Chapter 23

In the outer vicinity of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy.

More than half of the surrounding forests around the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy had already been destroyed. The ground was filled with traces of holes and depressions. Not far away, a few patches of the ground were white in colour, and on top of it were some rubble and ashes. From these, one could surmise what kind of bitter battle the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy had gone through!

Following the path and traveling on for another dozen minutes, a huge graveyard appeared before Leylin’s eyes.

This was the underground entrance to the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, a large granite graveyard. However, right now, half of the tombstones were shattered, and many graves were also dug open, revealing the dark passages within. The surrounding stone walls and mud reflected signs having been abused by many spells. Before Leylin’s eyes, the alert of the A.I. Chip continuously sounded, revealing the extremely high radiation from some traces of these spells.

* Bang! *

Leylin casually kicked a stone on the floor, and walked towards the centremost area of the graveyard, where a huge tombstone that looked like a castle was erected.

This was the huge entrance to Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, and was the common path for all acolytes.

The surface of the castle was littered with cracks, and part of the topmost area was chipped off. What remained was tottering, and seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

“Halt! Outsider! If you are unable to show any items of proof, I will make you pay the price of blood!”

The two stone statues by the large entrance were completely destroyed. The Winged Earthworm and Two-Headed Dog from before were now gone. Right when Leylin wanted to enter, a metallic voice sounded.

* Bang! * The black figure leapt, and a huge shadow was projected on the ground, completely engulfing Leylin.

* Thud! * The black figure pounded on the ground, bringing up a layer of dust.

Leylin squinted and finally saw the appearance of the black figure. This was a large ape-like creature. Its whole body was layered with granite, and both of its hands propped itself up on the ground.

[Beep! A creature with high levels of energy has been detected. Now comparing to database. Determined as Granite Ape!] The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned.

Granite Ape was a creature in the Magus World with a battle strength comparable to an official Magus.

Leylin looked at Granite Ape felling a faint sense of danger but also a desire to test his strength. Not waiting for The Granite Ape to say anything he Leylin withdraw the red metal card from his sack that he obtained before when taking up the mission.

The Granite Ape took the metal card and swallowed it in one gulp, as if munching on some delicacy. It even closed its eyes to savour the taste of it.

“It’s an acolyte of Abyssal Bone Forest Academy who took on an outside mission previously!”

After a dozen seconds, the Granite Ape opened its large eyes and said to Leylin, “Brat, enter!”

After a courtesy bow, Leylin entered through the entrance of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy.

The dimly lit flight of downward stairs was the same as from before, when Leylin had left the academy.

Along the way, he noticed that he had run into far fewer acolytes than he did normally. Leylin knows that the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy didn’t even have half of its original strength. Even the Trading Post and Mission Area hotspots seemed to be devoid of people.

At the mission desk counter, Leylin handed over the records in the crystal ball and a piece of the Great Snake Mankestre’s scales.

“I’m here to complete a mission!”

“Alright, please hold on!” The staff at the counter had changed too. This was a freckled girl, who seemed to only be a level 2 acolyte.

While he was waiting, Leylin was bored to death, and looked at his surroundings.

“Ley…Leylin!” A muffled yet hoarse voice sounded behind Leylin.

Leylin turned around and saw a swollen figure wrapped in a black veil. Moreover, the stench of pus drifted over.

Leylin’s looked at her, reminded that she is the unfortunate soul who went through the hellish experiment of her mentor and become ugly.

Before Leylin didn’t care to bother with anyone so he never interacted with her afterwards. In fact this time leylin left before giving her the two methods to become normal.

Even with odds stack up against her, she somehow defined it and become A Rank 2 Magus and also Abyssal Bone Forest Principal.

” You.. Do I know you?” Leylin cannot outright say her name, So he tried to feign ignorance.

Sadness and Helplessness flashed through Nyssa Eyes and she said in her coarse voice ” We Both came to Abyssal bone forest together from Chernobyl Islands. My name is Nyssa, We never really interacted so you may not know me. ”

” Nyssa huh! If I am not wrong you, Guricha and Dodoria use to hang out together ” Leylin calmly said.

“You actually still remember me!” Nyssa’s voice had a tinge of excitement. At the same time, an energy wave leaked from her body.

Leylin nooded and looked at her, Scars littered her face, and there were even signs of stitches. She had the snout of a pig, her head was bald, she was missing an ear, and had coarsely spaced teeth. A thick, repulsive, yellow fluid continuously flowed out of her mouth. Her facial features looked like they had been messed up by someone and then put back together.

She cloaked herself wrapping all of her disfigured body.

” What happened to you? ” Leylin asked sympathetically, even though he knows the reason he still asked her. Then Nyssa began to tell him about her plight. Leylin didn’t interrupted her and gave her a chance to let off some steam.

” What have you decided then, about your future ”

“I have research a lot about this and found out two methods to regain normal body. The first method is for me to advance to an official Magus. Magi are able to use the constant radiation to change the way they look. As long as i spend the time, i will definitely be able to change back into my original appearance!”

“There is only one more method, which is to use the Harmonious Aqua Regia Potion! It can cleanse, My body of the pollutants, after which it would be much easier to remodel my appearance.”

