Chapter 41
Chapter 41: Infiltrating the Academy
The setting sun gradually sank, and night slowly enveloped the sky above Osselro Town.
Beneath the pitch-black canopy, the town remained brightly lit. Rows of connected houses were shrouded in a faint orange glow, while in the distance, within the magi-industrial district, the towering outline of the leyline magic extraction towers stood like silent giants, blending into the horizon.
Occasionally, a shooting star streaked across the sky, dragging a long trail of silver light—briefly illuminating the heavens before vanishing into the boundless darkness.
Under the cover of night, four dark figures “whoosh whoosh” hid behind the chimney of a house.
In front of the house stood the primary magic academy of Osselro Town.
“Lina, why don’t we just go in through the front gate and grab it?” Annie, hiding just behind Lina’s right side, whispered, “Maybe the teachers and students at the school could help us...”
“The teachers and students won’t be able to distinguish between Sibyl and Plant, and may even grow more suspicious of us under its mental interference,” Lina explained in a low voice. “And there’s also a worst-case scenario...”
“These evil familiars usually don’t act alone. There may be others of its kind nearby. If we attack rashly, we might alert them.”
Lina narrowed her eyes, carefully observing the building before her. The academy’s teaching building was primarily in a traditional Gothic style, its towering spires outlined in three-dimensional clarity under the soft glow of magical street lamps.
Fine magical circuits were embedded across the academy’s outer walls, flickering like breathing, maintaining the security barrier.
At the academy gates, the last group of students in uniform robes poured out, chatting and laughing.
“Hey, hey, did you hear? Something went wrong in this year’s junior witch exam too!”
“Yeah, my senior complained about it to me just last week... but I heard one apprentice witch still got certified, and even advanced two levels in one go!”
“Huh? Really? Even Miss Sibyl, the most talented of the previous class, didn’t—”
“Shh! Do you have a death wish?! Young Lady Sibyl is still in the alchemy workshop! If she catches you talking like that, you’re done for!”
So that impostor Sibyl was in the alchemy workshop... though the real Sibyl probably wouldn’t care about such gossip, right?
Lina couldn’t help but glance back at Sibyl. She shrugged and gave Lina a nonchalant smile.
“Look at the east side of the third floor,” a low voice sounded beside Lina’s ear—it was Sariel, crouching next to her. “There are still people in the alchemy workshop.”
Lina followed the direction she indicated. Behind an arched long window, several figures could be vaguely seen gathered around a complex distillation apparatus.
The main body of the device was made of traditional glassware, but its heat source was a magic core emitting a steady orange glow. Several magic cables connected it to a control terminal, where a student was carefully adjusting the knobs.
“Lina, how are we getting over there?” Annie whispered from the side.
Lina’s gaze fell upon the two classical stone gargoyle statues beneath the academy’s main building. Their eyes emitted a faint blue light, their heads slowly turning—these were magic guards driven by specialized core arrays, programmed to attack any intruder without academy authorization.
At the side rear of the main building lay a herb garden, where two apprentice wizards on duty leaned against the fence, chatting idly.
“The main entrance to the teaching building is closed, but the side door near the herb garden is still accessible. The key should be on the students on duty,” Lina said softly to her companions behind her. “Sibyl, did you bring your student ID?”
Sibyl nodded, retrieving a small metallic card from her storage ring and handing it to Lina as she whispered, “You can enter the academy directly by swiping the card. But since the Wizards’ Association issued a cultist alert in the town, the academy has strengthened its security system. Every five minutes, it scans the identification carried by everyone inside. If the holder doesn’t match the ID, an alarm will be triggered.”
Lina took the card and said, “I’ll disable the academy’s security barrier within five minutes. Keep an eye on those two gargoyles—if their eyes go dark, it means I’ve succeeded. After that, we’ll regroup at the staircase on the first floor. Remember, when we meet, we must confirm each other’s identities. The evil being, Plant, might disguise itself as any one of us!”
The night deepened, and the light spilling from the academy windows cast mottled shadows across the carefully trimmed magical plants.
Two apprentice wizards sat in front of the herb garden, chatting absentmindedly.
“Norton, tell me... why does the academy have us guarding this garden in the middle of the night? Isn’t there a magic security system?” one apprentice wizard asked.
“That’s where you don’t get it. We’re not guarding against ordinary thieves... the ‘thieves’ we’re guarding against are over there!” the other apprentice pointed toward the magical beast breeding grounds to the right of the herb garden.
“Just last semester, all the students who took the herbal cultivation elective filed a complaint with the academic office together—their final projects were eaten by the final projects of the magical beast breeding class. It caused quite a stir...”
“Excuse me, seniors~” A sweet, gentle female voice suddenly came from the entrance of the herb garden.
The two wizard apprentices turned around, only to see a young witch waving at them. She had a pair of striking golden eyes, a slender figure, and long jet-black hair that flowed smoothly. The tear mole beneath the corner of her eye added a peculiar charm to her delicate appearance.
