Ahab said nothing, only relentlessly shed his skin

Ahab took the Rescue Badge from his inner pocket and crushed it with a crack.

It was not that he had not had chances to use this badge before.

But if he had failed to hunt the demon, even if he had used the badge and fled back to the Academy...

What good prospects could his future possibly have held?

Even if old wizard Merlin did not pursue the matter of poisoning an entire ship full of apprentices—

If Ahab wanted to get clear information from him about the Void Ancient God, that would have been difficult!

Ahab had originally thought that the part at the end of the diary, where he was controlled, was at least something that would happen later on.

After all, who would go to all that trouble to plant a foreshadowing in some small fry, then wait until he became powerful before controlling him?

But judging by the current situation, that did not seem to be the case.

The founder of the Void Path, the Nine-Turn Void Ancient God, was suspected to be from the same hometown as him!

In that case, it was very possible that he had already been watched from the instant he landed here.

But perhaps the Ancient God had its own troubles and, for the moment, seemed unable to free a hand to deal with him personally.

In any case, he had to grasp the intelligence as soon as possible!

After the badge was crushed, only three seconds passed.

A blazing light flashed through the sky.

The next thing he saw, old wizard Merlin, dressed in a black robe, his face mottled red and white, appeared directly in the sky.

"Ahab Gul? It seems your demon hunt succeeded."

Merlin was a shrewd old fox who had lived for several hundred years. He understood very well that with Ahab Gul's personality, he would not take the initiative to call for help unless the demon hunt had succeeded.

"Yes."

Ahab blinked his left eye, revealing a silver-white pupil.

"Teacher, Clifis is a high-level Void Cultist. I was hit by his 'Banishment'!"

There was a rustling in the swamp grass, and Instructor Gray crawled out in disheveled clothes.

"Taize fought while retreating and lured Clifis away. More than two hourglasses have passed, and he still hasn't returned."

Old wizard Merlin's expression turned grave.

He reached toward the distance, and a large mass of black flying ash gathered into a clump, floating in his palm.

"These ashes are Taize."

You old thing, you really understand black humor... Ahab grumbled inwardly, but then realized something else.

If Taize had fallen, why had Clifis not returned all this time?

"The Academy is to go into lockdown immediately!"

"Third-Rank Apprentices will suspend classes for three days. Second-Rank Apprentices will suspend business for three days. All First-Rank Apprentices are to find their own mentors and are not allowed to leave!"

Old wizard Merlin took out a crystal ball and issued orders with swift decisiveness.

That makes sense. If Clifis hasn't appeared here, he must have gone to do something more important... Ahab thought.

There was nothing wrong with old wizard Merlin's arrangements.

But that was on the premise that no one else had really stopped Clifis...

Gray took a few steps closer to Ahab and said, "Teacher has been at the Second Ring level for over two hundred years and is preparing to advance to the Third Ring."

"And the Academy's higher-ups have already made arrangements. Once Teacher advances to the Third Ring, the current acting dean will leave to roam the sea of stars and let Teacher take over."

So that's why he can issue orders directly. Then I really need to think carefully about what those three questions of mine should be... Ahab sank into thought.

After a rough analysis, Ahab believed that what he urgently needed to know at present mainly fell into these parts:

First, did the Void Ancient God have Authority capable of controlling others?

Second, was Chinese Ancient God Language unique to the Void Ancient God, or were the Ancient God Languages of all three Ancient Gods this?

Third, and also the most important point—

Did the Void Ancient God have any ability to affect time?

If the first two parts were both negative, then the third question would be of vital importance.

Because this would directly prove whether his Future Diary could still be trusted!

But all of this, in the end, was only inference based on the small amount of information currently available.

Ahab planned that after returning to the Academy, he would first look up a large amount of information related to Ancient Gods, then change his questions depending on the situation.

"Back to the Academy!"

Old wizard Merlin waved his hand, wrapping both Ahab and Gray in Teleportation Sorcery.

"My mental power seems to have improved."

On the dormitory's single wooden bed, Ahab opened his eyes and carefully sensed himself.

Because the Academy had been under lockdown for three days, even meals were being distributed to them.

For the past three days, Ahab had been tempering his mental power through meditation.

"Together with what I'd built up before, my mental power is about 8 now, and my mana has risen to 80."

"The number of times I can use witchcraft has gone from 3 to 4."

As he thought this, Ahab suddenly understood something—

Why so many Void Cultists hid in the wizarding world.

On its own, "See Through" was really just a minor life-saving trick with no practical use.

But if a beginner Void Cultist was also a Third-Rank wizard apprentice, "See Through" became a bombshell.

"The lockdown ends at noon today."

"I'll go to the library and look up knowledge related to the void!"

Ahab's drive maxed out. He got dressed in a minute, pushed open the door, and left.

Right now, it was the sleepy afternoon hour of the day.

If he dragged his feet a little, he could easily go in the evening instead.

"Universal Compendium, Vampire Volume, Elf Volume... Strange, why is the Ancient God Volume gone?"

When he reached the library, Ahab followed the booklist, climbed a long wooden ladder, and searched at the top of a bookshelf as tall as six or seven people.

But that set of Universal Compendium, known as the "Beginner's Encyclopedia of the Universe," was missing only the "Ancient God Volume."

Had someone borrowed it?

Was it a coincidence, or...

Ahab turned his gaze toward a desk not far away.

An old man was sitting there, drinking coffee and smoking, leisurely enjoying his life as a librarian.

It seemed he could find out from this old man where the "Ancient God Volume" had gone.

As for what he should do?

Ahab said nothing, merely shed layer after layer of shame.

"Hello, I'd like to ask something."

"Who borrowed the Ancient God Volume of Universal Compendium?"

The white-haired old man who had been enjoying life lazily glanced over, not even bothering to lift his head.

After seeing who it was, and the Third-Rank Apprentice badge on him, the old man gave him a "what the hell" look and said nothing at all.

New apprentices really were getting more pure and stupid with every batch.

Do I know you? You ask and I answer? Am I obligated to tell you?

"I'm in a hurry. Who borrowed it, and when will they return it?"

As if he had no emotional intelligence at all, Ahab ignored that look completely and kept pressing him.

"Go away. Don't cause trouble."

"Making a racket in the library can get you taken away by the Enforcement Squad."

The old librarian followed his usual routine and raised a big banner.

Normally, at this point, ninety-nine percent of new apprentices would stop pestering him.

Ahab, in an ultra-small voice: "I'm in a hurry. Who borrowed it, and when will they return it?"

The mosquito-like buzzing, sentence after sentence, made the old man especially annoyed.

"You fu—"

The old man staged a grand suspense drama on the spot—the vanishing profanity.

"Please tell me where it went."

Ahab stood obediently in front of the desk, so damn considerate as he kept buzzing like a mosquito.

"Tell me tell me tell me, who borrowed it, and when will they return it?"

The librarian was so irritated by the buzzing that he had no choice but to pull out a slip of paper:

"Borrowing record. Look for yourself. Stop bothering me!"

Many things in this world came down to whoever could make a fuss being in the right, and whoever had no shame getting the benefits.

What, what about Old Feng?

A person had to lose something eventually.

Ahab turned around in satisfaction, his gaze settling on the borrowing record.