Leylin looked at her, a bit surprised to arrive at the same conclusion as A. I. Chip , for that she must have read a lot of books in the library.

” But Harmonious Aqua Regia Potion is a potion used by Magi! One potion is worth at least 1000 magic crystals!”

“An official Magus? 1000 magic crystals? I will achieve it!” Nyssa’s eyes filled with resolve as she clenched her fists.

Leylin looked at her and a smile broke out on his face. his expression softened; this was one of the rare occasions that this occurred. He still remembered this unfortunate girl and the grief and perseverance on this girl’s face before.

“It’s really great to see you again, how are Guricha and Dodoria?”

Leylin smiled.

Hearing this, Nyssa who was wrapped in the black cloak shuddered, and her voice was gloomy as she said, “They’re all dead. Even Kaliweir, Beirut, the ones who came with us from the Chernobyl Islands, more than half of them perished….”

“My apologies….”

Nyssa continued, “After getting news from you, we’d came together several times. However, there were no good measures. Not long later, the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy announced a lockdown of the whole academy, otherwise, death would be granted… Afterwards, the war began….”

Official Magi were the core strength of the war between both sides. Kaliweir, together with the others who weren’t even level 3 acolytes were not fit to be cannon fodder, so heavy casualties were to be expected.

“Mission recorded and confirmed as completed! This is your reward, please check and accept!”

At this moment, the freckled girl from behind the counter had finally raised her head, and scribbled on a piece of parchment paper with a feather quill, finally handing over a small leather sack to Leylin.

Leylin weighed the sack, and rubbing noises between magic crystals came travelling from the leather sack.

“I still have something on, so I’ll take my leave first!”

Leylin said to Nyssa, leaving her with a complicated expression on her face.

“Mission is completed, time to meet with Kroft!”

Leylin walked through the gardens and came to the experiment lab where Kroft was.

* Dong Dong Dong! *

Leylin knocked on the door, following which, the door creaked open, revealing a pretty girl.

The girl was slightly shorter than Leylin by half a head and had beautiful, green hair. Her body contours were extremely seductive. Due to the proximity, Leylin could even catch a whiff of her perfume.

“Bicky! It’s been a long time!” Leylin spoke softly.

“You are… Leylin!” The green-haired girl sized up Leylin suspiciously with a glance, before cheering as she leapt into his arms.

Feeling the soft perky abundance against his chest, and the fragrance that wafted into his nose, Leylin could not help but exclaim at this little girl having matured.

“Alright! I am here to visit Kroft!”

Leylin waited for a good while, and seeing that the girl did not want to leave his embrace.

“Mentor is just inside, together with Merlin!” Bicky rubbed her somewhat reddened eyes, and her delicate features revealed a smile, “You being alright is really a great thing….”

Leylin nodded his head and walked into the experiment lab.

“Leylin!” Merlin greeted him first. His features did not change much from the past 3 years, only that his temperament seemed more stable and mature. After seeing Leylin, he forced an extremely ugly smile.

“Senior Merlin!” Leylin bowed. His knew that a part of Merlin’s face had suffered from irreparable damage from before, so he did not mind that he was unable to portray common expressions.

After which, Leylin continued walking in.

There was only an experiment table in here. On the operating table, a white-haired, middle-aged man placed the test tube in his hands down, and his pair of golden eyes met Leylin’s eyes.

“I can smell the barely faint smell of the Void Flower in your body, it seems like you really got the petals of a Void Flower!”

Kroft stared at Leylin for some time, before smiling, “You’re really a lucky fellow!

“Haha…” Leylin scratched the back of his head, revealing an embarrassed expression.

After deciding to stick with the Void Flower as an excuse, he had been concocting the substitute ingredients for the Void Flower with a similar fragrance to the Void Flower.

Before coming to the academy, Leylin had especially sprayed some of it on his body, and now it seemed that even Kroft was fooled.

After which, Leylin only had to insist that the effect of the Void Flower was fully consumed by him, then nobody would be able to discover any gaps in his speech.

In reality, he doesn’t need to go through this much trouble, but he wants to portray a Level 3 acolyte just a bit away from reaching Requirements of a Official Magus so he showcase that he got the Void Flower early on in his journey.

“No matter what, achieving level 3 acolyte before you are 20, you can already be considered as one of the core acolytes in the academy. Only that you have to go to the Administrative Area to register, then your various welfares and statuses will increase….”

Kroft told Leylin about some benefits and authority given to a level 3 acolyte, which would be awarded to Leylin.

Finally, Leylin could wait any longer to get this farce over with and blurted out, “Professor, this time, I’m here to ask about the matter of the official Magus that you spoke of previously….”

“I knew it!” Kroft nodded, “Ever since I saw you after your first meditation, I knew that you are resolute on the path of a Magus….”

The white-haired, middle-aged man pointed at the chairs in the lab, “Regarding this, it might take a while, so let us sit first.”

….

After this Kroft proceeded to tell leylin about the Academy contract, Bloodbath in secret plane, Contribution points , Grine Water etc.

After Leylin Solider through, the whole of endeavor of listening to that, he went to Trading Post and bought all of the Spell available to him.

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