Dark also jumped down from inside and hurried toward the bridge downstairs.
With the Sorting Card in hand, he could clearly tell where DemiDevimon was flying, no matter where it went.
Once he crossed the bridge, he stopped hurrying.
Keeping a steady distance, he followed behind without seeing Victor at all, taking his time.
It was already half past nine at night. Apart from the clumsy golems, there wasn't a soul in the castle.
He tracked Victor like this for more than ten minutes.
Victor was still walking ahead, but Dark suddenly heard footsteps behind him!
An idea struck him, and he quickly ducked behind the statue of some unknown Grand Magus, pressing himself against it.
The Magus's wide robes successfully concealed him completely.
The slightly hurried footsteps rushed past.
Only after the sound had vanished completely did Dark let out a quiet breath and slowly emerge from behind the statue.
Just then, the Sorting Card suddenly trembled.
A little while later, DemiDevimon flew back.
It had lost him!
"He must've noticed me, because he suddenly sped up and disappeared around a corner!"
DemiDevimon babbled on, looking utterly aggrieved.
Dark nodded, amused. "He didn't see you, did he?"
It wasn't surprising that DemiDevimon had lost Victor.
After all, he was the Son of the Hero. He was bound to have some unusual talents no one knew about. Perhaps he even had the legendary "sixth sense" or "seventh sense"?
The real question was whether anyone had seen DemiDevimon.
DemiDevimon shook its head frantically. "Absolutely, positively, definitely not!"
"Good. As long as he didn't see you."
Dark started walking back.
"There wasn't any real need to keep following him anyway."
He didn't take the matter too seriously.
St. Marian was full of uncertainty.
The castle's history was too ancient, its hidden secrets buried too far in the past.
Too many people had already forgotten history.
When those hidden secrets surfaced, the dust of history would finally settle.
And truth always came shrouded in mist.
Who would lift the veil?
Who could grasp the truth?
The Hero.
Right here.
St. Marian's Youthful Romance Is Indeed Problematic
Victor Gaude carefully pushed open a mural and climbed out of the wall.
A moment earlier, he'd vaguely sensed someone following him. He hadn't expected that as soon as he turned a corner, the pink light would point straight at the wall.
The characters "magic power" appeared above it.
He reached out with his left hand and poured magic power into it. The wall rippled like water.
Gritting his teeth, he squeezed inside and entered an extremely concealed passage.
Torches lined both sides of the passage, spaced a few meters apart.
When someone approached, the torches flared up with a whoosh, lighting the way.
The passage twisted, with countless forks. Sometimes it wound like a snake; other times it rose and fell. As his senses became increasingly muddled, Victor could no longer tell whether he was going up or down.
At long last, he emerged into the castle's unchanging scenery.
After walking a few more steps, he entered another secret passage.
After repeating this several times, Victor was completely lost.
As the mist on the pages gradually cleared and grew indistinct, Into the Abyss fell silent again.
Victor felt like he'd been tricked!
It took Victor a full half hour to escape the maze-like castle, covered in dust, and return to the Knight Academy's common room.
Robert was still working on his Magic Phantom Beast.
As it happened, a student in their year was interested and gave him a few pointers.
Perhaps because he now understood how difficult and precious credits were to earn, Robert was extremely cautious. He took each step very slowly, but the process went fairly smoothly. Now he'd reached the most crucial—and most difficult—step: drawing the No. 1 Transmutation Circle!
Victor watched quietly, not daring to interrupt.
But when it came to drawing this Transmutation Array, which even Diana had managed to complete, Robert grew unusually nervous!
His finger trembled, and the pen slipped, drawing the wrong line!
"Ugh—"
"Don't be nervous, Robert. You can keep going!"
Victor hurried over and steadied his hand!
Robert was drenched in cold sweat, but with Victor's help, he managed to finish the stroke and continue drawing the lines.
Although the extra stroke stood out like a sore thumb, he still managed to complete the entire No. 1 Transmutation Circle!
The Transmutation Array glowed smoothly.
