The Magic Professors

You're not qualified, you're not qualified.

Jia Paer stared at the line of text, his entire body suddenly turning into a statue, motionless for several seconds.

He let go, the text disappeared, and when he pressed it again, the text reappeared.

"."

He fell silent, and at that moment, what he was thinking was:

I know I'm not qualified, but you don't need to repeat "I'm not qualified" twice, do you?

Only one sentence could be considered a reminder; the other two sentences were combined.

If you say this isn't mockery, then nobody would believe it!

Jia Paer was so angry that he slashed at the seal several times, but the blows all went right through it, and he couldn't do anything to damage it.

At this moment, he missed Leon a little, or more accurately, he missed Leon's Dung Pie.

If he had the Dung Pie in hand, he would have to throw a few at this bastard's seal to vent his anger!

What exactly are these so-called qualifications?

He thought of those spade and Hearts Room. Could it be that he was going to collect some kind of item from there? Like Transfer Certificate.

It's so troublesome just thinking about it.

Jia Paer happens to be the type who doesn't like going in circles; if Lu Lu Wo were here, she would definitely be excited to explore everywhere.

"Oh, and that hat too."

He suddenly thought of the Sorting Hat; if he explained the situation to the other party, he might get some hints.

With this thought in mind, he walked back to the starting point along the road he had come from. On his way back, he paid special attention and found that the buildings on the two forks in the road were not clearly distinguishable.

If you choose to take the left path, there is a communication hub, several halls, and doors that can only be opened with keys that have corresponding patterns. It can be said that there is both puzzle-solving and level-based challenges.

Choosing the right path means there won't be any major difficulties besides encountering monsters, and the road conditions are relatively simple. At least he hasn't seen Hidden paths yet, and even if there are forks in the road, he'll eventually return to the main road after some twists and turns.

If you keep walking along the main road on the right, you will reach the courtyard. He observed that there is a door in the courtyard that leads to the road on the left. So, the courtyard is the end point of both the left and right roads.

Once you've chosen a path to reach the courtyard, you can try exploring the other path in the opposite direction.

However, this time, in order to play it safe and move quickly, he did not take the left-hand path but went straight back to the classroom where the Sorting Hat was located.

[You're back so soon?]

"What is the seal that Caria Knight guards?"

Didn't I tell you? It's the road leading to the Research Area.

The Sorting Hat glared at Jia Paer with displeasure, as if he were staring at a student who wasn't paying attention in class.

"What exactly does 'Research Area' mean?" Jia Paer immediately lowered his tone.

[That's where the professors do their research. Why are you asking these questions? You don't want to get in, do you?]

Jia Paer nodded without comment.

I must warn you, don't imagine that place to be just a larger classroom; the Research Area is larger than the entire college!

The Research Area has long since become a strange and wonderful place due to the research of each mentor. Each mentor's area presents a completely different landscape from the others, and not only the scenery, but also the buildings, monsters, and even some of the rules are different!

If someone were to accidentally enter the Research Area without a mentor's protection, the most likely outcome would be death; even more terrifying than death is getting lost there.

It sounds like a very dangerous place.

"What about the low probability?" Jia Paer asked with interest.

Unfortunately, even the most dangerous places will always attract explorers, so this doesn't scare him at all.

You little rascal!

The Sorting Hat, looking rather helpless, could only say:

[With a small chance of luck, I found the Research Camp established by the mentors, and relied on the Security Magic there to survive until I was rescued.]

However, some Research Camp are abandoned, and it's unknown whether the Security Magic inside is still working. You might have to spend your own time repairing them, and the monsters won't be idle while you're repairing them.

Jia Paer understood. What the Sorting Hat was saying was easy to understand. Even unfamiliar terms like Research Camp and Security Magic could be guessed by associating them with their adjectives.

What he's thinking now is that since the Research Area is the territory of all the mentors, he should be able to find something related to the mentors there, right?

Thinking about this, he was quite looking forward to it. He hadn't been this excited about exploring a dungeon in a long time, and Sain was the only one like this in over a decade.

"So how exactly do we break the seal?"

You didn't listen to a word of my warning!

The Sorting Hat hesitated, but after a while, as if it had thought of something, it simply said:

The seal can be broken by gathering three streams of magic from different owners; the survival rate is higher if the three people act together.

If you really don't want to team up with others, then go find the Research Area Limited Transfer Certificate. I remember it was placed in the room with the spade symbol.

I see.

This is a veiled reminder to Jia Paer: either go out and find teammates or solve the mystery to obtain the item to break the seal.

"Hmm"

After thinking for Sorting Hat and headed to the left-hand road. After many twists and turns, he finally found the Spade room, but he couldn't find the key to open the door no matter what he tried.

