Chapter 328: Well Done, This is a Reward.

Chapter 328: Well Done, This is a Reward.

“Is that all?” One leading teacher still looked a bit doubtful, but another leading teacher interrupted him.

“Let’s not talk about this now. Quickly find a way to end this practical lesson and get away from here.”

When Carlin heard this, his mouth twitched involuntarily. They were all idiots! They didn’t question that statement at all, as if it was only natural. The other leading teachers who hadn’t spoken wore similar expressions… meaning they had no additional objections.

Just as Carlin was worrying, Karin suddenly increased her listening distance. Two figures descended from the sky; they were the ones who had rushed over urgently from the Academy. The two glanced at the gathered students here. Seeing that no one was hurt, their serious expressions relaxed a little. “Why are you still staying here instead of leaving quickly? The students lack experience, but have you all lost your minds?”

The robed Spellcaster reprimanded the leading teachers.

“But… the practical lesson isn’t over yet…”

“What?!” Hearing this, the Spellcaster was astonished. This was originally an unreasonable matter, yet you actually have the nerve to argue back? Is there something wrong with your head?

“The situation seems wrong. Let’s leave here first and talk later.” Just as this Spellcaster was about to get angry, his colleague beside him whispered. He had noticed that not only did this leading teacher think this way, but the others did too. If one person’s mind was messed up, could it be that everyone’s was? Including those students participating in the practical lesson.

“Stop wasting my time with nonsense! Everyone, get going now, go back to the Academy immediately!”

That Spellcaster led the practical lesson’s student group away from the Forest. Even though it was very tiring to fly carrying so many people using Magic, this place was clearly not a good place to stay. They needed to leave as soon as possible. They had already been affected by some kind of power, their thoughts somewhat altered. Staying here any longer, they would inevitably be influenced themselves.

The Professional who stayed behind planned to collect some materials from those beasts before leaving. As soon as he touched the dead beasts, their bodies turned to dust like they had weathered.

“…”. Without hesitation, this Professional decisively left this Forest. Out of caution, before leaving, he carefully collected some of the dustified remnants of the beasts.

There were many places in this world with strange incidents. Usually, the local City Lord would investigate. Even if their capabilities were insufficient, there was no need to worry. If they discovered something sinister, the Sanctuary Church would intervene.

On his way back, he encountered the Spellcaster who had led the group away earlier. The Spellcaster was leading a large group, so their pace wasn’t fast. Since their location was away from the Forest, they weren’t maintaining flight at the moment. Flying far while consuming a lot of energy was exhausting. Even though they had left the Forest, they hadn’t let down their guard.

Along the way, those leading teachers and students, because they had left the Forest’s range, gradually shook off the influence. They began feeling puzzled, especially those leading teachers who recovered the fastest. Two of them broke out in a cold sweat on their foreheads. Being influenced to the point that their thoughts became rigid—this wasn’t amnesia!

Now, being a bit more clear-headed, they immediately realized the scariness of what they had encountered before. Luckily, support had come from the Academy. If the support hadn’t arrived here in time, they might have foolishly continued that damned practical lesson in the Forest and might have unknowingly perished.

In the Forest, with nothing left to pay attention to, Karin did not stay any longer. She decisively left the Forest. The Demon Sword Cultists also left with her. After shaking off the influence, those Demon Sword Cultists also felt extremely terrified. This kind of subtle, imperceptible influence that they couldn’t detect any problem with was truly frightening.

They had stayed there for two days. Looking back, from the time their bodies started having problems until now, there were many opportunities to notice something was wrong. Yet, none of them had realized anything was amiss. Everything seemed perfectly normal!

Now, what they were grateful for was that the person who seemed to have created this strange environment was no longer present. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even have had the chance to leave. As for Lily… they could only wait for the next opportunity. Although this operation failed, they had learned some things. For example, there was a very skilled Infiltrator by that person’s side.

If not for the strange situation in the Forest causing that person to expose themselves, without such circumstances, once they had taken real action, the consequences would have been equally serious.

Later, before the Academy side took any action, some people couldn’t wait to explore the secrets of this Forest. Beasts that could directly affect the blood of Demon Sword Cultists and corrupt them were incredibly valuable. Whether someone created them or they occurred naturally, if they could be mastered, then in any future substantial action against Demon Sword Cultists, this thing could play an important role.

