Chapter 67: Route

Miss Miss Milinda, however, did not pick up that thread.

"Looks like we can't find it."

She gave Rod a faint smile, then turned to the group of students.

She added, "Alright then, since we can't find it here, let's head to the campsite from the day before yesterday and look around."

"Don't rush, don't panic. When facing any sudden situation, we must stay calm and respond with composure. That is also one of the purposes of our practical study tour. Don't forget the lesson we learned a month ago!"

Her prestige among the students was clearly quite good.

Hearing this, the students did not argue back, but instead followed her and reformed their ranks.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Rod."

"It's nothing."

After counting heads, Miss Miss Milinda politely bade Rod farewell, then set off once more on the study tour.

Only before leaving, that dark-red-haired teacher and a good-looking, noble-looking black-haired boy both took a long look at him.

That boy was the one who had spoken those words.

Rod couldn't be bothered to bicker with a kid.

As for that dark-red-haired teacher, from a word or two one could tell her name was Rita.

And this Teacher Rita secretly flicked a spell at him, thinking it was hidden.

It didn't take a genius to know it was for tracking.

"Youth."

Watching their retreating backs, for some reason it reminded him of the spring outings his school used to organize when he was young.

Hum—

【Lightless Chang En Fa Yin】suddenly activated.

It drove out a very faint ripple of magical energy.

This spiritual technique had the effect of dispelling negative magic; this was the first time Rod had used it here.

In the distance, Teacher Rita's figure stiffened.

She looked back from afar.

Rod, however, couldn't be bothered to look at her.

The goblin Gema and the half-dragon Xia Li arrived that very evening.

They were travel-worn and both utterly exhausted.

Seeing Rod sitting quietly by the lake, calmly drinking hot tea, they couldn't help but be surprised.

"Good heavens, Mr. Rod, how are you so fast?!"

Gema said.

Her magical puppet below was missing an arm, and its body still bore quite a few burn marks.

The half-dragon Xia Li was in better shape, with only a bandage on her left leg.

"While evading monsters we accidentally triggered a labyrinth rule. Just breaking free took us a full day."

Xia Li said with a bitter smile.

"What kind of labyrinth rule?"

Rod had Tally serve them hot tea.

He possessed a high-level pass that could basically exempt him from this labyrinth's rules, but that didn't stop him from being curious about it.

"Adventurers call it the 'Gate of Time.' What it does is, the time in a certain area suddenly speeds up or reverses, trapping people so they can't get out. You have to find the pattern within it before you can leave."

"Doesn't sound too hard."

"This rule has nothing to do with rank. Don't underestimate it—plenty of people have died because of it."

Xia Li's expression grew serious, then she remembered the man before her possessed a pass and clearly wasn't afraid of these labyrinth rules.

"You'll never guess what—I ran into a study tour group."

While Tally was cooking a meal to fill their stomachs, Rod brought up what had just happened.

"Bahadur Magic Academy—one of the foremost magic academies in the Kingdom of Etheron. Their acceptance rate is extremely low, and, heh, a lot of people say they discriminate against non-human races."

Gema said with a mocking laugh.

She pulled an unusually thick puppet arm from her spell pouch, fiddling with how to attach it to her own puppet.

"No wonder there were only humans in the study tour group."

"A cousin of mine once went to take that academy's entrance exam. Her theory and practical scores were both in the top twenty, but in the end she was rejected—while a human ranked outside the top one hundred got accepted."

Hold on.

Goblins can't cast spells, can they? What's the point of applying to a magic academy?

Rod didn't have the heart to say it out loud.

Tally, who always kept close watch on her master, noticed, and quietly leaned in to whisper in his ear:

"It's dwarves who can't cast spells, Brother~"

"Oh, thanks. Wait, no—can you read minds?"

Tally let out a coquettish laugh and planted a kiss on his cheek with a smacking sound.

Even though the succubus's behavior was very restrained—she didn't even stick out her tongue when kissing.

Rod was still left restless and itchy by her.

What's going on?

Is it because of that face that looks just like mine?

"At the end of the day, it's a human academy. I heard besides humans, the most numerous race inside is halflings."

The half-dragon Xia Li commented.

Her vigor was far less than before; she peeled off her leather jacket, kicked off her boots, and sprawled in the chair like Ge You.

Unlike the human kingdoms of the Celestial Court Flower Nation, which loudly promoted the equality of all races, the equality of races had always been a topic of enormous discussion.

The Kingdom of Etheron's attitude toward public opinion was one of laissez-faire.

The non-human races within the country, having never undergone consciousness guidance, were in fact not very keen on discussing such topics.

And so.

The crowd's topic quickly shifted to "Why a magic academy, and not a spirituality academy?"

"Well, that's obviously because magic is powerful."

Xia Li said.

Half-dragons, like true dragons, had a natural talent for magic.

This half-dragon, whose dragon blood was thin, was especially pitiful compared to his normal kin — he hadn't even awakened a single powerful native spiritual art.

And the well-traveled goblin Gema was even more knowledgeable.

"Since it's an academy built by humans, of course it's tied to the human advancement path, damn it!"

Snap.

She used too much force and accidentally broke the head right off the already battered magical puppet.

Xia Li beside her burst out laughing.

The laughter only stopped abruptly when Gema, without changing expression, pulled out an identical magical puppet.

"As everyone knows, at the seventh tier, spirituality undergoes a qualitative change, and magic — being a form of spirituality that has already been artificially optimized — has a much clearer path to seventh tier."

"A legendary mage?"

"Legendary is one of the paths; besides that, there are also the domain mage and the arcane mage paths."

It was the first time Rod had heard such a claim.

Perhaps because he wasn't a mage.

"You can understand it this way — a legendary mage is the ultimate display of individual power; a domain mage is a regional mage who needs to build a mage spire, and all court mages are domain mages; as for arcane mages, they are researchers who specialize in studying the primal state of spells."

"Then what about someone like me, an ordinary spiritual warrior? What path is there?"

Rod found it all very interesting and hurriedly asked.

The goblin smiled.

"No path for you, Mr. Rod. Spiritual warriors aren't the type to neatly divide themselves into branches like mages; there's only ever been one road — just stronger and tougher, that's all."

"... Alright then."

If this were a game, this really was a far more boring class than mage.

At this moment, Tally brought the thick soup over to the two ladies.

She hugged Rod's shoulders from behind.

"I just love it stronger and tougher~"

Rod smiled, feeling the familiar sweet scent on Tally, and gently stroked the back of her hand.

That's right.

With Nu Yi Zhou, I can obtain all kinds of native spiritual arts, and in their complete forms.

Why would I need to covet the strength of spells?

(End of chapter)