Chapter 64: About the Third Academic Year.

Chapter 64: About the Third Academic Year.

The major events of the Summer Ceremony quickly spread across the entire continent, gaining momentum.

Beneath the dramatic shifts in power, there lay a general populace fraught with anxiety and fear.

But it seemed that all the storms were confined within the royal walls of Central City. After a few calm days, life appeared to return to its normal course.

No one tentatively discussed the matters of the witch, after all, that black fog never reached the homes of ordinary residents.

Curiosity began to grow among more people: Could the witch only bring despair and death? But then, why did so many yearn to summon her to fulfill their wishes?

That being, dormant in hell, was it good or evil?

However, none of these conflicts affected the academy.

A new academic year brought a new atmosphere.

The once empty castle seemed to fill up in the blink of an eye.

Sarila randomly selected two lucky returning students as helpers, to craft letters and write admission notices, which the witch of great sin personally delivered.

Perhaps it was the explosive news of the witch’s multiple descents that planted seeds of curiosity in the hearts of young girls.

This year's freshman class increased exponentially in number, breaking all previous records with over seventy new students.

The Witch Academy was filled with the gasps and screams of the young ones.

"Look at them!" Lunien and her companions leaned eagerly against the window, spying on the new students, "When I first stepped into the abyss, I was much stronger than them!"

"Really?" her companion glanced sideways, "Wasn't it you who was so scared you couldn't sleep for three days and eventually fainted from exhaustion?"

"Debbie!" Lunien, fuming, swung her arm, "Give me a pigtail!"

"Shield!" The brown-haired girl named Debbie deftly dodged and quickly cast a second ancient spell on Lunien, "Flower on the head!"

Suddenly, a tuft of cattail flowers sprouted from Lunien's head, resembling a messy broom, and the surrounding students burst into laughter.

Lunien, even more enraged, lunged to physically confront the annoying Debbie.

However, as she chased Debbie and dashed out of the classroom, she accidentally collided with someone entering.

"Ouch, ouch!" Lunien, clutching her head, looked up and found herself eye to eye with a dark, unseen hood.

"No chasing or roughhousing in the classroom," said the witch of rules, icily.

Lunien's face turned green, and she quickly reverted to being a well-behaved student.

"I'm really sorry, Instructor Gaia, but I thought... uh... our new academic year hasn't started yet?"

Gaia's flat tone held no inflection, "Miss Lunien Haber, I regret to inform you that the new academic year—your third year—has now officially begun."

Before Lunien could even wail, a head suddenly popped out from behind Gaia.

Fi, grinning, said, "Hey! What a coincidence, I just added a point!"

"Why!" Lunien was incredulous.

"Because Miss Fi Ro, while you were fighting, had already taken the initiative to comfort the frightened freshmen," explained Gaia, entering the classroom, which quickly quieted down. "I had given this task to everyone, remember?"

The students blinked, suddenly recalling that, indeed, on their first day back at the castle, a new scroll had been posted in the dormitory.

But with so much happening at the start of the term, who remembered to look?

What was so significant? Of course, it was the explosive new course!

It was said that Lilith, the head of the nine senior witches, would personally teach the students! And what she taught was not just anything, but divination, a subject of immense interest to everyone!

Love divination, fortune divination, event divination — just the textbooks alone amounted to five volumes!

The girls chattered nonstop, having long forgotten about their potion instructor.

However, this minor issue was soon forgotten under the onslaught of a much heavier academic workload.

In this academic year, they were to face many significant events.

The coming-of-age ceremony, job change, crafting a lifelong weapon, obtaining the title of intermediate witch, and absolutely not failing!

Dry branches scribbled down the formula for the new potion on the blackboard, demanding memorization and independent successful concoction within three days.

The minimum requirement: superior quality.

New formulas covered three entire walls!

The students barely had time to cry before the next class on Abyss Exploration delivered a fresh blow.

"I believe everyone has a deep understanding of the dark creatures of the Abyss from last year," said the dusty but still graceful instructor, Salira, arranging the newcomers, "so this year, we embark on a new adventure."

"As we all know, witches are the best tonic for other dark races, and vice versa. Therefore, this year, we will begin to recognize and combat other dark races—"

Amidst the incredulous stares of the students, Salira slowly outlined the course task for the year: to seek out dark races in the Abyss, including but not limited to Abyss Rippers, Necro Singers, Dark Mages, Curse Knights, Lone Wanderers, and so on.

"But..." someone cautiously raised a hand, "isn't this risky? If we accidentally kill them, or get killed accidentally—"

"Real combat is the best way to hone skills, Miss Penny," Salira smiled gently, "Cowering under the protection of the castle won't offer you much help. However, this is just one teaching method. Trust me, our focus this year is still on those orange or red dark creature zones."

