Chapter 175: Solomon Academy
Evan bid Pu Weizi farewell that morning, and by midday reached a small town, resting briefly and eating lunch before hiring another carriage to press onward with the other two. The heat had grown noticeably sharper by now. Evan laid a magical beast hide across the carriage floor, quickly sketching a temperature array onto it, and once triggered with mental power, the cabin turned pleasantly cool at once.
In this world, mages counted among the most comfortable people alive — controlling the temperature in a small area was nothing at all to them, though alchemists could manage the same trick, and no one else could. Even with a proper array laid down, an ordinary person had no way to activate it.
Of course, with enough money, one could hire a mage to construct the array, then power the crucial points with mana crystals — theoretically requiring only an ordinary person's mental effort to trigger from there. But mana crystals ran so prohibitively expensive that only the truly wealthy could afford them at all, well beyond the reach of most nobility.
A mage, by contrast, needed only apprentice-level skill to trigger such an array — though few mages ever bothered building one for a commoner's benefit, since mages generally held themselves above such concerns, and commoners had long since accepted this as simply how things were. Evan, carrying a soul born on Earth, remained the sole exception to that unspoken rule.
Which meant even legendary mages, who could easily have brought real benefit to ordinary people, never once thought to try. Evan's own invention of the bicycle was, in its way, nearly impossible in this world — variations on the idea had existed in plenty of places before, but no mage had ever thought to set aside their sense of superiority long enough to share it.
Over the following days, they changed carriages several times, the temperature array rolling up neatly each time they disembarked, Jenny taking on the responsibility of keeping the diagram safe. She'd managed, with the wand's help, to trigger the array on her own by now, and once she could, Evan stopped concerning himself with setting it up entirely — she took to the task eagerly each time they boarded a new carriage, Evan and Jessica simply watching her work with evident enthusiasm.
On the seventh day, they arrived at a small town — home to the famed Solomon Academy of Magic. What they saw on the surface, though, was hardly grand — somewhat run-down, in fact, covering barely a hundred acres, with only two large buildings and no surrounding wall at all. Most of the townsfolk were mages, with a scattering of knights among them. Solomon presented itself as an entirely open institution, seemingly without secrets of any kind.
But Evan knew this was only a shadow of the real thing. As they arrived, two men approached, and Evan handed over their invitation. They studied it a moment, then said with a smile, "Honored mages of Hollingburton, follow the invitation. Someone will meet you shortly."
With that, one of them released his grip, and the invitation transformed into a small bird, flying ahead of them. It led them toward one of the two large buildings, weaving left and right — the building itself seemed to shift as they moved through it, rooms and walls advancing and retreating and rearranging themselves like some living thing. Evan, ordinarily blessed with a sharp memory and strong sense of direction, found himself thoroughly disoriented within a quarter hour of walking, certain by the end that they no longer occupied the same building at all. They finally arrived at a vast, open chamber, seventy-two pillars rising in solitary rows, and yet the space felt anything but cramped — expansive, if anything.
They followed the bird in among the pillars — the famed Seventy-Two Demon Lords of Solomon, sealed here. Something struck Evan as odd. The seventy-two demon lords carried genuine renown, and he'd already crossed paths with three or four of them personally — was this merely symbolic, or something more?
The moment he stepped among the pillars, his expression changed. Ancient power radiated from the stone, weathered with age, and three or four of those presences felt startlingly familiar to him — though nothing more than raw force, no consciousness behind them at all. The seventy-two pillars lived up to their legend entirely. Evan felt his interest sharpen. Xiaoshuang and Jessica both wore expressions of genuine disbelief; only Jenny remained oblivious to what surrounded her.
"The seventy-two demon lords live up to their name after all," Evan said, impressed. "Sealed here in raw power alone, stripped of consciousness. Never underestimate the great minds of this world."
"I never expected this," Jessica said, equally struck. "This building must have been built directly on top of the seal. We're probably not even in ordinary space anymore."
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"Teachers, what are you two talking about?" Jenny asked, thoroughly lost.
"Have you heard of Solomon's seventy-two demon lords?" Jessica asked.
"I have — King Solomon subdued seventy-two devils and commanded them to serve his kingdom. Mother used to tell me that story as a child. Is it actually real?" Jenny said, studying the pillars around them.
Evan smiled. "The story's likely true. Solomon Academy was built directly atop these seventy-two seals — though the true body of the academy should sit within a half-plane, just like Hollingburton. This is probably just its entrance."
