Belle

With a surging ripple of magical power, the second mystic realm of the trial grounds officially opened.

Standing atop the giant tree, Lafi had one eye transformed into an eagle's pupil, her field of vision surpassing human limits as she shouted down beneath the tree, "Southeast, six thousand eight hundred meters!"

"Yo, got it. Then we'll go take position first."

After Yorkris answered, he followed Lafi's earlier arrangement and sprinted toward the opening of the mystic realm with his great axe on his shoulder, his whole body giving off a savage aura, simply like a barbaric primitive man.

The giant Steel Mane beneath Robin let out a long howl, and then only a rumbling tremor shook the ground as it charged straight toward the mystic realm. Some grass, plants, and trees were directly crushed and toppled by the massive Steel Mane, the momentum so exaggerated it was frightening.

Robin shouted from afar, "Big Sis Lafi, you all better hurry."

"Ah! Wait for me, I haven't gotten on yet..."

Binhanson's voice came from the distance.

Two giant leaf wings grew from Lafi's back, and her body slowly descended from the treetop. Yorklianna walked over and said in a low, timid voice, "Sister Lafi, Brother Green, let's set off too."

Lafi lightly brushed her short brown-black hair, revealing crescent-shaped earrings.

Nodding lightly, Lafi held the map and looked thoughtful as she murmured, "The location where the mystic realm appeared is a little off from what we predicted. There should be a few fairly strong teams stationed over there. It's a bit troublesome. Green, protect Lianna well later."

Lafi did not say to protect herself. On one hand, it was because of her flexible, agile figure; on the other, it was because she never showed her weak side in front of others.

"Got it."

Green silently stood beside Lafi and Yorklianna. Beneath the Pale Mask, a pair of eyes was revealed. He only answered softly, yet gave people a steady, reliable sense of safety.

After that, the three of them also ran toward the place where the mystic realm had opened. Compared with Yorkris, Robin, and Binhanson, their speed was much slower.

This was a huge altar that had risen from underground.

At the top of the altar, there was faintly a bead the size of a fist, radiating a light that made it impossible to look at directly, as if terrifying, horrifying energy had been compressed inside it.

With the altar as the center, six pillars painted with countless profound runes had also risen within several dozen meters around it. These six pillars faintly formed a large-scale confinement magic array, as if some terrifying thing was imprisoned within.

"Heehee, sure enough, I'm the first to reach the mystic realm."

A female wizard apprentice who maintained wings of wind element on her back spoke excitedly. Her rare purplish-blue robe exposed large swathes of snowy white skin, and her enchanting figure landed steadily beside the six totem pillars. Her face had an innocent, beautiful look.

The female wizard apprentice looked at the bead in the center of the altar, which gave off an alluring luster. Her eyes shone, and an intoxicated expression appeared on her face.

However, as a wizard, even if only a wizard apprentice, after the previous ten days of layer upon layer of elimination, there were now very few reckless people left. The female wizard apprentice did not rashly go forward to seize the treasure on the altar.

After a spell, right beneath the female wizard apprentice's feet, a small earth-element mouse appeared, lifelike and vivid. It even rubbed affectionately against the female wizard apprentice's foot.

"Be good, baby. Go bring that bead back to me."

The female wizard apprentice bent down and gently patted the earth-element mouse's head.

The earth-element mouse made no extra movements and charged headfirst into the magic array formed by the six pillars.

Pfft...

Something seemed to flash across the ground of the magic array, and the earth-element mouse vanished in an instant.

"So there really is a guardian, and they even built this confinement magic array. Looks like this guardian isn't some terrifying fellow controlled by wizards. Mm, was that guardian just now an invisible creature? Or a sneak attack from underground? Too fast. I actually didn't even see it clearly."

The female wizard apprentice shook her head and sighed. "Forget it. I'll wait for the people behind first, then see if there's any opportunity."

As she said this, the female wizard apprentice simply found a clean place and sat down to wait for the other wizard apprentices to arrive.

A moment later, a small team formed by four Dark Realm wizard apprentices arrived at the altar mystic realm in a great rush. Among the four, there were actually two powerful ones whose mark values exceeded ten, while the remaining two also had mark values between 5 and 10. Clearly, none of them were weak.

"Mm?"

The four Dark Realm wizard apprentices all looked toward the first female wizard apprentice to arrive and frowned.

The first female wizard apprentice to arrive had no mark value on her, yet looked utterly unconcerned. The mark on her forehead showed that she was from Black Isotta Wizard Academy.

The female wizard apprentice shrugged and said with a smile, "Heehee, don't look at me. I tried. The guardian inside is very strong. I can't do anything about the treasure in this mystic realm."

"Then why haven't you left?"

Seeing how utterly unconcerned this person looked, the Dark Realm wizard apprentices had no confidence in their hearts and did not provoke anything.

"But I want to see who takes this treasure in the end. That way, I won't have come for nothing. Who told me to be the first one here? Sigh..."

The female wizard apprentice pouted, looking regretful.

After the four Dark Realm wizard apprentices looked at one another, one of them gritted his teeth and took a jade-green bird out of his sleeve. Then, with a cry of "Go," the bird rushed past the magic pillars and charged toward the altar.

However, in the same way, after this bird had only rushed in a few meters, it seemed to disappear into thin air, vanishing for no reason at all. This made the expressions of the four Dark Realm wizard apprentices change, and they no longer dared to rashly charge into the magic array.

