New World

A few more days passed.

Orsaga casually dismissed the Naga who had been freeloading off him for days and trying to cling to his thigh.

Orsaga closed his eyes and immersed himself in the consciousness space connected by the Abyssal Contract...

This time, he had far more choices than before.

He could clearly sense that the sacrifices offered by the other side were more plentiful and more chaotic. Many of them were things even he could not figure out.

Perhaps they were precious minerals or rare spellcasting materials, but Orsaga had little interest in such things.

With the thought that souls were the most practical option—at the very least, they could be exchanged for Evolution Points—he casually chose a Summoning Ritual whose sacrifice was a large number of souls.

As he traveled through the spatial passage and felt time flow by, Orsaga thought boredly, Looks like this world is somewhat remote.

Last time, he had arrived in a little over ten seconds. This time, half a minute had passed and he still had not arrived.

After a while longer, sensing that the destination was close, Orsaga used his old method: sending something like an Avatar ahead to scout things out and avoid being baited...

Looking at the Summoning Ritual before him, Hawthorne Schild was somewhat unsure whether he had succeeded. Yet before his many subordinates, he still wore an expression of complete confidence.

He had obtained this Summoning Ritual from another ancient civilization, and this was his first time using it.

Just as he was considering whether to try again, the Summoning Ritual on the ground began to glow faintly with Red Light.

Hawthorne immediately knew that he had succeeded. Next came the time to verify the next step.

Amid intense Blood Red flames, a twisted Space Door appeared at the center of the Summoning Ritual.

Accompanied by a strong stench of blood, a tall figure clad in armor—from the others' perspective, though it was actually an exoskeleton—stepped out from within.

The moment they saw him, many of the weaker teachers immediately felt instinctive terror.

They subconsciously drew upon their own power and assumed guarded stances.

Ignoring their actions, Orsaga directed his gaze straight at the person closest to him. He could clearly sense that this person was his summoner, and that the other party was not weak.

Though he looked human on the outside, there was something alien about him, so Orsaga could not be certain of his species.

Feeling the restraints from the Summoning Ritual, he understood that he needed to Form Contract with him before he could gain the conditions to act in this world.

Unlike that half-baked defective product from last time, this Summoning Ritual was very proper, so he had to fulfill his due obligations. He could not act as recklessly as he had before.

Thus, lowering his head and calmly staring at the other party, Orsaga asked, "What did you summon me for?"

Raising his head, Hawthorne examined Orsaga's powerful-looking body and answered with satisfaction, "I need you to guard my academy for one hundred years."

Hearing the request, Orsaga froze slightly.

He truly had not expected this to be the other party's goal.

Looking at him in confusion, Orsaga confirmed once more, "...You want me to guard your academy? You want a Demon to do this? Are you sure?"

Seeing Orsaga's puzzled expression, Hawthorne felt somewhat confused as well. He could not understand what was wrong with his idea, so he repeated, "Yes. Is there a problem?"

It is roughly the same as putting a wild wolf in your home and having it guard the house for you.

Having a Demon work as a security guard was truly a genius idea!

As a Demon, doing this really damages my dignity.

Thinking that, he looked at the sacrifices beside him and immediately felt that, as long as the price was right, it was not entirely beyond negotiation.

After a difficult decision lasting 0.3 seconds, Orsaga asked Hawthorne, "I need to ask you two questions before I can make a decision."

Though somewhat puzzled, Hawthorne answered, "Ask."

In his view, Orsaga was not only powerful, but the Summoning Ritual also came with a contract function that prevented either party from going back on their word. He was simply the perfect candidate.

Facing the other party's satisfied expression, Orsaga asked his first question, "Do you have any records concerning Demons here?"

Hawthorne replied, "No. I only learned of your existence through the Summoning Ritual I acquired in exchange."

No wonder he could make such a genius suggestion as having a Demon work security...

Nodding in satisfaction, he asked his second question, "You said this was an academy, right? In that case, what kind of academy is this?"

This was not an important question, so Hawthorne answered decisively, "Silent Heart Academy, an academy specializing in training wizards."

Wizards? A variant of mages?

Though somewhat puzzled, Orsaga smelled the strong traces of spells on the other party and formed a rough answer in his mind.

There were countless Extraordinary Profession paths in the multiverse. Orsaga had some interest in this Spellcasting Extraordinary Profession academy that he did not know much about, because he had never received systematic instruction. He had basically studied on his own using Inheritance Memory, making him someone from the wild paths.

"Then I have roughly understood the situation. I have no further questions."

He proposed, "However, I have an idea. While serving as this so-called guardian, I hope to have a means of acquiring knowledge here as well. I will offer other knowledge or wealth in exchange."

After thinking it over, Hawthorne agreed to Orsaga's request. Knowledge was precious to wizards, but if others could offer a suitable price, they would not mind making some extra profit.