“Hey, have you seen her before?” one apprentice whispered.
“No... if I had seen such a beautiful girl, I definitely wouldn’t forget,” the other shook his head. “She looks like a freshman.”
“Hello, my name is Norton,” one of the apprentices stepped forward and asked very politely, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Hello, senior, my name is Susie. I’m a first-year student,” the black-haired girl’s pretty face flushed slightly as she lowered her head. Her small hands fidgeted nervously in front of her, and she occasionally cast timid glances at them. “I—I forgot something in the classroom. The front door of the teaching building is locked... I was wondering if I could go in from here?”
“O-of course you can!” Norton agreed without a second thought, and the other apprentice did not stop him.
A faint, smug curve appeared at the corner of Lina’s lips.
The two wizard apprentices lowered their heads, trying to hide their flushed cheeks under the cover of night, and quickly led Lina to the side of the teaching building, opening the door for her.
“Th-this is the place... j-just go and come back quickly, junior,” Norton stammered.
Standing at the doorway, Lina blinked her large golden eyes and gave a sweet smile. “Thank you, seniors~ Ah, right, do you two know the legend of the stars?”
“The legend of the stars?” The two apprentices looked at each other, then shook their heads in confusion.
“Well then... seniors, lift your heads and look at the southernmost part of the night sky,” Lina pressed a finger to her lips and gave a playful wink. “Then... I’ll quietly tell you a secret!”
The two apprentices immediately did as they were told, turning their backs to Lina and looking up—
“Bang! Bang!”
With swift strikes, the two wizard apprentices saw stars.
Lina put away her staff. After silently apologizing to the two unfortunate students in her heart, she quietly closed the side door of the teaching building, shutting out both the fresh air of the herb garden and the two unconscious students behind it.
The interior of the teaching building was much dimmer than outside. Fluorescent crystals embedded in the walls on both sides of the entrance hall emitted a faint blue glow, barely outlining the spacious hall and the arched corridors leading in different directions.
Unlike the pointed spires seen from the outside, the ceilings inside the building were relatively low, supported by heavy metal beams that made the darkness feel especially oppressive.
The air was filled with the faintly sweet, metallic scent of evaporating potions mixed with the oily smell of magical machinery.
Leaning against the cold wall, Lina quickly scanned her surroundings.
Her primary objective was to locate and temporarily disable the core of the security barrier, rendering the outer barrier ineffective.
According to Sibyl’s intelligence, such a core was usually not located in the main teaching area on the first floor, but more likely in the basement level’s maintenance room or energy hub.
Her gaze locked onto a narrow staircase extending downward on the right side of the entrance hall.
The stairway had no ornate decorations, only simple iron railings, but the walls were covered with exposed magic cables. These conduits gathered like veins, stretching downward.
A series of low, rumbling hums came from below.
Holding her breath, Lina moved swiftly along the shadows by the wall, heading down the stairs.
The lighting below was even dimmer, with only a few faintly glowing fluorescent crystals embedded in the walls marking the steps.
She carefully descended a few steps and found that at the end of the staircase stood a heavy metal door. The door was constructed from riveted steel plates, with a locking mechanism in the center that required both a physical key and contact authentication. Beside it was an inconspicuous copper speaking tube—this was clearly the access point to the underground maintenance area.
And this is supposed to stop me?
Lina pulled out a sheet of magical imprint paper and slid it through the crack of the door.
Teleportation trap, activate!
She triggered her own trap magic, and in the next instant, her body appeared on the other side of the door.
A tried-and-true trick from skipping obstacles in the game when keys couldn’t be found—perfect for dealing with “This door cannot be opened from this side.”
The air inside the maintenance room was stifling and warm. At the center, a massive magic core engine rumbled rhythmically, driving countless transmission rods and gears to turn slowly.
Lina’s gaze quickly swept across the walls covered in pipelines and instruments, finally locking onto a relatively isolated control panel in the corner of the room. At its center, a complex device made of metal rings rotated slowly. The crystal suspended at its core emitted a steady white glow—this was the barrier core.
Lina strode forward, ignoring the various flashing runes and indicator lights on the panel. She looked directly at the bottom of the panel and immediately found the thick, short lever labeled “Defense Unit Power Supply.”
Without hesitation, Lina grasped the cold metal lever with both hands and pulled it down forcefully.
“Clack!”
A heavy mechanical locking sound rang out, accompanied by a brief “hiss” of alchemical steam venting from a nearby valve. On the panel, several runes representing the external guards instantly shifted from blue to red, then went dark.
At the same time, the blue glow in the eyes of the two gargoyles in the courtyard extinguished, plunging them into complete stillness.
Done!
However, just as Lina was about to leave the maintenance room, a burst of hurried footsteps came from above the stairs!
“Wh-who’s down there!?”