Chapter 2807: Stone Tablet and Tower

Seeing the Green Dragon young lady busy like this, Xia De thought of Fiona for some reason, but at this time, too many years had passed since the time Fiona was active.

"Besides learning, we also continued to cooperate in exploring here. The water is constantly rising, and we must speed up our progress, otherwise, many places that could be entered before will be difficult to enter once submerged."

Miss Metz said to Xia De again, and also showed Xia De their exploration harvest. Of course, Xia De didn't forget to take out the supplies he brought and the "teaching materials" they needed. The werewolf young lady went to organize them very consciously.

"For some reason, we didn't find too many books in this academy. The stone slabs that the four of us got are the most complete and useful books. However, there are many high-end alchemical items, relics, and divine arts items scattered here."

"It looks like this was originally a very formal academy, but suddenly one day everyone left, so many things were left here."

Their adventure harvest was stored in the box Xia De brought last time by the werewolf young lady who was very good at organizing things, classified by category. Xia De took a look and didn't see the "Demon Hunting Seal" among them.

And precisely because of the four people's adventures and harvests, their relationship became better than last time. And Iruna even told Xia De that they even encountered a demon in this academy, but that evil spirit just followed them to the fire from afar, and then left on its own for some reason.

Miss Vilde soon finished cooking, and when serving food to everyone, she didn't forget to prepare a portion for Little Mia. While eating, they continued to share their adventure experiences. In fact, besides the castle area of the "Strange Tree Academy," the bold young ladies even went to explore the valley area below where Xia De appeared, because obviously, many things had been washed into the valley.

That operation was left to the Green Dragon young lady to guard according to the results of drawing lots, and by the time the other three returned, almost everyone was injured, but they couldn't even describe what the monsters in the water area below the valley were, because the three had completely different descriptions of the enemy.

But that exploration also brought extraordinary gains. While fighting an unknown monster underwater, Miss Bi Si Te, the Gray Wolf Witch, accidentally discovered a stone slab hidden in the underwater silt, and that stone slab recorded the reason for the decline of this academy.

"Wait a minute, can any of you read those ancient characters?"

Although he had just finished breakfast, Xia De still held his sandwich and asked. Miss Mei Zi pushed up her glasses:

"I have studied many ancient languages. Although I cannot fully identify all the letters on that stone tablet, I can guess the general meaning."

The stone tablet stood by the wall. Because it had been cleaned, there were no traces of silt on it at this time. The stone tablet was generally intact, and although there were traces of bumps, it did not affect reading. Xia De held his sandwich, turned his head, and glanced at it, knowing the story above. Although Miss Mei Zi's translation had omissions in details, the general meaning was correct.

"I originally thought it was abandoned because it encountered some kind of special disaster or was attacked by a strong enemy."

He turned his head back and saw Yi Lu Na eating a boiled egg in small bites. The egg was steaming in the light of the campfire. For some reason, Xia De thought of the black-haired head maid:

"The stone slab says that this place was voluntarily abandoned by the people. The original Academy of Strange Trees taught generations of outstanding students and also cultivated many teachers who were willing to return to teach, and most of the teachers here were believers of that Old God—the Lord of the Black Robe.

But at a certain period in the mid-Fourth Era, someone proposed to introduce teachers of more faiths so that students could receive more comprehensive knowledge. So the change happened. I don't know when it started, but although students were still willing to come here to study, the number of teachers here became fewer and fewer, which led to a decrease in the number of students.

In the late Fourth Era, the scale of the academy was only one-twentieth of its peak, and in..."

Xia De looked back at the stone slab again:

"It describes that in the chaos of the era change, the remaining students and teachers completely abandoned this place. The person who left the stone tablet was the last batch to withdraw from here. He or she hoped to come back later to restart this academy, but it seems that no one has been able to come back since then."

"This is basically consistent with my translation, and judging from the usage habits, it was left by a woman."

Seeing that Xia De could really translate, Miss Mei Zi asked with great interest:

"Then what does the sentence below mean? This is the only one I couldn't figure out."

She was talking about the paragraph on the base of the stone tablet. Xia De looked at it for a while before shaking his head, but it was not that he couldn't translate it:

"This is not the same language as the one above. This is a key, which can be roughly understood as the last person to leave also left the key to this huge academy here. If she didn't come back, then the person who comes here again can restart this place so that it won't be abandoned forever."

