Black Isotta

The ocean liner carrying Green and the other wizard apprentices was extremely conspicuous in the harbor, because it was simply too battered.

No wonder. After enduring a battle between a wizard and a nightmarish giant octopus, the fact that this ocean liner had not sunk was practically sheer luck.

As the ocean liner docked, the crowd of wizard apprentices almost could not wait to sprint ashore. Freed from the constant rocking of the sea voyage, they gulped in the air, and every one of them wore a delighted expression.

They had finally left that hellish ocean liner!

However, when the delighted expressions of these wizard apprentices were seen by other passing wizard apprentices in the harbor, a mocking snort could not help but sound.

"Another bunch of country bumpkins from some remote island. They think they can become wizards just because they've arrived on the Wizard Continent. Laughably ignorant, hmph hmph..."

This wizard apprentice mistakenly thought the reason the Blood Sail Alliance wizard apprentices were delighted was because they had come to the Wizard Continent.

"Master."

The many wizard apprentices in the harbor saluted Faceless Mask one after another. Faceless Mask ignored them, only saying faintly to the many wizard apprentices who had just walked down from the ocean liner behind him, "Don't wander off."

At this moment, a figure flew over from the distant sky. A moment later, an old witch riding a broom flew before the crowd. After automatically sweeping past Green and the other wizard apprentices, she looked directly at Yun Li and Bibilionna behind Faceless Mask.

"Heehee, are these two adorable little fellows the targets discovered by Lilith's Cottage? Sure enough, their soul fluctuations are very special."

The wrinkles on the old witch's face were almost folded into a piece of old tree bark. She let out a pleased laugh, revealing a mouthful of pitch-black rotten teeth, looking disgustingly repulsive.

Quite a few wizard apprentices from the Blood Sail Alliance subconsciously moved away from this old witch.

Green could not help thinking, Could it be that all wizards look this strange and bizarre? Why are they like this? If I become a wizard in the future, will I become like this too?

Just thinking this made Green shiver a little.

At the same time, Green glanced at Lafi's tall figure and beautiful face in front of him and could not help thinking, If she also turned into the old witch in front of us...

"Am I pretty?"

All of a sudden, Lafi turned her head and looked at Green expressionlessly, as if making a cold joke.

For an instant, Green almost overlapped the old witch's face with Lafi's face. With Lafi suddenly turning back, the guilty-as-a-thief Green hurriedly said, "Uh... pretty, pretty."

Lafi looked at Green in some surprise. Faced with this kind of tempting question, the Green of before would definitely have coldly turned his head aside and stopped speaking.

Perhaps after getting off the ocean liner, everyone's nerves had relaxed somewhat. After all, the ocean liner had truly been too oppressive, and even Lafi herself had not expected that she would ask Green such a thing.

After being astonished for a moment, Lafi suddenly smiled and said, "Can I take that as you confessing your feelings to me? Hmph hmph, however, considering that you once risked your life to save me, I'll seriously consider it."

After saying this, Lafi smiled smugly and paid no more attention to Green.

Green froze for a moment.

Uh...

On the other side, the Faceless Mask wizard atop the mass of crows said, "All right, don't scare these little fellows. After more than a month of baptism, these little fellows are probably already terrified of the academy in their hearts. But since they survived, perhaps a few of these little fellows will go farther in the future."

"Heehee, what does how they think have to do with me? They can't enter the Seven-Ring Holy Tower anyway. Our targets are only these two."

As she spoke, the old witch riding the broom gestured for Yun Li and Bibilionna to come before her, then complained to Faceless Mask, "If I had taken this mission back then, it wouldn't have needed a month at all."

After saying this, the old witch left with Yun Li and Bibilionna.

"Hmph! It wouldn't have needed a month? Could she have made the ocean liner fly over?"

After the old witch disappeared, Yorkris said indignantly. Beside him, Yorklianna tugged at her brother's sleeve, signaling him to say less, afraid that her brother would cause trouble.

"Idiot. She meant abandoning us, or simply throwing us all into the sea."

Lafi said coldly from the side.

Lafi's explanation immediately made Yorkris, Yorklianna, and Green's hearts go cold. They were grateful that luckily, it had not been this old witch who took the mission.

At this moment, some people even began to miss that wizard Dila.

If these wizard apprentices had been able to arrive safely at Lilith's Cottage Wizard Academy, it would surely have been a different encounter. After all, compared to this Black Isotta Wizard Academy, that wizard academy's school rules and system were who knew how much better.

About a quarter of an hour later, seven or eight panting wizard apprentices ran over from the distance. After these wizard apprentices saw the Faceless Mask wizard, they all disregarded their fatigue and saluted respectfully.

Faceless Mask said impatiently, "All right. Although there's still half a month before the official start of school, this batch of wizard apprentices need not be arranged elsewhere. Assign them residences directly in the academy. You few will be responsible."

"Yes."

After the several wizard apprentices answered respectfully, Faceless Mask took Solam and flew into the distance. The flock of crows let out a disorderly chorus of "caw-croak" cries, and the sky was filled with an eerie and ominous atmosphere.

Only after all the wizards had left did the seven or eight wizard apprentices who had hurried over let out breaths of relief one after another, turning their heads to look at the people who had just gotten off the ocean liner.

