[Catastrophe]

In just a few breaths, the sky was completely soaked in blood. Thick and oppressive dark clouds spread out like huge, congealed blood clots, and the intense scarlet color dripped down. The once peaceful and tranquil Hoddam Academy, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, was plunged into a dark and gloomy atmosphere.

The noise and commotion in the academy seemed to vanish in an instant, and everyone in the academy stopped moving and involuntarily looked up at the sky.

Against the backdrop of crimson blood, the faces of the tiny and fragile people were filled with astonishment, confusion, and a growing fear of the unknown disaster that was about to strike.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

In just a few seconds, the vast expanse of crimson blood cloud surged rapidly, quickly coalescing into an enormous blood sphere that replaced the blazing sun, as if becoming a new Blood Sun.

"[Blood Dark Nova]!"

A cold, hoarse, aged voice, like a chilling wind from a gloomy ancient castle, rang out. At the same time, the crimson "sun" in the sky exploded with a deafening roar, transforming into a massive, circular wave of blood! The Rune Array covering Hoddam Academy shattered in an instant, the white core sphere of light extinguished, and vast swaths of crimson blood surged down, plunging the entire academy into immense chaos.

Countless people shouted and ran around, and in the Mentor District, wizard figures resembling "little suns" flew into the sky, bursting with intense light of various colors.

A giant, blood-red hand descended from the crimson clouds, and figures clad in black robes flew out from behind the clouds. Ronan stood in front of a pretty little house with a blue roof when he suddenly saw the roof burst open, and a girl in a black wizard's dress was dragged out and hurriedly flew into the sky.

The girl looked flustered and helpless, one hand pressing down on the wizard's hat on her head, the other clutching a thick spellbook.

Her short, ear-length hair was blown about in a mess by the wind. Before her delicate Crystal Glasses slipped off her nose, she glanced at Ronan, opened her mouth as if to say something, but disappeared in a moment.

Even after the girl had completely disappeared, Ronan was still not fully recovered from the sudden and unexpected change.

He found himself in the midst of escalating chaos, smelling the scorching scent of magic gradually spreading in the air, and felt that everything around him seemed very, very far away.

At that moment, only one thought was churning and swirling in his mind—

How could he have just become a full-fledged wizard and suddenly his family is gone?

Lola stood in a huge room made of countless Brown-Black Vines, staring blankly at the only small window above her head that let in sunlight.

How long do you plan to keep me locked up?

"It's up to you, Lola."

Another woman's voice came from inside the room. She sounded more mature and magnetic than Lola, like the rustling of vines in the wind.

What did I do wrong?

Lola's expression suddenly turned ferocious, and green runes appeared on her small, pale face. "Is it wrong for me to avenge my dead husband?"

She yelled in one direction, "Even you don't believe me?!"

I believe you.

The voice said calmly, "The failure of that spell experiment back then unexpectedly connected your soul with Fao's."

It's normal to have some premonitions about his death that most people can't understand.

"Then let me out now! Let me kill that despicable insect who pretends to be innocent with my own hands!"

"Stop all this, Lola!"

The woman's voice suppressed Lola's hysteria, carrying a hint of weariness and helplessness, "This accident has already caused too much trouble."

Your marriage to Fao was a farce. There was absolutely no affection between you two, and you were not a real couple at all.

All you feel for him is a distorted desire for control and possession born from a flawed bond. Have you forgotten that in the beginning, he was the person you hated most in the entire academy? You even felt disgusted and nauseous just breathing the same air as him. Over the years, because of you, many innocent people have died, and there has been a great deal of discontent with you in the academy. Even as the dean, I cannot completely ignore this.

Let's put an end to this.

This is the best outcome for you and for everyone else.

"Wrong!"

As Lola listened to the woman's comforting voice, she suddenly realized something. "You want everything to end here, isn't that the result you want most?"

You knew all along who the true owner of the Corpse Garden was! You deliberately arranged for Fao to lead the team there! You tampered with his body; you knew Fao would die, no matter who killed him.

Lola became increasingly agitated as she spoke, until finally she shouted, "Answer me, is it true or not?!"

The rustling of the wind through the vines stopped for a moment, and then the woman's voice rang out again, but this time it was less emotional, calm and indifferent.

"It seems that even though Fao is dead and your connection with him has been completely severed, the mark left on you will still take some time to dissipate."

"Shut up!"

Lola interrupted the woman with a shout, releasing an incredibly powerful surge of spiritual energy. The dense green runes on her face lit up completely, her seaweed-like long hair danced in the air, and she gradually floated into the air.

