Chapter 3786

The two walked into the secret room one after the other. They soon discovered that the decor here was not at all as magnificent and resplendent as it was outside, but instead appeared much more ancient and solemn. It was as if beneath the school's brand-new shell, there existed a much older soul.

The further they went inside, the dimmer the lights became, and the more intense the mysterious atmosphere grew. The air began to turn increasingly damp, with moss and vines sprouting out along the cracks in the floor. After walking for an unknown amount of time, a room that looked extremely ancient appeared before the Batmen.

This was a small room of only about a dozen square meters, with a very low ceiling and many wooden beams supporting it, making it feel even more cramped and oppressive. It was completely different from the spacious and luxurious decor style outside.

The decor here was also very simple: upon entering, there was a slightly dilapidated desk, a chair with obvious signs of use behind the desk, and two rows of bookshelves behind that, filled with all sorts of magical tomes. Several boxes were piled in the corner, but they were all empty. A chandelier overhead and an oil lamp on the desk were the only two light sources, causing the room to be very dim.

"I think there's a big problem here," the Arkham Batman said, "we need to search carefully."

The Main Universe Batman obviously agreed with his assessment. The two began to rummage around, but in reality, there weren't many places to search, mainly just those books on the shelves. To the two's surprise, most of the books recorded there were about black magic.

To be precise, they were some evil rituals, such as how to sacrifice corpses, how to trigger large-scale fires, how to corrode magical shields, and so on. Although they required a large amount of energy to support, these methods didn't seem like they were just shooting at nothing.

The truly key clue appeared on the surface of the desk. The Main Universe Batman picked up a yellowed notebook. He opened the first page and discovered that the name written on it was "Brundis Saphir."

Batman opened the notebook and discovered that what was written inside were some theories regarding the Earth's magical defense network; one look and it was clearly very profound and obscure, at least Batman couldn't understand it at all. However, there was also a piece of paper on the desk with a simple map drawn on it, which was just the several major continents of Earth, with light spots on every continent.

The Main Universe Batman didn't know much about the Earth's magical defense network, but he also knew that this kind of planetary shield required some energy nodes. Batman guessed that these light spots should be the nodes of the Earth's magical defense network.

Among them, the light spot in the region of the American continent—to be precise, North America—where the geographical location was New York, had been circled, and several names were written next to it; the first name was "Wang."

"Do you still remember that book we saw earlier, 'The 100 Most Famous Mages in the History of the Magical World'?" the Arkham Batman said.

"You suspect this Saphir is one of them?"

"Otherwise, why would he have a secret room in the school?"

The Main Universe Batman pondered for a moment, then said: "The desk and chair have recent signs of use, which means he was here recently. We had better not move the things on the desk and go check out his background first."

The two carefully put everything back in its original place, ensuring they didn't leave any traces—this was simple for Batman. He guaranteed that even if another Batman came now, he wouldn't be able to tell that the two of them had been there. Then they left the room.

Returning to the library, they didn't continue to wander around the Restricted Section, but instead began to look for introductions to figures in the magical world. But the magical world didn't seem to like recording these things, and what could be found was very scarce. The two flipped through books for over an hour and only found two: one was specifically introducing the Sorcerer Supreme, and the other was that "100 Famous Mages."

The Main Universe Batman began to flip through it quickly, but by the end, he still hadn't found Saphir's name. It was just that in the afterword of this book, he saw the author write this passage: "The magical world being able to have its glorious present is absolutely inseparable from the contributions of all the great mages. Due to space limitations and limited writing ability, I have been unable to write about them all. Furthermore, there are still some taboo names that have not been recorded."

"Taboo names..." the Main Universe Batman muttered to himself.

"This Saphir is likely a black magician." The Arkham Batman closed the book introducing the Sorcerer Supreme and said, "This book mentioned that after the Ancient One became the Sorcerer Supreme, one of her fellow villagers also became a black magician. It seems that the mages and black magicians of this universe have always been in conflict."

"What I'm more worried about now is why he circled a certain node of the Earth's magical defense network." The Main Universe Batman said, "And his secret room is right inside the school, under the nose of the Sorcerer Supreme, and there are recent signs of activity. How did he hide it from the Sorcerer Supreme?"

"This is indeed worth deep thought." The Arkham Batman said, "I think he might be one of the professors."

The Main Universe Batman narrowed his eyes; he wanted to say this was too absurd, but he also felt it wasn't entirely impossible. After all, the magical energy of this universe was much more abundant than he had imagined, and the mages weren't in that miserable state every day; having magic that could disguise oneself as someone else was perfectly normal.

"But who could it be?" Even Batman couldn't jump to conclusions. After all, he really still lacked understanding of magic.

"Perhaps we can subtly hint to the Sorcerer Supreme." The Arkham Batman said.

"But he doesn't want to see us at all right now. He doesn't have a shred of patience for us." The Main Universe Batman sighed and said, "Finding Schiller is more reliable than finding him."