After more than a month of slaughter, plus the sea monster's attack, there were now only fewer than three hundred of these wizard apprentices left.

"Yo, looks like you country bumpkins have a bit of sense, unlike the idiots from our year. That lord just now did a decent job screening you."

The sound of cold ridicule entered everyone's ears, making the expressions of the originally somewhat expectant crowd turn cold. They could be considered to have learned that this Black Isotta Wizard Academy really was no kind place.

However, not every wizard apprentice was like this. A female wizard apprentice stepped forward.

"All right, you newcomers, listen well. Not everyone who enters Black Isotta Wizard Academy can be called a wizard apprentice. Only after you can independently cast three spells can you be called a wizard apprentice. Right now, you can only be called initiates, or newcomers."

After pausing, the female wizard apprentice continued, "Therefore, from now on, you have two tasks: constantly raise your mental strength, constantly learn new spells, work hard to become wizard apprentices, and await the brutal newcomer trial..."

"Enough! Celia, what good person are you pretending to be?"

A somewhat fiery-tempered wizard apprentice interrupted the female wizard apprentice's words. He was a big man, bald, with a scar on his forehead like a centipede.

"You newcomers, listen well. Although killing is prohibited inside the academy, rules are dead things. As long as you aren't caught at the scene when you kill someone, or leave behind evidence, the law enforcement team won't bother with such trifles either. So if you newcomers want to live a little longer, you'd better behave yourselves!"

The vicious wizard apprentice warned them.

"And one more thing. Don't think that just because you've reached the Wizard Continent, you can become wizards. I've seen plenty of self-important bastards from remote seas like you. Hmph. Let me tell you, in my eyes, you country bumpkins from those backwater island corners are nothing but a swarm of cockroaches. One stomp, and you're dead."

The many wizard apprentices of the Blood Sail Alliance said nothing, letting the man curse them as they only watched him coldly.

If this had been before, after being provoked by this bald wizard apprentice, plenty of arrogant sorts would surely have jumped out to argue or toss around a few snide remarks.

But after more than a month of baptism, those who did not understand the situation had long since been thrown into the sea.

Seeming somewhat surprised that no one had actually stepped forward to talk back to him, the bald wizard apprentice, who had originally wanted to establish his authority, rubbed his scalp, a little disappointed and annoyed, then roared, "Move!"

Eight wizard apprentices led the way, with fewer than three hundred Blood Sail Alliance newcomers behind them. The group passed through this seemingly unprosperous harbor and arrived before a towering, precipitous mountain.

The colossal mountain was almost entirely vertical, angled at more than eighty degrees. Layer upon layer of dark iron chains covered the whole mountain, giving it the oppressive sense of being alive, as if it were constantly looking down on everyone.

By now, the sky had darkened, and they could only vaguely make out the mountain's overall outline.

Seeing how steep the giant mountain was, and that the eight wizard apprentices ahead showed no intention of stopping, everyone from the Blood Sail Alliance could not help thinking, could Black Isotta Wizard Academy be built on this colossal mountain?

But this giant mountain was so steep, and most of it was jagged with strange rocks, along with dense, ferocious-looking, bizarre vegetation. How were they supposed to climb it?

"Coo, coo..."

From time to time, an owl flew through the dark sky. At that moment, the bald leader suddenly seemed to think of something, turned his head, and said viciously, "Listen up. Any owl that appears within the academy or the surrounding area—you are not allowed to hinder them by any means. Otherwise, when the academy's law enforcement team comes after you, it will be very cruel."

Everyone was somewhat astonished, not knowing why the bald man had actually been kind enough to remind them of this.

At this time, the seven wizard apprentices finally reached the foot of the mountain. On the jagged cliff face grew one giant tree after another, each a full forty or fifty meters tall. No one knew how many years these giant trees had lived.

Amid the rustling sway of branches and leaves, it was as if someone were murmuring in a low voice, making the atmosphere somewhat eerie.

The bald wizard apprentice stood respectfully before one of the giant trees, bowed, and said, "Please open the passage."

Under the horrified gazes of the many wizard apprentices, the bark of this giant tree actually began to change slowly, revealing lifelike human facial features. After its eyeballs sluggishly swept over every person before it, the human face disappeared again and turned back into bark.

Rumble!

A massive boulder on the mountain peak was slowly hoisted up by black iron chains, revealing a hidden passage.

Following the wizard apprentices ahead, everyone walked through this tunnel at the base of the mountain for quite a while. Then, suddenly, their eyes lit up. Countless brightly lit buildings appeared before them, and the most eye-catching among them was an enormous tower in the far distance, hundreds of meters high—perhaps no one knew how many—standing lofty and majestic, stabbing straight into the night sky!

"This is... Black Isotta?"

While everyone was drawn to the distant Black Isotta tower, whose height might have been hundreds or even thousands of meters, Green looked instead beside the tunnel, at a gray, unremarkable-looking stone tablet.

There was nothing special about the stone tablet itself. It already showed quite a few signs of weathering, and its base was overgrown with moss.

However, the writing on the massive stone had already reached the point where the strokes bit into the rock, silently enduring the scouring passage of time, eternal and unchanging.

Green silently read aloud the words carved on the stone.

"Give me endless knowledge, and I shall use myself as the fulcrum to pry up the endless worlds."