"I'm asking you one last time, are you going to let me out or not?!"

"I will avenge Fao! Anyone who tries to get close to him or harm him shall die!"

Lola's eyes were filled with coldness, distortion, and an almost morbid obsession. Her outburst received no response, only the small window above her, letting in the sunlight, kept closing.

"Ah!!"

Thick, thorny vines sprouted from Lola's back, launching a frenzied, vengeful attack on everything in sight.

After she had been attacking for a while, "Boom!"

The room she was in suddenly began to shake violently, as if it were about to collapse and crack at any moment.

This surprised Lola, who had an unexpected expression on her face.

The next second, the entire prison-like room actually began to crumble, and a leaf shining with golden light flew quickly towards Lola, which she instinctively grabbed in her hand.

"Get out of here, Lola! Whatever you want to do, remember one thing—get out of here immediately, as far away as possible!"

The woman's voice, which had been silent for some time, rang out again, this time with a solemnity and urgency that Lola had never experienced before.

Lola watched in astonishment as the vines that had imprisoned her were quickly pulled away and then whooshed overhead.

The sunlight streaming in from outside was a deep, blood-red color.

Chaos and noise followed, and Lola soon saw, with a moved expression, the thick, blood-red sky that blotted out the sun, and the familiar dark green figure that had already collided fiercely with the blood-red.

The sudden freedom, along with the unexpected crisis and chaos, left Lola momentarily at a loss as to what to do next.

But soon, the brief period of madness and paranoia swept back in.

Lola's gaze hardened, a fierce resentment and killing intent surging in her eyes. Relying on her intuition, she locked onto a direction, let out a low howl, and transformed into a blurry green shadow, quickly disappearing into the horizon.

"Those despicable insects deserve to die!"

Meanwhile, amidst the chaos of the academy, two figures suddenly jolted and looked up at the sky, as if receiving some kind of command. Without hesitation, they abandoned the battlefield and chased after Lola's departing figure.

"Does the Nefa Key even deserve to be possessed by a third-rate country Wizard Land like yours?"

"Roll!"

"Boom!--"

The crimson blood clouds covering the sky collided violently with the dark green vines that stretched like giant pythons. Countless vines tore and writhed within the blood clouds, and the energy shockwaves from the magical collision lashed the ground like giant whips, creating large cracks and whipping up violent hurricanes. Explosions and angry screams from women echoed one after another. Ronan stared at the terrifying, world-ending scene before him, his scalp tingling. Without hesitation, he turned and ran quickly away from the battle.

This is a battle between higher-level wizards, and even though he is now a first-level official wizard, he is not qualified to participate.

In fact, Ronan had already witnessed several official wizards from the academy perish under the attack of the crimson blood cloud that shattered the Rune Array.

It wasn't just the mysterious figure controlling the crimson blood cloud; a large number of formally certified wizards in black robes had also poured in. Slaughter and battles were happening everywhere, and the entire academy had now become a battlefield. "Let's get away from the center of the conflict first. We'll consider whether to come back after things calm down."

As Ronan ran, his mind raced with thoughts.

He had no intention of "overcoming difficulties together" with the academy. He had just been promoted and hadn't even learned a single first-tier spell. It would be too unwise for him to join a full-scale war of wizards in this state.

Moreover, he himself didn't feel any sense of belonging to the academy.

Hoddam Academy has always maintained a superior attitude, placing itself above all lower-level wizards. They treat Wandering Wizard as cannon fodder, using them like cattle. After joining the academy, Ronan was met with coldness due to his lack of aptitude. As he once said, he joined the academy merely for the sake of inheriting the tradition of becoming a formal wizard.

He hasn't even obtained this inheritance yet, and you want him to live and die with the academy, to risk his life for it? Are you crazy?

Ronan ran quickly across the ground, his black robe and gray hair billowing behind him.

The Rune Array above the academy shattered, and the mist enveloping the academy dissipated. Ronan left the academy and saw that the town outside was also in chaos, but he did not see any black-robed figures. It was just a large-scale riot caused by the panic of Wandering Gray Robe people who saw the academy being attacked.

Just like that chaotic night he experienced back then.

Why did the Whispering Forest suddenly launch a surprise attack on the academy?

"Since they have the ability to directly shatter the magic array and strike at the heart of the enemy, how could this battle have dragged on for half a year?"

"Also, what is the Nefa Key?"