Thus, the two sides smoothly reached an agreement and signed an Abyssal Contract under the effect of the Summoning Ritual.

On the condition that he received the sacrifices before him and collected a certain number of souls every year, Orsaga would guard Silent Heart Academy for one hundred years.

During this period, he would serve only as a guardian. Aside from his duties as guardian, he would have no superior-subordinate relationship with anyone in the academy. Furthermore, he could not harm academy members or property without reason, and he possessed the right to exchange knowledge with academy members.

From that day onward, Silent Heart Academy gained a guardian from the Bottomless Abyss, while a beautiful sea of deep crimson flowers appeared in the depths of the academy's Forbidden Forest.

In the years that followed, after several academy members accidentally entered the place and ended up half-dead, everyone learned that its owner was not hospitable. Unless they had business there, they should not wander around that place. Although he could not harm them without reason, reason was always a rather subjective thing—if he thought it was one, then it was one...

Seventeen years later.

Sitting on a withered yellow branch in Human Form, Orsaga flipped through the book in his hand and carefully finished reading the knowledge recorded within.

Orsaga sighed sincerely, "What a peculiar plane. Its inner worlds are actually divided into clusters. They are somewhat connected, yet completely different—rather like the various galaxies in the universe of the world from my Previous Life. Only when combined can they form a plane."

More than a decade was enough for him to gain a deep understanding of this world.

In his eyes, this plane was an unquestionably high-level plane, completely unlike the previous plane, which possessed hardly any Supernatural Power.

If the previous plane had been a tiny, fragile trinket, then this world was a metal spiked ball that pricked the hand, making it difficult for him to get a grip on it.

This plane was composed of various world clusters, and each world cluster was itself made up of many worlds. Here, wars of conquest between worlds were perfectly normal. The world Orsaga was in was called the Wizarding World. It had once been the leader of this world cluster, and in the distant past, it had even unified the entire cluster before launching an expedition against another world cluster.

Though it had gone through several upheavals and declined, it no longer possessed its former glory.

All kinds of records carried the feeling of a setting sun sinking behind the western hills.

But its ancestors had once been wealthy; even a starved camel was bigger than a horse!

Orsaga could guess with his ass that they had retained some measure of foundation no matter what. Otherwise, their old enemies would not have allowed them to live peacefully.

Did they really think everyone was running a charity hall?

In a plane where they could invade one another's worlds and grow rich by Plunder from other worlds,

these wizards had offended no small number of factions. The fact that they had endured until now meant they certainly possessed genuine capabilities.

So Orsaga had no plans to cause trouble here for the time being.

The Deans of these wizard academies were nothing much in his eyes, at most about as strong as he was. But who knew what trump cards they had hidden in the dark? If he took down Hawthorne only to draw out some other messy old monsters, that would be troublesome.

In a world with such a long inheritance, beating the young brought out the old; beating the old brought out an even older crowd. That was no empty talk.

The waters ran deep, and there were turtles everywhere—this was exactly that kind of place.

Orsaga had absolutely no intention of probing its depths.

Unless he had absolute confidence in his own strength and the confidence to crush everything in his path, it was better to act according to the contract...

Otherwise, even if he had signed the contract, Orsaga would have found a roundabout way to scheme against Hawthorne. After all, a Demon that obeyed a contract one hundred percent was a joke in itself.

Just then, a massive wooden whale suddenly emerged from the clouds overhead and rapidly approached.

Orsaga casually waved his hand, and the mist above the Forbidden Forest instantly opened up, allowing it inside.

That was his job: beating up intruders and letting his own people in, just like an old gatekeeper.

He silently thought, Shouldn't security work be more suitable for middle-aged people? Why am I doing this when I'm still so young?

Thinking of that, he discovered another problem. As a Demon, I have the innate trait of immortality. At what age do I count as middle-aged? Will I have a midlife crisis in this life?

As he pondered such meaningless questions, the huge wooden whale slowly descended not far from him.

A staircase lowered from the whale's belly.

Several teachers wearing uniform clothing and nearly a hundred knight attendants carrying knight swords led several thousand children around seven or eight years old down the stairs.

When the leading teacher saw Orsaga sitting in the tree, his expression stiffened. Somewhat restrained, he took the initiative to greet him, "Greetings, my lord."

When the new students saw that the teachers who had been so aloof before them did not even dare breathe loudly in Orsaga's presence, they all secretly cast curious looks at him.

Orsaga did not make things difficult for the man in response to his greeting. He merely waved casually, signaling for him to ignore him.

Seeing Orsaga's gesture, the leading teacher immediately let out a breath of relief.

Without lingering any longer, he directly led everyone away...

Thanks: Instant Meteor, for 100 Qidian coins!