Regional Holy Tower Academy War

"The Regional Holy Tower Academy War is about to begin. What the hell have you been up to, you brat?" Director Johnny asked.

"Ah? It's about to begin already?" Saine, looking somewhat disheveled and bedraggled, could not help asking in surprise.

Saine's behavior gave Director Johnny a headache.

However, Johnny was no longer as angry as he had been at the beginning.

For some reason, Johnny saw a trace of his former self in Saine.

Both had neglected food and sleep for years in pursuit of a single magic experiment.

The difference was that Johnny had done so after advancing to a Formal Magician. Cases like Saine's, making himself so bedraggled while still an apprentice, were rare.

It was not just Johnny. In fact, most magicians of Level One and above in the Wizard World had gone through what Saine had before.

Every spellcaster capable of advancing to Level One or above possessed their own understanding and insight into the Truth Arcana and magical elements.

And after advancing to Level One, their vastly extended lifespans gave these spellcasters more energy and time to explore the Truth Dao.

Devoting a mere few years to research in a particular field was nothing remarkable.

The longest experiment Johnny had personally undertaken had lasted fifty-six years.

It was also after that research that Johnny found the elemental true body magic arcana suited to him and advanced to Level Two through it.

"You're already a Quasi-Magician?" After studying Saine for quite some time, Johnny suddenly asked.

"Ah? Y-yes." Saine nodded.

At the moment, most of Saine's attention was still on the Sun's Eye Mask and the impending Regional Holy Tower Academy War, so he was somewhat absentminded in response to Johnny's question.

Johnny shot a fierce glare at the fellow who was still lost in thought. "Don't you dare skip tomorrow's Pre-War Mobilization Training again!"

"And this time, do your best to earn a good ranking for me. Don't go dying in the Academy War, understand?"

Johnny had originally wanted to smack Saine and knock some sense into him.

But seeing Saine blackened from head to toe by the explosion, Johnny sheepishly withdrew his hand.

Faced with Johnny's demands, Saine hurriedly agreed.

Although Saine had rarely interacted with this Second-Level Magician since entering Azure Source Holy Tower Academy, it was clear that this Grade Director cared about him quite a bit.

.

After confirming that Saine was unharmed, Johnny quickly left Saine's residence.

The two Formal Magicians who had come with him also departed shortly afterward.

Before leaving, Magician Irene even made a teasing face at Saine.

Perhaps she had been amused by Saine's disheveled appearance.

Only after watching Johnny and the others leave did Saine turn to look at his smoking, blast-ravaged house.

He had no idea how many times his laboratory had exploded since arriving at Azure Source Holy Tower Academy.

Unlike back in Grant Territory, he did not have so many attendants and servants to help him.

So, faced with a house filled with thick smoke and debris, Saine could only clean it up himself.

Fortunately, Serena was there to lend a hand. With the power of magic, tidying up a house would not take too long.

After returning to the laboratory, Saine did not immediately begin clearing the surroundings. Instead, he walked straight toward the alchemy bench.

The violent explosion had destroyed more than half the items in Saine's laboratory, but the sturdy alchemy bench had not suffered much damage.

Many of the tools on the bench had been ruined in the blast, yet a golden radiance stood out vividly within the jet-black laboratory.

It was a pale golden mask. Traces of Fire Element patterns ran around its edges, lending the golden mask an air of nobility and faint mystery.

Six clear Light Element crystals were embedded in its center and on either side. From afar, they looked like six strange eyes.

This was the top-tier Magic Conductor that Saine had finally succeeded in crafting after pouring his heart and soul into it for three years.

Actual testing had confirmed that this Magic Conductor had exceeded the apprentice tier and reached the standard of a formal Magic Conductor.

For Saine, who was still only a Magic Apprentice, this was nothing short of a miracle.

"The Regional Holy Tower Academy War?" Stroking the golden mask, Saine did not know what he was thinking.

The next day, having tidied up his appearance, Saine arrived punctually at the Teaching Building hall in the center of Holy Tower Academy.

By the time he reached the lecture room, quite a few people had already filled it.

Every apprentice present was an Advanced Apprentice or above. At a glance, Saine estimated there were more than a hundred of them—a considerable number.

At the very least, Saine had never seen so many Advanced Apprentices and above gathered in the same room.

Saine even spotted Mark, with whom he had once had a grudge.

Several years had passed, yet Mark was still at the Advanced Apprentice level.

And it was worth mentioning that Mark had been kicked out of the top twenty on the academy's Combat Power Ranking a year ago.

As the Regional Holy Tower Academy War drew ever closer, those veteran apprentices of Azure Source Holy Tower, along with the truly capable among the apprentices, emerged one after another.

Now, every person ranked in the top twenty of the Holy Tower Academy's Combat Power Ranking was a Quasi-Magician.

Saine also saw many elderly old men in the classroom. Nearly all of them carried the aura of Quasi-Magicians.

Leaving aside how high their achievements were in the field of magical exploration, their age alone indicated that they had certainly tempered their Mental Strength and magic power values to their limits.

And these old men were not to be underestimated. Many among them had participated in the previous Regional Holy Tower Academy War...

"Alright, today we'll continue discussing the detailed rules of the Regional Holy Tower Academy War."

"And all the matters you need to pay attention to after entering the Trial Space," a Formal Magician said from the podium.

Saine had long been curious about the Regional Holy Tower Academy War.

As this Formal Magician explained, the face of the Holy Tower Academy War gradually unfolded before Saine.

The so-called Regional Holy Tower Academy War was, in fact, an apprentice trial held at intervals by several neighboring Holy Towers within the same region of the Wizard World.

It was a grand event for selecting outstanding seeds for the Wizard World.

On a smaller scale, it might only represent the honor and disgrace of several individual Holy Towers, as well as the quality of apprentice instruction in recent years.

On a larger scale, it was a ten-thousand-year plan of the Wizard World, the foundation of civilization itself.

Few people made a point of tracing exactly how many years of history the Regional Holy Tower Academy War had in the Wizard World.

But to ensure that the powerful of Wizard Civilization would not be slain by ignorant, weak creatures of Alien Planes in planar wars,

this kind of military training within civilization was very necessary.

That was right—the Regional Holy Tower Academy War could also be regarded as internal military training for the Wizard World.

Together with the "Kingdom War Plan" used for knight groups, it was one of the two major cultivation policies for Knight Attendants and Magic Apprentices below Level One in the Wizard World.