So it's still mainly about fighting monsters, everyone just heaved a sigh of relief, then froze in place again.

What, what? Red danger zones? Red?!!

With Divine Punishment absent, the last bit of restraint on the instructors vanished.

Everyone felt the madness surging beneath the instructors’ smiles.

After lunch, there was a welcome ceremony for the new students.

Fei Yi, lounging lazily against her chair, watched the newcomers tread cautiously like little kittens.

What kind of new journey would they embark on?

The Black Magic Artifacts class was temporarily taught by Instructor Belrona.

Thus, they endured the most excruciating afternoon.

With more complex artifact identification and creation, coupled with advanced magical manifestation, most students struggled, and Belrona nearly turned everyone into squawking turkeys.

Fortunately, the new Divination class brought some solace.

Headmistress Lilith was witty and humorous, lacking the aloofness of a headmistress and the sternness of other instructors.

She casually used the lectern as a seat, half-sitting while showing the students a few leaves and a pot of Chiu Chao grass.

“This is a truly magical plant,” Headmistress Lilith showed everyone the Chiu Chao grass, “When you are uncertain about the path ahead, infuse it with magic and burn it; the ashes left behind will help clear your confusion. Now, let’s see how this all works. Miss Luo, would you mind coming up to assist me?”

Fei Yi stood up from her chair, “I’d be delighted, Headmistress Lilith.”

Following the headmistress’s instructions, she burned one of the coin-sized Chiu Chao leaves with magic, silently reciting in her mind and catching the falling ashes on the smooth leaf.

The scattered ashes indeed formed a series of strange patterns.

The headmistress praised her for the standard procedure, “Now, based on your first impression, tell us what you see?”

Fei Yi blinked, “I see an ever-expanding darkness, reaching... no, even transcending the borders of the world... a powerful and elusive aura swirling around the darkness...”

“Excellent!” Despite the ambiguous description, Headmistress Lilith affirmed it enthusiastically.

“Divination is like this,” the headmistress explained to the students with a smile, “Don’t overlook any detail in divination, because nothing is as simple as it seems on the surface.”

Though they grasped only partially, the students' enthusiasm for learning was not dampened.

As Fei Yi was about to leave, Headmistress Lilith whispered softly in her ear, "Child, you are the most gifted witch I have ever seen. Your future will surely be more powerful than anyone else’s. I am genuinely proud of you. And I sincerely thank you on behalf of my sisters, my predecessors, those departed souls, for everything you've done."

After a day of classes, as usual, Fei Yi, with a basket of delicious food in hand, leisurely made her way to the Sea of Illusions.

Beelzebub had cleared a clean spot on the sand, just to have a meal with Fei Yi.

They sat under the dark sky of the Abyss, surrounded by swirling white mist.

Bouncy ghost fish clumsily hopped over, only to be slapped back into the sand with a tail.

"Fei Yi," the demon, after silently devouring six plates of hot lake fish, couldn’t help but look up at her, "Is everything over? You won’t run off without a word to places I can’t find you, will you?"

"Of course not," Fei Yi reassured it with a cheerful smile, "Actually, it's all pretty much over now—" Theodore is dead, the Black Moon is gone, the world line is corrected.

And about that blue chip, being a world will in itself, handing it over to the small world shouldn’t be a problem, right?

But before she could finish, her wrist was suddenly gripped tightly.

Fei Yi was startled and looked up into the demon’s intense and serious vertical pupils.

"Fei Yi, I'm not human. Born from darkness, my three hearts are filled with jealousy, greed, and destruction. I don’t think I can bear to see you in such peril again…"

The first time, Fei Yi fainted after eating the golden heart. The second time, she faced the world's most powerful archbishop.

Both times, Beelzebub was utterly powerless.

Its heart twisted in agony, yet it only dared to gently touch the girl's wrist.

"If something really happened to you," the emotions in the demon’s eyes were intense and heavy, "hurt, dead, or vanished forever, I think the next world destruction will start with me."

Fei Yi's breath halted for a moment.

She gently touched the demon's head and was about to say something when the low voice of the small world suddenly reached her ears.

“Fei Yi, Dein's time is nearly up. Regarding the gift for the Follower, you might need to go there personally.”

The girl fell silent for a long time, so long that the demon was almost unable to restrain itself, before she abruptly spoke, “Would you like to come with me?”

The dark green tail tensed up instantly, and the demon's eyes sparkled with an unusual brightness, “Where to? No, anywhere is fine!”

This time, the small world remained silent.

Author's note:

I thought I could finish this chapter in one go, but no… see you in the next chapter.