An Inexplicable Sneer

"Hmph, hmph. A hidden Despair from Black Isotta Wizard Academy?"

Mechanical Heart was a sight too horrible to look at. The parts of him that had not been mechanized were drenched in blood, almost without a single intact patch, yet he did not seem to care at all. He only stared straight at Green and asked calmly.

Green remained silent and said nothing.

Bang!

Mechanical Heart seemed to have stopped some variation of the vibration attacks in that mechanical right arm. The grating sound of spinning and sawing vanished, and a faint, barely there chuckle appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Or perhaps... it's just that this protective barrier is rather special?"

"You can try again."

Beneath the mask, Green spoke coldly.

With several teammates coordinating with him, Green had no need to fear this so-called Mechanical Heart.

Mechanical Heart glanced at Lafi, who had locked onto him behind Green, then looked at Robin at the top of the altar holding the Flame Fusion Pearl. After a brief silence, he actually turned and left without looking back.

And before this, the other wizard apprentices who knew they had missed their chance to seize this treasure had already left one step ahead.

"Hmph... Interesting. I look forward to your appearance when the third secret realm opens, Pale Mask. I'll tell the other Despairs about you."

Mechanical Heart's voice came from afar. With a hum, the extremely magnetic spinning compass broke away from Yorkris and flew off. After that, Mechanical Heart's figure completely vanished into the nighttime forest.

"Whew..."

Lafi let out a breath of relief and slowly put the Hurricane Arrow back onto her back, then took the Flame Fusion Pearl that Robin handed over.

Feeling the terrifying energy fluctuations contained within it, Lafi was delighted for a while, then said to the others, "Now we can count ourselves completely safe. From now on, we won't need to worry about those Despairs anymore."

Yorkris, Yorklianna, Robin, Binhanson, and Green all gathered around. Sensing the dreadful energy fluctuations condensed inside this Flame Fusion Pearl, though they had not tested it by detonating it, even a conservative estimate would definitely put it above 100 degrees.

With such attack intensity, as long as too many interests were not involved, even those Despairs would retreat before the difficulty.

Binhanson slapped Green on the shoulder and laughed loudly. "Hey, Green, that line you said to Mechanical Heart just now, 'You can try again,' was simply too damn cool! Haha... Too bad you already have Boss Lafi. Otherwise, I'd absolutely introduce you to a few decent girls from the academy, haha... Ow, ow, ow, that hurts..."

At the side, Robin twisted Binhanson's ear and said viciously, "You know a lot of girls, do you, hm?"

Yorklianna looked at Green with little stars filling her eyes. Her worship had practically reached the limit.

Beside her, Yorkris felt rather sour inside. He knocked his younger sister on the head and said, "What are you looking at? Don't tell me your brother has never had a moment of glory? Hmph, damn Mechanical Heart, just now..."

The next day, Green's group of six gathered together to discuss their next arrangements.

Lafi leaned lazily against Green and sighed. "Originally, I did plan to participate in the third secret realm, but after thinking it over carefully last night, it's still too forced."

Robin held the Flame Fusion Pearl in her hands. The Flame Fusion Pearl was dazzlingly beautiful beneath the sunlight, and Robin's eyes shone brightly as she said without turning back, "Boss Lafi, actually, I think the third secret realm itself might have been specially designed by the academy's upper levels for those Despairs. For people like us, not participating is the right choice..."

Suddenly, Robin seemed to realize something and could not help looking at Green. "Green, you..."

Green naturally knew what Robin wanted to say. He frowned and said, "I want to go take a look."

For a time, the other five all looked at Green, and the atmosphere grew somewhat quiet and oppressive.

Lafi said with difficulty, "Green, the third secret realm is far too dangerous. Although you contributed greatly to obtaining this Flame Fusion Pearl, it is still a treasure shared by the team. I can't hand it over to you just because of your personal interests."

Yorkris interrupted Lafi. "Boss, what are you saying? Among us, only Green can try to charge into the third secret realm. A treasure like the Flame Fusion Pearl will be more likely to show its use if he carries it with him. Don't tell me that without this Flame Fusion Pearl, our squad won't survive the remaining twenty days?"

Binhanson, Robin, and Yorklianna followed immediately. "That's right."

Lafi's expression sank, and she said coldly, "Although Green is my lover, I absolutely cannot harm the interests of the whole team because of him alone. As the captain, I must make this point clear. He has indeed contributed greatly to the team, but he cannot use that to make everyone here give up the chance to pass the next twenty days peacefully!"

Lafi's resolute, merciless words made the others' expressions turn troubled, and for a time the atmosphere grew somewhat awkward.

Green knew Lafi's difficulties and said indifferently, "It's fine. I'm just going to try. If it really won't work, I won't force myself. After all, a wizard apprentice like me, who relies on magical artifacts, is still far from those Despairs cultivated by real wizards..."

Lafi bit her fingertip with her teeth. Her body leaning against Green was somewhat stiff, as if she were thinking and deciding something.

A moment later, Lafi took out a leaf emitting dense life energy from the cloth pouch at her waist and handed it to Green, saying in a low voice, "This is a leaf from the Tree of Life. Previously, the five of us saved magic stones for a very long time before we bought this one. Although it's only the lowest-grade Tree of Life leaf, it should still be of some use to you at certain critical moments."

Green hesitated, not knowing whether he should accept this Tree of Life leaf.