Yi Lu Na, who had finished the egg and picked up the porridge bowl, was very expectant. Her eyes were shining in the firelight:

"So this is a spell, as long as it is recited, this place can go 'whoosh!' and return to its former prosperity, right?"

"No, no."

Xia De shook his head:

"The school gate was originally locked; reciting this spell can open it; there are also some key locations inside this academy that are locked, which can also be opened through this spell. The person who left the stone tablet finally wrote—

No matter who you are, if you can learn something from here, or get what you want, then you can take everything here."

"I'm becoming more and more curious about what exactly happened in the final chaos of the Fourth Era."

Yi Lu Na said in a low voice, and then suddenly asked the Green Dragon girl on the side:

"When we went out to that tower last time, did we encounter a door that wouldn't open no matter what?"

The Green Dragon girl untied her apron and sat down, her big tail coiled beside her body. She nodded:

"Yes, that tower is not high. Judging by the current water level outside, it is estimated that it will be almost completely submerged soon."

"Let's finish our meal quickly and go out for a trip. You all take your respective books and see if you can still meet that god."

Xia De said. Yi Lu Na and Miss Wei Er De naturally had to follow, after all, this was the place they discovered. As for the Gray Wolf girl and Miss Mei Zi, the former originally thought that her book had been branded last time, so she wanted to say that she would stay behind to watch the camp this time, but she didn't expect Miss Mei Zi to take the initiative to say:

"My underwater combat skills are not very strong. Let's leave it to you this time. I will wait here for you to come back."

"That's fine too. Let's go and come back quickly. I hope the tea Miss Wei Er De brewed will still be hot when we return."

That tower was a bit far from here, so Xia De first turned Little Mia back into a toy before summoning the small boat, and the four of them sat on the boat and went far away.

The height of the tower was slightly lower than the fourth floor of the castle where the camp was located, so when Yi Lu Na pointed out the direction to Xia De, Xia De could only see the lightning rod-like spire at the top of the tower in the glowing ashes filling the sky.

Yi Lu Na was responsible for leading the way, Miss Wei Er De and Miss Bi Si Te were closely monitoring the water in the ashes filling the sky to prevent encountering attacks, and Xia De was rowing the boat while asking them:

"Miss Bi Si Te's teaching is basically a success, so who among you is ready to teach this time?"

"I have no problem."

Yi Lu Na said immediately, because she had returned to reality once, so she was the most prepared.

"I have no problem either, I just hope you won't dislike the skills I teach."

The Green Dragon girl also said, because Miss Mei Zi was not there, she also helped Miss Mei Zi say:

"Miss Luo Si Mei Zi still needs to prepare a little bit. She said her situation is more complicated."

"No problem, then let the two of you try this time."

Except for Xia De, the other three girls were sitting. He held the oars, feeling the fluctuations in the pitch-black water below, and asked curiously:

"Speaking of which, what is Miss Mei Zi's specific background? Last time I heard her introduce herself, she said that she was originally a believer of that Old God—the Lord of the Black Robe, so do you know more news?"

They all remembered that Xia De said last time that Miss Mei Zi might have some problems, so the Gray Wolf girl, who was more familiar with Xia De, answered:

"I was the second one to arrive here, and I have spent the longest time with Miss Mei Zi. When I first saw her, she was like this. She said she came here for a 'pilgrimage' to pursue her faith, and it seems she is indeed doing so.

When you were away, we talked about our lives in the normal world, but Miss Mei Zi talked the least. She usually becomes very silent when encountering such topics."

"Miss Mei Zi must have lived in an academy environment for many years in the past."

The Green Dragon Witch said while monitoring the water surface. The small boat passed silently by the crooked towers and broken roofs exposed above the water, and the floating tables, chairs, and stone carvings also flowed past their boat one by one:

"I am very familiar with that temperament on her. I lived in an academy and have seen many, many girls like her. Witches who do research in the academy are definitely different from witches who live and travel outside."

"But Miss Mei Zi didn't mention this when she introduced herself."

Yi Lu Na said, and then had some thoughts of her own.

But Xia De did not continue this topic:

"Oh, then Miss Wei Er De, which academy are you from?"

Xia De was not there when they discussed this topic last time, so he didn't know. The Green Dragon girl answered very proudly:

"I am from the Saint Byron Witch Academy."

Xia De didn't have any special purpose in asking this question, so he asked another one by the way:

"I also had some dealings with the professors of Saint Byron a long time ago. Speaking of which, which lady is the current principal and librarian?"