the verge of collapse by the time they climbed up a garbage chute to reach this passageway.

  "What kind of conspiracy are you hiding?" Eilin couldn't help but say as she looked at Beru, whose glasses sparkled with starlight in the darkness.

  "Help you meet Chris, anyway, I've successfully brought you here, she should be here." Berro pushed his glasses and said softly: "If you don't believe it, take a look back, but I advise you not to make any noise, so as not to waste my effort."

  "I..."

  Clutching onto the last shred of hope, Ailin walked towards those several sickrooms. When he pushed open the door to the first room that Bero had pointed out, his depression and desperation suddenly vanished into thin air.

  "I told you she'd be in this room."

  Bailu's voice whispered in his ear, like a fox's whisper in the dark of night: "Of course, the teachers at Sheng Liming Academy also have their own private thoughts. Under these conditions, the safest and most heavily guarded room would naturally be reserved for students from their own academy."

  In front of Ailin was a very large room.

  The room was filled with the fragrance of herbs, and the only furniture in the room with a green carpet was a bed. The purple-red velvet curtains were slightly opened, and through the half-open window came fresh air and faint starlight.

  Christine lay quietly in the center of the white hospital bed, under the faint starlight, her face and hair seemed to be shining.

  "Where did this guy go?"

  Ailin originally wanted to say something to Bailu, but when he turned his head, he found that Bailu, who had just been speaking next to his ear, had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.

  Just as Ailin was thinking that he shouldn't wake up Chris, and quietly put down the gift he bought for her and left, Chris's long eyelashes suddenly jumped a few times, and she opened her eyes.

  She blinked her eyes in a daze, and when she saw the scenery around her and Ailin standing at the door, she was very calm. "Are you the teacher on duty? Why do you look so young?"

  "I'm not here to scold you, I just came to see how you're doing."

  Ailin said with embarrassment: "Don't you recognize me? Outside the Thinker's Stone Forest, when we were punished to stand still, you treated us to many things."

  "Newborns penalized by Houston?"

  "Christy blinked in surprise,"I remember you guys, but how did you get in?"

  "A friend who was standing with me at the time brought me in, I don't know if you still remember, the one wearing glasses." Ailing said anxiously: "But now he doesn't know where he ran to."

  "How can you sneak him in so quietly?"

  A faintly admiring smile played on Christie's lips: "I don't remember what he looked like, but I remember there were three of you."

  "Yes, and there's a redhead named Moss, the one with glasses is called Bero, and I'm Ailin." Ailin said excitedly: "I watched your game today, I thought we were going to lose for sure. Are you feeling better now?... Oh right, I brought you some gifts, a shop owner said they're delicious green packaged chocolate sandwich cookies, and also some small bear crystal soft candies."

  "Huh?"

  "Is it the chocolate sandwich cookies from that small shop with a green iron roof? I love eating them, but haven't bought any in a long time."

  "Yes." Elin was enveloped in a huge happiness, he nodded, "Do you want to eat now?"

  "I'm really hungry." Chris said honestly, but with a bit of shyness: "But I can't move now, can you peel it for me to eat?"

  "Alright."

  Ailin walked into the ward, sat down beside Kris's bed, carefully peeled one and put it in Kris's mouth.

  "It's just this..." Chriss's eyes were instantly filled with satisfied little stars.

  "You must have been practicing too hard, so you forgot to buy the things you like to eat." Ailin looked at her small mouth and long eyelashes, saying: "I heard from Belo that a person of ordinary human bloodline wants to practice their strength and coordination, agility stronger than those with beastman bloodline, at least several times more time is needed."

  "I want to eat one more."

  Chris was completely unlike her usual domineering self during the competition, she pursed her lips and said in a very calm tone: "There's no other way, this is the only way to defeat those formidable guys."

  "Are you completely unable to move?" Ailin peeled the candy while worriedly looking at her: "How is your injury, can you make it in time for the next match?"

  "The next game is in three months, I asked Coach Nan Ming, it's definitely no problem, just less practice time."

  "Three months? There's such a long gap between one match and the next?"

  "This kind of competition will naturally leave some time for people to recover from injuries, because it is inevitable that they will get hurt during the game." Chris said slowly while sucking on a mint: "However, this is because today's match is an additional match, so there is a particularly long time between now and the next formal pre-selection match. By the time the formal pre-selection match starts, it will only be half a month apart."

  "Half a month? If it's seriously injured by then, won't I be unable to participate in the next match?"

  "Yes, so the later it gets, the more difficult the game becomes."

  "Isn't that the kind of team where all five members are very strong, or a school with many other strong players besides the five, would be more likely to win the championship?"

  "Yes. So sometimes tactics must also be taken into account, and we must target the next opponent, see who cannot afford to exit the game due to injury." Chris said seriously: "If it's not particularly difficult, then there won't be so many people, fighting with all their might to get the final victory in this match."

  "I will also work hard, I think this competition is very interesting, and I want to help you win this competition." Ailin said seriously.

  Kris smiled.

