Time flew by, and the day of the departure ceremony quickly arrived.
The morning sun cast its light over the campus of Glory Cael Magic Academy, bathing the ancient institution in a golden glow.
Deep inside an old laboratory building, two figures slowly crawled out of the doorway.
Greg and Victoria, the elite students chosen to represent the academy in the second-year and first-year divisions respectively, looked nothing like elites at the moment.
Their hair was a messy nest, their clothes were covered in multi-colored stains, and heavy dark circles hung under their hollow, vacant eyes. They looked as if they had just survived a long, grueling war.
Behind them, the laboratory was in a state of complete chaos.
The workbenches were piled high with miscellaneous bottles, jars, and scattered notes, and the air still carried a peculiar odor—a mix of potions and burnt soot.
Alice slumped in her chair, her oversized professor's robes making her look like a deflated purple balloon. Her ice-purple eyes were half-closed, clearly exhausted to her limit.
Meanwhile, Chloe lay face down on the edge of the workbench. Her silver-framed glasses sat crookedly on the bridge of her nose, her slightly wavy brown hair was splayed across the desk, and she was unconsciously muttering sleep-talk about material ratios.
Though they looked incredibly pathetic right now, the final result was a success. They had made it.
After countless explosions, countless failures, and countless moments of nearly losing their minds, they had finally succeeded in creating a new type of magic conduit using Golden Glow Spider Silk.
The mana conductivity of this magic conduit was terrifyingly high, even doubling the usage limit of Basic Gems—which would normally shatter after a single use—to two times.
This was a breakthrough achievement that could completely rewrite the existing standards of magic conduit manufacturing.
Alice cradled the finished product in her hands, her ice-purple eyes gleaming with a tired but satisfied light.
But as she studied the design of the creation, her expression turned slightly awkward. She looked up at her first disciple, hesitated for a moment, and asked:
“Um... Greg, why did you specifically design it to look like this?”
What she held was a magic conduit shaped like a belt, featuring an exquisite slot in the center designed to perfectly fit two standard-sized magic gems.
Greg looked at the belt, crossed his arms, tilted his chin up slightly, and spoke in a tone that sounded as if he were declaring some ultimate truth:
“This is a man's romance. You wouldn't understand.”
Alice blinked. Although she completely failed to grasp the meaning of his words, she didn't press further upon seeing Greg's absolute, unquestionable expression.
She had always been a little afraid of her first disciple, and that hadn't changed even after working closely together for so long.
She could feel that although her first disciple had indeed changed a lot, he still didn't view her as a mentor worthy of respect. Instead, he treated her like a workhorse to be relentlessly exploited.
So, she carefully tucked the belt away in a specialized storage box, looked up, and reminded him:
“Um... we should probably go clean ourselves up. The gathering time is almost here, and we can't exactly attend the departure ceremony looking like this, can we?”
Greg and Victoria exchanged a glance, looked at their own pathetic states, and nodded in unison.
Looking like this was indeed inappropriate, especially for Greg, who had various plans to execute later.
The three of them walked out of the lab, and Greg said goodbye to Chloe in the hallway.
“Thanks for your hard work during this time, Chloe. Without your help, we definitely wouldn't have succeeded in the end. Thank you.”
“It's fine! Please don't worry about me. I'll always be cheering for you, Big Brother!”
Standing by the door, Chloe had a trace of reluctance in her eyes behind her glasses, but she still put on a bright smile. “You must shine brilliantly at the exchange tournament!”
Greg nodded, and just as he was about to say something, Chloe turned to Victoria, her smile instantly warping into a provocative grimace:
“As for you—make sure you don't drag Big Brother down, you small fry.”
Victoria's eyebrows instantly shot up. “Huh? Who are you calling a small fry?! I think you're looking for another fight!”
“Bring it on! Who's afraid of you!”
Seeing that the two were about to start their daily bickering again, Greg decisively reached out, grabbed Victoria by the back of her collar, and dragged her away.
Seeing this, Alice hurriedly followed.
Listening to Chloe's smug laughter and Victoria's indignant shouting fading behind him, along with Alice's occasional giggles beside him...
Greg felt that although this period had been rather painful, now that they had gotten through it, it was actually quite fun.
Since the three of them lived in different directions, they soon had to temporarily part ways.
“Well, I'm heading back to the dungeon first. See you directly at the gathering point later.”
With that, Greg turned and left first.
Alice nodded, intending to head straight back to the faculty dorms. But recalling Greg's words, she looked at Victoria in utter bewilderment:
“Wa-Wait! What did he mean by heading back to the dungeon??”
Victoria replied with a perfectly calm face, “Because the dungeon is his home.”
...
Being a guy, it didn't take Greg long to get ready.
After changing into a clean academy uniform, briefly combing his hair, washing the dirt off his face, and tossing a certain black cat into his shadow, he stepped out of the dungeon feeling refreshed.
By the time he arrived at the gathering point, most of the participants had already assembled.
The gathering point was set at the main square in the center of the academy.
Anchored in the center of the square was a massive airship. It was a gargantuan vessel, its streamlined hull shimmering with a silvery-white metallic luster under the sunlight.
The gasbag was full and rounded, painted with the emblem of Glory Cael Magic Academy—a star floating above an open magic book.
Exquisite arrays of magic runes were carved along both sides of the airship's hull, serving as the core propulsion and lift systems.
The entire airship hovered quietly about a person's height off the ground, casting a colossal shadow that delivered a powerful visual impact.
The surrounding square was packed with students who had come to see them off.
They waved flags and banners, chanting the academy's name to cheer on their departing classmates.
Greg swept his gaze across the crowd of representatives and quickly spotted several familiar faces.
Silvia stood in the ranks of the first-year representatives, holding a small booklet and frantically memorizing study points with her head down.
Her lips moved rapidly, and her brow was slightly furrowed, clearly utilizing the last remaining moments for a final cram session.
Beside her, Lilith had a completely different posture. With her hands on her hips and her head held high, she was talking in a proud tone. It sounded like she was comforting Silvia and telling her not to worry, but in reality, it was more like she was showing off how confident she was.
As the Student Council President, Vivian stood at the very front of the line as usual, working alongside the supervising professors to maintain order.
Her expression was calm and composed, her aqua-blue hair fluttering gently in the morning breeze, radiating a reliable and steady aura.
Greg also spotted a familiar, petite figure in the third-year group—Senior Yelena.
It seemed that even after he left the Student Council, this senior had continued to work hard.
Rate on N.U.