"Then let's go find Dr. Schiller."

"He might be even less willing to see us right now."

The two sat in the library for a while before leaving. But the library soon welcomed two new guests, and they were Schiller and Mephisto.

"Alright, listen, the script for the second part is like this." Mephisto walked in front, and while walking backward, he gestured and explained the script to Schiller.

"Approaching the final exams of the first year, the little mages will get library cards. They can come to the library to borrow books and prepare for exams. But at this time, a serious natural disaster occurs in that little girl's hometown, and she wants to seek a solution, so she sets her sights on the Restricted Section."

"The other two protagonists have no choice but to accompany her on a night tour. The three of them together get the librarian's seal, and the three of them enter the Restricted Section one night."

Accompanied by Mephisto's words, the two also arrived at the Restricted Section.

"'Suddenly!'" Mephisto raised his tone and pointed at the bookshelf next to him, "One of the little smart alecks suddenly discovers that the color of the books on the bookshelf is a bit strange, and it seems to be exactly the same as the color of the chandelier above the registration counter..."

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at the bookshelf, just about to point at the books on the bookshelf to say something, when he suddenly froze.

The row of bookshelves he was pointing at was full of gray, bulky tomes; apart from black, there was white, without a hint of color.

A question mark visibly appeared on Mephisto's head. He went around to the other side of the bookshelf, but there was no color there either. Then he came back around, and there were even more question marks on his head.

"Where are the books?" Mephisto was completely baffled, "Chris told me that the props inside the school had all been set up? Why are there no books? Could it be that this isn't the right row of bookshelves?"

He walked around the area again, and then walked through the entire Restricted Section, but still couldn't find the colored books. There was really no other way, so he dragged Schiller to the registration counter and said: "Forget it, it's not a very difficult mechanism anyway. Open for me!"

Mephisto pointed his hand, and the secret door behind the counter opened. He continued: "Hidden behind this is a huge secret, which is that the black magician Saphir isn't dead yet, and that he is preparing to attack the New York Sanctum during the second year..."

The two walked into the secret room together. The door of the secret room closed. Mephisto walked quickly to the desk, picked up the notebook on it, and said: "This is the first time Saphir's full name has appeared in the movie. The little mages don't know who this is, they only infer through the books on his shelf that he might be an evil black magician. And one of the protagonists, through the consumption of kerosene in the kerosene lamp, infers that he might have been here recently."

"And then this," Mephisto held up the map and said, "this is the map of the locations of the Earth's magical defense network Sanctums. Among them, the New York Sanctum is circled, and this is hinting at Saphir's plan. And the several names next to it are the mages guarding the New York Sanctum, and the leader among them is the Great Mage Wang. The little mages will see him in the meditation class the next day, and they will try to find a way to ask about Saphir..."

"Please stay, Professor." The Main Universe Batman quickened his pace, called out to Wang who was about to leave the classroom, and then said, "Regarding meditation, I still have some things I don't quite understand; could I ask for your guidance?"

Wang said with a smile: "Of course you can, but it must be finished before 10 o'clock. I'm not a full-time professor, I still have to go back to the New York Sanctum to guard it at noon."

The Main Universe Batman remembered the name on the map, and then said: "Are you talking about the New York Sanctum of the magical defense network? That must be very important, right? I'd better not delay you..."

"No, no, no, there are other Great Mages there. It's just that the New York Sanctum can order takeout, and the food is better than here, so I usually choose to eat there. There are still two hours until 11 o'clock, which is enough to solve your problem."

The Main Universe Batman understood. This remark by Wang revealed quite a bit of information: for example, the New York Sanctum should be in a busy city, otherwise it would be difficult to have many takeouts; Wang is an Asian, and from his English accent, one can tell his native language might be Cantonese or Minnan, and he might be from Hong Kong; the food he likes to eat might be Chinese food, which proves that the New York Sanctum is not far from the Chinese residential area.

"No, I insist on confirming your lunchtime. It would be bad if I delayed your meal." Batman said this, and then heard Wang say: "Alright, we start eating at 11:30 sharp at noon."

Batman thought: Mages don't need time to travel, a portal and they are there. So that means waiting for takeout takes about half an hour. The New York Sanctum must be within half an hour of takeout delivery time from the street where Chinese restaurants gather.

Although Batman didn't go to New York often, he also had a general concept, and immediately locked onto several streets. After excluding various dangerous factors, he had basically been able to determine the location of the New York Sanctum.

But he wasn't in a hurry to ask about Saphir, just patiently asked questions about meditation, while calmly observing this Great Mage, and quickly sketched out his profile in his mind.

Open-minded, tolerant, highly skilled—this was Batman's impression of Wang. He believed that this Great Mage was unlikely to be Saphir. So after finishing the inquiry, he went to the cafeteria with the Arkham Batman to discuss the harvest just now.

?? Guess who this fire will eventually burn.