  "Alright." She smiled at Ailin, "Then you should first think of a way to defeat the other members of the Academy team. If you have the ability to join the Academy team, then we can talk about it later. Give me another small bear crystal candy, I haven't eaten this kind of candy before and I want to try what flavor it is."

  "Alright, I'll definitely beat them and join the Academy team first!"

  Ailin solemnly guaranteed, then poured out a crystal gummy from a glass jar and put it in Kris's mouth.

  "What are you doing? Stop it!"

  "What kind of person are you? How did you get in?"

  At this moment, a shrill scream rose, and a black shadow with a piercing whistling sound, like a bat, swooped into the ward, pinning Ailin against the wall without any resistance.

  "Don't worry, teacher, he's my friend."

  It wasn't until Kris's voice sounded again that Ailin saw clearly that the one who had pressed a hand to his throat and pushed him into the corner was a pale-faced female mage in her thirties with short hair.

  The female artist's body kept trembling.

  She still couldn't believe her eyes. This was a heavily guarded ward in the medical department, and there were also combat mages patrolling around the perimeter. Because of Nan Ming's special instructions, everyone here had been on high alert, but what was unimaginable was that someone had actually entered this place and even fed something to Cress!

  Although she had judged that it was ordinary candy from the smell when she rushed in, so she didn't use her heavy hand on Ailin, but at this time, her whole body was involuntarily sweating cold sweat.

  Keris is the most elite student in the academy, and the most precious treasure of the academy. She can't even imagine what would happen if an enemy had infiltrated here and fed her something harmful.

  For a moment, she was even at a loss for words.

  "Whoosh!"

  "Whoosh!"

  "Whoosh!"...

  A loud noise suddenly rang out, and in an instant, a dozen black shadows descended upon the room, swooping in through the windows and doors.

  For a moment, the entire spacious room was crowded.

  "How did you get in!"

  "How did you sneak in here?"

  All the magicians standing in the room were extremely shocked, their faces looked extremely ugly.

  "I came from behind the wall." Seeing the looks on the mages' faces, Ailin knew that there would probably be severe punishment, so he winked at Chris, thinking that if he took the blame himself, Beru wouldn't be exposed.

  "Tell me in detail!"

  A doctor with a blue cloth wrapped around his hair had bulging veins on his forehead and shouted loudly.

  "There is a tunnel in the small woods behind which connects to a sewer inside..."

  "Go check it out right away and see if what he said is true!" The technician immediately issued a command.

  A figure turned into a flowing shadow and shot out, only less than a minute later, it flashed back in through the window, "Indeed there is."

  "How did you know there was a shortcut like this? What did you do after coming in?"

  Just as Ailin was thinking about what to say, a sudden shrill alarm sounded, which sounded like the sharp cry of some bird.

  "What's going on?" All the cultivators in the room suddenly trembled and their faces turned even uglier.

  "All of the wounded members of the Nanji Wind Academy squad have vanished!"

  Another martial artist rushed in, looking dispirited, "A side door was opened, it should be someone who took advantage of your arrival to sneak in and take away all the wounded!"

  "What?!"

  The leading technician with a blue cloth wrapped around his head was sweating profusely, "Found the side door open, why aren't you chasing after him?!"

  "I've been chasing, but still haven't found it!"

  "What kind of person are you?!"

  Several mages closed in on Ailin, who was stunned and speechless.

  "Don't worry, just leave it to us." Just then, a clear and crisp female voice rang out.

  "It's Galen!" The mages in the room exchanged a glance and collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

  ……

  Ferdinand woke up from his dream.

  He felt the bed was very hard at first and completely unlike the soft one before.

  Then he suddenly found that there were stars hanging above his head, and he was not in the room, but in an open outdoor venue!

  Then he found himself in the wilderness!

  "Ah!"

  In the next second, he screamed out loud, completely bewildered by what was happening. He and Lyle should have been comfortably lying in the infirmary of Saint Dawn Academy, but now, he saw that he and his teammates were all wrapped up in blankets and dumped in a field of tall grass, surrounded by row upon row of eerie tombstones! It was a cemetery!

  "What am I doing here?"

  At this time, Kuru was also awakened by his loud voice and completely lost his way, letting out a frightened scream.

  "Hmph, you actually dare to openly poach people from our Sacred Dawn Academy, not putting me in your eyes at all. Go to hell!"

  "So arrogant in front of me..."

  As the members of the Southern Wind Squad let out terrified screams one by one, a seemingly calm figure was weaving in and out of the desolate forest not far from the graveyard, muttering to himself in a loud voice.

  "This guy, who went to such great lengths just to vent like this, is truly worthy of being a reckless freshman who dares to charge into the arena of giants."

  A lazy voice soon rose softly at the edge of the desolate forest: "To be able to lure away so many people, and bring these people here, I didn't have such a level back then."

  "Liszt, what are we going to do with this little guy?" Ming Lu's rough voice also rang out quickly.

  "It's just kids' mischief, don't mind it." Liszt smiled: "I reckon it won't take much time before you have the chance to repair and discipline them."