Robert was trembling with nerves. It took him several tries to successfully pick up the Magic Phantom Beast Fur and place it in the light.
As the fur was gradually swallowed by the golden light of the No. 1 Transmutation Circle, the glow grew brighter and brighter.
Golden threads peeled away from the No. 1 Transmutation Circle, wrapping around the Magitech Card layer by layer.
In the end, they formed a golden cocoon!
"One last step, Robert. Feed it your magic power, and think about something you like," Victor said.
Robert placed his hand on the golden cocoon and slowly poured in magic power. "Something I like? Magic Chess?"
The Magitech Card burst out of its cocoon.
Robert excitedly picked up the card, which embodied three days of hard work by the two brothers. The vague, transparent outline on its face immediately began to change as soon as it caught his eye.
It was neither Ron's Patronus, the Jack Russell Terrier from Harry Potter, nor a little rat like Ron's pet Scabbers. Instead, it was the immovable castle from Magic Chess!
[Card Name: Magic Phantom Beast]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level:]
[Species: Elemental Species]
[Attribute: Ground Type]
[Magic Power: 300]
[Attack: 0]
[Defense: 300]
[Special Skill: Hold Position]
When Robert summoned his "Magic Phantom Beast: Castle," everyone was stunned.
In Magic Chess, the castle was equivalent to the player's life. It occupied a fixed 3x3 grid, had ten times the health of a single piece, and could spend a turn activating its innate skill, Hold Position, which halved the damage it took on the following turn.
Once the castle was captured, the player lost.
Robert's "Magic Phantom Beast: Castle" was also a massive three-meter cube. As soon as it appeared, it gave everyone a sense of rock-solid stability, as though nothing could move it!
"Wow! Robert, you actually did it!"
Victor punched Robert on the shoulder, beaming.
Robert was so excited that his neck flushed red. "Come here, my castle! Let me get a good look at you!"
Castle-chan didn't budge an inch.
After several attempts, Robert's face turned pale.
Someone suddenly said, "What's there to be surprised about, Robert? The castle in Magic Chess can't move. That's common knowledge, isn't it? Hahaha! Hahaha! Sorry, I can't help it! Hahaha!"
That night, Robert dreamed he had become a majestic castle. A pack of big-toothed rats gnawed away at him from the corners, bit by bit. In despair, he watched himself crumble before finally collapsing with a crash!
Victor had a dream, too.
He dreamed of the library's administrator, the upperclasswoman. He dreamed of going on a date with her in a garden full of blooming Princess Lilies.
When he woke up, there was a sticky mess on his bed.
The innocent boy lacked any knowledge in that area. He thought he'd wet the bed, and his face stayed red all morning.
On Thursday, it seemed that everything had returned to its usual pace.
Victor and Robert were back to their usual selves. Their enthusiasm for studying, which had lasted all of three minutes, was gone, though they were a little better behaved than before. After class, they avoided Emma.
Emma, meanwhile, hadn't even thought of talking to them.
As usual, Dark kept earning credits, saving up for his weekend shopping trip to Traveler Street.
Incidentally, substitute teaching had earned him 200 bonus credits!
Dark had always felt that the bonus for his "vertical calculation method" had been too small, and he argued his case convincingly.
Professor Lily gave him another 150.
So earning credits really was easy.
After History of Magic ended in the afternoon, Dark headed to the library as usual.
People changed as they grew up. He could now walk past Senior Pandora without batting an eye.
But after walking a little farther, he suddenly glanced back and saw Victor awkwardly trying to make conversation with the upperclasswoman. Dark realized what was going on and couldn't help smiling faintly, though he still looked perfectly composed.
Arithmetic Class had assigned a new set of homework.
Whenever that happened, Diana and Rose would cling to him.
Dark watched the two well-behaved girls sit down across from him at the desk, feeling a little helpless.
By five in the afternoon,
Diana finally finished the last assignment. With a "whoa," she leaned back in her chair, thrusting her chest out and stretching her arms. The little white rabbits hidden beneath her thin uniform were eager to leap free.
Before you continue