Afterward, another dozen or so people gathered in scattered fashion. These people all actually had no weak mark fluctuations. Presumably, they were all wizard apprentices with a certain amount of confidence in themselves and intended to fight over the second mystic realm.

A moment later, abruptly, a vast mark fluctuation appeared in the senses of the wizard apprentices near the altar, making the expressions of everyone near the altar change.

"A Despairer!"

The trial grounds had opened a total of ten mystic realms the second time, while the trial grounds had a total of seven Despairers. In terms of probability, every mystic realm had a rather high chance of running into those Despairers.

As a vigorous and agile male figure appeared in everyone's field of vision, the title Mechanical Heart was silently recited once in the hearts of every person present.

His right arm seemed to be completely a mechanical prosthetic limb, or perhaps a mechanical arm sleeve fitted over his arm, flashing with a sturdy metallic luster.

A huge mechanical tail was like a scorpion's venomous tail, making people feel a chilling, bone-piercing cold glint. The rest of his body was covered by a wide robe, and no one knew what else was special about him.

Seeing that so many people had already arrived, yet not a single one intended to enter the magic array and seize the treasure on the altar, Mechanical Heart did not even test the waters. He simply sat down on the ground and took out a complicated metal sphere, studying it in his hands. It seemed to be some mechanical component, and his brows were knit in worry.

From beginning to end, Mechanical Heart did not say a single word. He seemed to be someone who liked to keep a low profile and devote himself to researching wizardry knowledge.

Rumble!

The trembling of the earth made everyone look once more toward the depths of the forest. Judging from the faint shuddering of the ground, some heavyweight colossus must have arrived.

As a small tree was directly shoved over, Robin appeared, riding atop Steel Bristle, along with Yorkris, who was carrying a battle-axe.

The two merely swept a casual glance over the people gathered around the secret realm, then fixed their gazes on the motionless Mechanical Heart not far away. After exchanging a look, their expressions tightened.

Bad luck. A Despairer had actually set his sights on this secret realm.

"Huff, huff... Moon, are you trying to run me to death?"

Binhanson panted as he followed up from behind, but after sensing the fluctuations of Mechanical Heart's mark, he said no more. For a moment, the atmosphere grew somewhat stifling.

However, with the appearance of Yorkris, Robin, and Binhanson, the female wizard apprentice from Black Isotta who had been the first to arrive at the secret realm earlier had her eyes light up. She actually flapped her wind-element wings and flew straight over.

"Heehee, it's you. What a coincidence."

The three turned to look at the newcomer and all revealed astonished expressions.

"Belle?"

This Belle before their eyes was the very same girl from Green's first introductory class for wizard apprentices, when a male wizard apprentice had offended the Blood Sail Alliance for her sake, only to be killed in secret by the then spellcaster in control as a show of authority.

However, over the following three years, Belle could be considered to have become one of the rising heroines of the academy. On the newcomer rankings, her reputation was even a notch higher than Lafi, the Venom-Tongued Queen.

In those three years, Belle had become one of the academy's new top ten experts, the female wizard apprentice who had received the most pursuits and confessions, and some had even nominated her to become Black Isotta's image ambassador for wizard-apprentice exchanges. She had also received the approval of a senior wizard and been accepted as a disciple.

In short, this female wizard apprentice was a dazzlingly positive representative image at Black Isotta Wizard Academy, the person who received the highest attention from the academy.

Privately, there were even rumors within the Blood Sail Alliance that Amland had some intimate, more-than-friendship relationship with Belle in secret.

"You're all here, so Her Majesty Queen Lafi should be arriving soon too, right?"

Belle covered her mouth as she laughed teasingly. Her appearance was adorable, pure and clear without losing elegance.

As the only woman among the three, Robin replied somewhat awkwardly, "Uh... she's behind us. She'll be here soon."

As for Lafi and Belle, the two themselves had not had much contact, but as the two most prominent female wizard apprentices of Black Isotta's new generation, many people had secretly compared them. The result was naturally that Lafi had been almost painted as good-for-nothing.

Of course, such things only lasted for a period. Later, as this batch of wizard apprentices gradually grew up, matters like this faded until no one brought them up anymore.

A moment later, Lafi, Green, and Yorklianna arrived late.

Naturally, Lafi saw Belle at a glance and frowned. "Belle?"

It could be seen that Lafi instinctively felt some resistance toward this female wizard apprentice who was "stronger" than her, though the two had never truly interacted.

Belle covered her mouth and smiled.

"Big Sister Lafi, although I've seen you a few times before, we've never properly spoken. I didn't expect our first conversation to actually be here."

As she spoke, Belle glanced at Yorklianna and Green, then focused her gaze on Green, who wore the Pale Mask and stood quietly behind Lafi.

Because the previous few times Belle had seen Lafi, there had never been such a stranger by her side. Moreover, the fluctuations of this person's mark had actually reached ten, which made her feel rather astonished. She tried asking, "And this is?"

Lafi said mildly, "My boyfriend."

Lafi spoke while completely ignoring Belle's wide-eyed, tongue-tied look of shock, her eyes nearly popping out. Lafi had never valued reputation as much as Belle did, nor had she ever thought of becoming some goddess of the masses.

Because she would forever be a powerhouse centered on herself.