"Take it. This is the squad's compensation to you. With this Flame Fusion Pearl, we probably won't need this Tree of Life leaf in this trial. If you take it, it can be considered that it has found its worth."

Lafi's tone allowed no refusal.

Green saw that the others all seemed to be urging him somewhat, so he nodded and accepted the Tree of Life leaf.

Over the next several days, Green's group simply set up a temporary camp on this flat ground in the secret realm. With the Flame Fusion Pearl, plus the strength of the group, they had no need to fear anyone inside the secret realm.

As for the altar and the six rune pillars in this secret realm, after the Flame Fusion Pearl was taken away, they vanished along with the power of some large-scale distorted space, just like the room in the first secret realm.

Green and the others also no longer had any thoughts of hunting. It seemed they only wanted to quietly pass the remaining trial time. For a while, this little camp instead became a place beyond the world within the entire trial ground.

Several days later.

On this day, along with a wave of magical power that swept through the entire trial ground, at the very center of the trial ground map, seven strange, enormous totem pillars slowly rose from the earth.

These totem pillars were a full ten-plus meters tall and appeared to be three or four meters thick, as if some special energy was hidden within them.

The seven Despairs—Undying, Distortion, Golden Eyes, Son of the Sun, Enchantment, Mechanical Heart, and Ghost Thief—seemed to have known long ago that this place was where the third secret realm would open, and they had actually gathered here already.

The Son of the Sun emitted astonishing flames and heat all over her body, seeming to be the most arrogant and overbearing of the seven.

What was astonishing was that this Son of the Sun was actually an extremely bewitching beauty. The clothes covering her body were pitifully few, as if ordinary clothing had long since been reduced to ashes by the flames and heat radiating from her body.

The Son of the Sun glanced at Bibilionna. Because of their previous repeated friction and clashes, the two had long since been unable to see eye to eye, but at this moment they both gave each other an inexplicable cold sneer. No one knew what inexplicable meaning this sneer held.

After the seven of them looked at one another, they seemed to have long since reached some invisible rule. Using their own academies as units, they scattered in several directions, then began releasing their astonishing mark fluctuations without the slightest restraint.

The instant those mark fluctuations spread, the other six were still within reason, all standard fluctuations of over thirty mark value.

Only the Son of the Sun—when his mark value was released, a terrifyingly powerful fluctuation instantly reached a full one hundred points of mark fluctuation, sweeping across a range of three hundred meters in a flash.

At that moment, all the other Despairers seemed to have become mere foils for the Son of the Sun!

Bibilionna's expression was extremely ugly. She viciously stole a glance at the Son of the Sun in the distant sky, smug, domineering, and arrogant, then asked Yun Li in a low voice, "Brother Yun Li, that Green you mentioned—the Pale Mask Mechanical Heart spoke of earlier—can he really reach the level of us Despairers?"

Unconsciously, faced with the flattery and fear of others, these "Despairers," who were themselves only wizard apprentices, had already begun to enjoy their title of Despairer, and had grown used to addressing one another this way.

Yun Li was gently teasing the ear of the little white mouse in his hand with his finger, and the little white mouse was playing along with him. Thus Yun Li did not even raise his head as he replied, "Didn't I tell you? In terms of defense, that fellow is someone even the Son of the Sun probably can't do anything to in a short time."

"Then... doesn't that mean that in the academy's qualifying competition seventeen years from now, there'll be one more opponent?"

Bibilionna's face was ugly as she said hesitantly, "If that's really the case, I'd rather swallow this anger for now..."

Yun Li said, "Don't worry. The reason Green is so strong right now is entirely because of that magic mask."

Yun Li gave a cold laugh.

"And a magic wizard tool like that is already the very pinnacle among wizard-apprentice-level wizard tools. He can't possibly obtain an even stronger magic wizard tool. And if he wants to rely on that mask wizard tool, then in the Holy Tower qualifying competition seventeen years from now, he simply won't be qualified. Besides, do you think he'll be safe and sound after returning to the academy?"

A trace of regret flashed through Solam's originally cold eyes.

"If it's really as you say, and Green's mentor privately bestowed such a powerful magic wizard tool upon him, and he even used it so openly and ostentatiously, then the punishment after he returns to the academy will be no joke. Even the mentor behind him probably won't be able to bear it."

After hearing the two of them speak this way, Bibilionna finally relaxed and said with a smile, "If that's the case, then I'm relieved. Heehee, then we'll follow the previous plan and have Green take that woman's place. Let's see whether she still dares to clamor at our Black Isotta Wizard Academy, even calling herself the number one wizard apprentice in this world. Hmph..."

Yun Li shook his head and said indifferently, "She merely has the highest attack energy intensity. Not to mention Solam's undying body—even that one over there..."

Yun Li pointed toward Ghost Thief at the extremely distant horizon. "Even his bizarre ability is absolutely capable of fighting the Son of the Sun to mutual destruction."

On the other side, the Son of the Sun gave a low, cold laugh.

"Golden Eyes? Hmph, a mere innate manifestation talent-user with no growth potential can only bully wizard apprentices and newcomers here. I suppose that Pale Mask will be your trump card in a moment? Hmph..."

As he said this, two Flame Fusion Pearls had actually appeared in the Son of the Sun's hand, and he was casually toying with them!

Far away, over where Mechanical Heart and Enchantment were, no small energy fluctuation erupted. It seemed they were killing other wizard apprentices who dared come to fight over the third secret realm.