Chapter 49
Chapter 49
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 49: Lan Qi Gains Attention
At the same time, at Ikerite Academy of Magic.
Vice Dean Roen, who had been in the middle of a lecture in the academic building, immediately announced an early dismissal upon receiving urgent news. His expression was grave as he rushed to the main conference room of the Sage Institute.
He pushed open the heavy doors.
Despite the conference room’s soft-toned decor, the tense atmosphere had solidified in this enclosed space. Every faculty member bore a solemn expression, their eyes fixed intently on the magic screen at the center of the room.
"Loren, how are they doing?"
Vice Dean Roen sat down anxiously beside Dean Loren and asked.
At first, Roen had thought that a Tier 2 Shadow Realm wouldn’t pose any real challenge to Lan Qi and Huperion. Even if it were a Tier 3, they should still be able to handle it.
Given their rankings, they would either be assigned a difficult Tier 2 Shadow Realm or a relatively easier Tier 3.
But Roen had never expected that these two complete newcomers, on their very first Shadow Realm challenge, would be thrown into a Tier 4 Shadow Realm—one with an exceptionally dangerous background.
An unknown era’s Demon Kingdom. A place where normal humans could not survive.
There were only two possible explanations for being matched into a Shadow Realm vastly above one’s tier.
The first was sheer terrible luck triggering a rare probability event. However, in such cases, the other teammates would usually be significantly stronger than average.
The second was rule-breaking—where high-rankers intentionally teamed up with low-rankers to dominate lower-tier Shadow Realms, disrupting the normal matchmaking system.
"…Under normal circumstances, this would already be considered a major incident. But for those two, it’s not necessarily a bad match," Dean Loren observed the magic screen at the center of the room, which was broadcasting a live feed from the Arcane Engineering Institute, and mused aloud.
Roen nodded at his words.
He understood what Loren meant—there were some things the dean could only imply subtly.
Most challengers, especially those below Platinum rank without extensive experience, would find their intelligence and mental fortitude drastically diminished when faced with the extreme environments, eerie rules, and blood-soaked history of a high-risk Shadow Realm.
But there were also those who, the more deranged the Shadow Realm, the better they could display "talents difficult to unleash in the real world."
A kingdom of demons, a land devoid of human law.
Once Lan Qi was free from the constraints of legal boundaries…
It was hard to say what would happen.
In the Sage Institute’s designated area stood a small library-style pavilion.
Towering, intricately carved bookshelves stretched along the walls up to the ceiling, resembling the battlements of an ancient castle.
On the second floor of this building, there was an independent magic screen that could even be manually tuned to select from the broadcasted footage.
"Hahaha, Modan, you got played by an idiot today!"
A young woman in a black dress lounged in the main seat, clutching her stomach as she laughed and kicked her legs at the screen.
This building was a space exclusive to their team, a special activity area granted to them by the school.
Although Modan was a Gold-ranked challenger and the leader of this team, it was clear at a glance who the true boss here was.
The woman in the black gauze dress was a fourth-year Platinum-ranked student, possessing immense power and prestige beyond the reach of most faculty members.
"Yeah, looks like we won’t be seeing him again."
Modan Gasigs, who had previously looked gloomy, now appeared noticeably more at ease.
"But you should still be prepared—what if he isn’t an idiot after all?"
Inside an independent laboratory of the Arcane Engineering Institute, the spacious, well-lit design exuded precision, with a calming white and gray color scheme fostering focus.
Bright ceiling lights evenly illuminated every corner, while massive magic screens embedded in the curved walls displayed various data and information.
The workbenches scattered throughout the lab, each uniquely designed, were occupied by Arcane Engineers engrossed in research.
"No way, this is the kid Her Highness Vivian mentioned? This year’s top student from the Sage Institute?"
From a distance, someone standing in front of a magic screen called out.
A tall, handsome young man, dressed in work attire and wearing heavy protective gloves, was in the midst of repairing a magical device. Hearing the comment, he lifted his goggles and glanced at the screen.
"Good thing we didn’t recruit him."
A girl beside him, dressed in another style of Arcane Engineering Institute uniform, commented.
Unlike the young man, she wore a silver-rank registered Card Crafter badge from the Card Crafters' Association on her collar.
"I heard his thought process isn’t quite normal. He might have done it on purpose."
The young man scratched his head in confusion, muttering to himself.
The girl hesitated. "But…"
Right now, the Demon Exam Grounds had descended into complete chaos. Every mechanism had been utterly destroyed, and from any angle, it looked like a dead-end scenario.
"You don’t get it, do you?"
The young man removed his gloves, set down his tools, and perched on a table, gazing thoughtfully at the magic screen.
Like Princess Vivian of Hedon, he had light golden hair. However, his appearance was plain and unassuming, his attire resembling that of an ordinary commoner.
Unless he was in the royal palace, he dressed this way all the time.
As a result, people often failed to recognize him as a prince and instead only sensed an air of nobility about him.
The girl frowned. "Did you figure something out?"
The young man shrugged. "Not really."
"…"
The girl crossed her arms and turned her head away, saying nothing more.
If it weren’t a crime to beat up royalty, she would’ve already swung at him.
The Knight Institute’s dormitory building.
Students, just finishing their daily lessons, were trickling out of the hallways and stairwells, some looking refreshed, others exhausted.
As it was close to dismissal and dinnertime, the hallways were noticeably busier than in the afternoon.
"Hurry to Jera Memorial Plaza—if we go any later, all the steps will be taken!"
"Never thought the Sage Institute had such a reckless brute."
Not far away.
At the corner of the first-floor hallway, in front of a dormitory room, stood a student with gray-white hair. His sunglasses were cocked slightly on his nose in an arrogant fashion, and he had two nails clenched between his teeth as he hammered a plaque onto the doorframe.
The plaque read: Freyr Detective Agency.
Passing students who happened to notice him showed varying degrees of surprise.
Never mind the fact that there was a detective agency in the school—
Why was there a detective in the Knight Institute?
But when the freshmen saw that it was this man—the white-haired, violet-eyed figure radiating the explosive power of a wild wolf—it suddenly didn’t seem strange at all.
"…"
Freyr stared at the plaque, lost in thought.
He wasn’t sure what had suddenly happened in the academy to make everything feel so unusually lively tonight.
Ever since earlier, he had already overheard several students tossing their books back into their dorms and rushing outside, all murmuring similar things.
"Whatever, I’ll check it out later."
Freyr refocused on his task and continued hammering.