He followed the bird as he spoke, and a door of light opened before it. Evan stepped through without hesitation, and the scene around them shifted entirely — the three of them now stood beneath a towering domed ceiling, the hall so vast that standing within it left them feeling almost impossibly small, a natural sense of awe rising unbidden.
The moment they appeared, someone stepped forward to greet them. "Welcome, honored guests of Hollingburton. I'm Grawvor, here to receive you personally," he said, extending a hand.
Evan shook it. "A pleasure to meet you. We're honored by the invitation. I'm Evan Wang. This is Jessica, and Miss Jenny."
He introduced them properly. "Lovely ladies, a pleasure to meet you both," he said, offering a mage's bow, and Jessica and Jenny returned small curtsies in kind.
Grawvor led the way, a retinue of attendants accompanying the group. Xiaoshuang studied the vast hall with open curiosity, while Jenny stared around her, plainly awed.
Within the half-plane, Evan spotted magic towers rising one after another — most under nine stories, mixed among a scattering of strange structures. "Grawvor, how do you have so many towers?" he asked.
"Nine of our towers reach a full eighteen stories, but most stand under nine — seventy-two towers in total. Those odd-looking structures were built by mages of past generations, and quite a few move on their own. This is Solomon's true seat of power — the small town outside serves as our interface with the wider world, and that's where King Solomon's original seventy-two demon pillars still stand," Grawvor said.
"Isn't that dangerous, leaving them out there unguarded?" Jenny asked.
"No real risk. Most of the town's population are mages themselves, and even they can't get into the two main buildings. The seventy-two pillars can sense good and ill intent — anyone harboring malice simply can't set foot inside at all," Grawvor explained.
They talked as they walked, passing a steady stream of students who stepped respectfully aside at their arrival.
"You've had a long journey today. Rest tonight, and I'll come for you at eight tomorrow morning. Dinner will be brought to your lodgings, and you're welcome to walk the campus and see what's here. Good evening." Grawvor showed them to a small villa and nodded before taking his leave.
"Thank you. Good evening," Evan said. The three of them stepped inside to find a maid waiting, who greeted them with a bow. "Good evening, honored guests. Please, follow me."
She led each of them to their rooms. Once settled, they gathered in the sitting room, and Evan, taking a seat on the sofa, said with a smile, "What's your name?"
"Sir, you may call me Dorine. I'll be attending to your needs during your stay."
"Dorine, what's for dinner tonight?" Evan asked. Jessica and Jenny had emerged by then as well. "Since you're both here — let's eat first, then take a walk around the grounds afterward."
"Sir, please choose for yourselves. Here's the menu," Dorine said, a shimmer of light appearing beside her, resolving into a menu book, which she handed to Evan.
Evan flipped through it. "I'll have the veal and the escargot, and some wine." He passed the menu to Jessica, who ordered two dishes of her own, then handed it to Jenny, who flushed and, somewhat flustered, chose two dishes as well.
"And me!" Xiaoshuang flew up, studying the menu for a long moment. "Where's the honey?"
"Honey counts as a condiment — served with the dessert course."
"I'll have dessert, then. And a glass of milk."
"Very good. This way, please," Dorine said, leading them toward the dining room. The three of them, along with the fairy, followed her in. Dorine gave her wand a flick, and Evan felt a ripple in space — the dishes each had ordered appeared before them at once. Evan noted with interest that these were genuinely real dishes, prepared in an actual kitchen — a magic school was still, after all, a magic school. The three of them tucked their napkins in; Xiaoshuang simply sat directly on her plate, forgoing utensils entirely and diving straight in.
Evan shook his head. The three of them closed their eyes, folded their hands, and offered the pre-meal prayer before eating. Xiaoshuang, meanwhile, had cake crumbs all over her face by then, dabbing bits of cake into honey and popping them into her mouth between sips of milk, thoroughly absorbed in the business of eating.
The three ate quietly, without much conversation, and once finished, set down their utensils and wiped their mouths with their napkins. Xiaoshuang's whole body flickered with scattered points of light, like fireflies, and the crumbs vanished from her at once.
Dorine had stood attending them the whole time, and once they'd finished, gave her wand another flick, and everything on the table vanished cleanly. Convenient, certainly — though a convenience only people like Evan's group ever got to enjoy.
"You're welcome to walk the campus, or perhaps visit the villa across the way — representatives from the Newmontsey Empire's Desert Mirage Academy have arrived as well. You might enjoy exchanging a few words with them," Dorine said.
Evan's eyes lit up, something turning over in his mind.