Many questions flashed through Ronan's mind, but at this moment there was no one to answer them for him, nor did he have time to find someone to answer them.

Suppressing his doubts, Ronan quickly slipped into a small, empty house.

He hurriedly took off his academy robes, put on a plain gray robe, and disguised himself as Wandering Wizard to walk out the door, trying to blend in with the fleeing crowd and leave the town.

But after taking only a couple of steps, Ronan realized something was wrong.

The area around him was completely empty; everyone preferred to squeeze together like meat patties rather than get too close to him, and they all deliberately walked around him with expressions of fear or awe.

"You made a stupid mistake!"

Ronan then realized that he was constantly emanating powerful spiritual energy fluctuations.

It's like a shark suddenly darting into a school of sardines; there's no way it could hide.

With a flicker of his eyes, Ronan quickly pulled out a magical artifact resembling a shattered mirror from his Storage Waist Pouch and casually used it to reflect the strength of a level four Wandering Wizard beside him.

The aura of a formal wizard-level powerhouse was quickly concealed by the effect of the magical artifact, making the situation much better this time. Ronan darted into the crowd and quickly blended in.

"Call--"

A hurried figure swept rapidly across the crowd, its imposing presence causing the fleeing people below to look up in awe.

"He is a formal wizard of the academy."

Ronan, mingling in the crowd, watched the figure rapidly disappear into the distance, his gaze slightly relaxed.

He felt relieved to see that he wasn't the only official wizard from the academy who had run away.

But before Ronan could relax for a moment, another figure exuding the aura of a formal wizard flew swiftly across the sky.

The figure swept past, leaving behind a strong stench of blood, and casually tossed a spell resembling a blood orb downwards.

The spell exploded in the dense crowd, blasting out a chorus of screams and howls.

Upon seeing the miserable state of the crowd below, the latter laughed heartily and walked away.

"It's the black-robed figure that's coming!"

Ronan gently bit his lip.

The black-robed figure who appeared later was clearly there to hunt down the academy wizards who had previously escaped.

It seems that being caught in the vortex, completely escaping the battle will not be an easy task.

Fortunately, he had just been promoted to the next level and his decision to escape was timely and decisive; otherwise, he might have been targeted. Thinking this, Ronan coldly walked through the crowd and soon left the town. In the wilderness, where countless black dots were scurrying about like ants collapsing, he randomly chose a relatively quiet direction and ran forward at full speed.

After achieving Expert Level proficiency in [Ascetic Body Forging], although he looked much older, his physique remained strong, even surpassing his previous level.

His slender body began to move rapidly like a high-precision, complex machine, propelling him forward at an astonishing speed. He stirred up a long wave of mud across the wilderness, and an unsuspecting person might have thought he was casting some kind of earth magic spell.

As he ran, Ronan became increasingly aware of the powerful, yet restrained, life force within him. It was gestating within his limbs and bones, constantly trying to break free, but it was firmly locked in place by something, unable to be fully released.

Ronan ran all the way to the edge of the wilderness, entered the forest, and ran for a while until he felt completely out of danger before stopping.

Stand in an open, elevated spot and look in the direction you came from.

Ronan saw that a large, thick cloud of blood was floating in the sky above Hoddam Academy. It seemed to be larger than before, and lightning-like blood-red light was constantly falling down from the cloud.

The dark green color belonging to the Dean of the Hoddam Academy was almost invisible.

It's clear that in this battle between higher-level wizards, the attacking Black Robe Wizard has the upper hand.

Ronan felt heavy-hearted, not because he was worried about the academy, but because he was somewhat confused about his future.

If he has already obtained the inheritance of first-tier spells and Soul Rune, it doesn't matter if he leaves now.

But it seems the Goddess of Fate has a penchant for playing tricks on him, choosing this exact moment to bring about his [Catastrophe], even if it had been just three or five days later.

Grace under the blue roof, what a kind and warm-hearted girl she was. Ronan was momentarily stunned. He withdrew his gaze and stopped looking at the academy.

I wandered aimlessly into the forest, wondering where I should stay for a while.

It was safe enough and also made it easy to understand the battle situation on the academy's side. Suddenly, Ronan stopped in his tracks.

The wind rustled through the trees.

Ronan slowly raised his head and saw a young man dressed in a black robe and holding Short Staff, hovering quietly in mid-air, looking down at him with great interest, several dozen meters in front of him.

"So, even though you were careful enough, you were still targeted?"

Ronan murmured to himself, a few stray white hairs at his temples fluttering in the wind, his expression gradually returning to calm.