“What exactly was that thing…?” Zheng Yichen rested his chin in his hand and muttered. He hadn’t studied the physique of Demon Sword Cultists, but he had obtained some information through exchanges with Annie. Annie’s research was extremely thorough. Zheng Yichen read through it twice and understood its essence a lot. One could say that as long as they used the right method, they could completely perform Mountain Crusher, Cross Slash, Blood Sword, Great Collapse, and even transform into a giant dog… Was that amazing? It was all a type of shaping use of Bloodline Power.

At the same time, it made Zheng Yichen certain of one point: these changes definitely weren’t naturally generated. Probably, like Azure Wrath, after becoming an Evil God based on Magic Arms, they inherited a portion of Zheng Yichen’s knowledge. When he crafted Magic Arms, part of the knowledge and information remained in his Spiritual Power.

“Should I find a way to get one for research?”

Zheng Yichen opened the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and entered the Mercenary Quest area. Sure enough, he saw many new Quests posted there, specifically about those strange beasts. People who weren’t Magic Weapon Summoners still had to go to the Mercenary Guild to commission Quests, while Magic Weapon Summoners could directly commission Quests through the Magic Weapon Summoning Book as long as the money was sufficient.

He also tried to anonymously create a related Quest with a slightly higher reward. Posting Quests anonymously wasn’t strange, so doing this was normal and wouldn’t raise suspicion. As long as the Quest wasn’t something insane like massacring a village or related to a Cult, normal types of Quests wouldn’t receive extra attention.

Information about these special beasts had already been made public in that clickbait post. It was perfectly normal for others to be interested. Not wanting to personally acquire related research materials and hiring Mercenaries to do it was even more normal.

Thus, not only did some people with ulterior motives focus their attention on that Forest, many Mercenaries also accepted many Quests and hurried toward that Forest. They were the happiest! After all, those Quests were all for the same location, meaning… as long as they acted quickly, they could complete several, even more than ten, commissioned Quests at once!

Now, these Mercenaries were all scrambling for Quests. The Magic Weapon Summoners in the teams didn’t need to say anything—regardless of their combat ability, they didn’t need to fight along the way. There were even special carriages pulling them. They didn’t need to do anything, just constantly watch the Quest area. As soon as any related Quest appeared, they would grab it immediately. The Magic Weapon Summoning Book spread through Projections. There was no so-called network delay unless the location was somewhere special that greatly interfered with the Projection connection, which would cause such delays.

Other times, when competing for Quests, it was in a relatively fair state, depending on who was faster!

That once-overlooked Forest suddenly became bustling. After all, this Forest was near Kaja. There were dangerous beasts or Magical Beasts there, but not extremely powerful ones. If there were such Magical Beasts, the City Lord of Kaja wouldn’t sleep peacefully. The Empire governing Kaja also wouldn’t allow Magical Beasts dangerous enough to threaten Kaja’s safety to reside here. Kaja, after all, was a prosperous city, but such prosperity could easily be destroyed by a dangerous Magical Beast.

That Forest belonged to a low-level ‘zone’ after leaving the beginner’s area. The danger level rose sharply further away.

“You did well this time. Here, have this.” In Kaja City, Zheng Yichen looked with interest at the young man before him and tossed that Spatial Ring to him.

This thing was relatively rare. He had a Personal Space; did he need something like this? Not at all! Losing this thing was a hassle, and there was no so-called ownership-binding effect. Anyone who picked it up could use it. The only anti-theft method was to set up some Magic restrictions on it. The restrictions could only verify one’s own power and Mental Energy, rejecting others’ power. However, this method could be forcibly broken through.

It could only protect against beings weaker than oneself. If lost for a long time, even beings weaker than oneself could slowly wear down the power of the Magic restrictions and claim it as their own. As for triggering the Magic restrictions to create destructive attacks or something, it was believed no one would do that. Doing so, if exploited by someone during a fight, wouldn’t that be like wearing a bomb on one’s finger?

Besides, this thing could carry a small piece of space split from a Space Fragment. The material was tough enough; ordinary Magic definitely couldn’t destroy it. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a need to preset any destructive Magic on it. With a bit of external force causing vibrations, making the contained space inside unstable and directly rupture, the spatial tear phenomenon starting from one’s own hand would be more dangerous than a timed bomb.

“This was originally mine, okay.” Catching the Ring Zheng Yichen threw over, Carlin couldn’t help thinking. As for the previous source of this thing? Sorry, when it landed in his hands, this thing was already his… But why did his Boss’s gaze seem a bit strange?