Given his previous incident where he forcibly broke down the door, causing the Transfer Certificate to disappear, he dared not use violence again, even though the Spades Door looked like just a thin wooden board.

In a sense, the Zane Dungeon has subtly "tamed" Jia Paer.

So there's only one answer left: go find your teammates.

As for who the teammates are, they are naturally the four people with the highest magical skill in Bede City.

Before leaving, Jia Paer let loose and practiced his Sun Fist. He cherished this opportunity to use magic with his own hands, after all, this was the first "proper" magic he had learned, not some Greatsword or hammer.

It's a pity I can't take it out. If I come in again next time, will I still be assigned the same mentor when I get my Sorting Hat? Or will they choose someone else?

If it's the latter, I guess I'll have a very hard time encountering Sun Fist again.

Only when he felt that staying any longer would be too much of a delay did he reluctantly use the Transfer Certificate to return to the endless corridor and take the elevator back to the Firelink Shrine.

Sure enough, the moment he stepped onto the elevator, his Student ID Become Invisible, along with all his memories of the Sun Fist; he only remembered the name.

That's a very domineering rule.

He looked back at the elevator, thinking to himself that he would definitely come back, and then decisively left the underground city.

Outside, the sun was already setting, and the ancient city outside the portal was still bustling, but it was quite quiet compared to the crowds that appeared when the dungeon closed at night.

There's passion in liveliness, and there's leisure in quiet. At least Jia Paer thinks that dusk should be quiet, lying in a tree watching the sunset while enjoying the evening breeze.

However, he was not in the mood to leisurely watch the sunset. He headed straight for the area where the nobles of Bede City lived, where the Lord's Mansion was located.

Should we ask Earl Ka Rong for help?

Of course not. Jia Paer didn't think much of them. What he really wanted to find was another group of people living in the big houses in that area.

The professors of the Magic Association.

This group of people came to Bede City with him, but Jia Paer has died several times in the Zane Dungeon, and this group has not made any moves, nor has he heard of them entering the dungeon.

It feels like these people just stay in their villas all day and never go out to exercise.

The residents of Bede City have almost forgotten that there are such important figures in the city.

Jia Paer recalled that the professors' initial goal in coming to Bede City was to find a mysterious magician to exchange ideas on "Star Magic".

However, after arriving in the city, they couldn't find the other party, even after using tracking magic, but still came up empty-handed.

To be honest, Jia Paer didn't understand why these people were still staying here. Since they couldn't find anyone and were staying at home instead of going into the dungeon, why didn't they go back to the guild? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to stay in their own Mage Tower than here?

Fortunately, they didn't leave, and now Jia Paer can find a partner.

The mansions the professors bought were enormous, almost as big as the Earl Ka Rong. They looked incredibly luxurious, as magicians of the professors' caliber no longer considered money a commodity.

The servant who was Gatekeeper the mansion immediately ran inside to report upon seeing Jia Paer.

He used his battle aura to sense the area and found that besides the three powerful beings, there were also thirty or forty ordinary beings, who appeared to be servants.

These magic professors were quite frugal, taking only thirty or forty attendants on their long journey.

"Jia Paer, please come in."

The attendant opened the door, but didn't dare go in. Jia Paer glanced at the dimly lit hall, pursed his lips, and stepped inside.

The moment the door closed, the lights suddenly came on, illuminating the place as if it were daytime. Three figures sat opposite him, staring at him with different expressions.

Okay, are these guys trying to intimidate me?

"Long time no see, Mr. Jia Paer, what brings you here?"

The speaker was a young woman whose age made it hard to associate her with a magic professor, but she was indeed the youngest professor in recent years, and rightfully so.

"Tu Erqi, watch your words. How can a professor use such a flippant tone?"

A handsome man with waist-length hair and bangs covering half his face rebuked him. He was very particular about his clothes and his posture, which reminded people of a genuine old nobleman in the Leyndell.

"."

Sitting next to the man was an old man with a stern expression. His face was withered, his skin was pale, and his eyes, devoid of any emotion, stared straight at Jia Paer, making one involuntarily associate him with the undead. Even children would be frightened to tears upon seeing him.

We're still missing a professor, and I don't know why he's not here.

Jia Paer knows these people and can readily recount their backgrounds.

The first woman to speak was named Tu Erqi, the youngest professor in history, head of the Healing Department of the Magic Association, whose main research areas were water-related Healing Magic and defensive magic.

The man who rebuked her was named Seth. His ancestors were legitimate nobles of the Leyndell, but he had become a magician and actually achieved considerable success. His main research area was wind-attribute stealth magic.

Oh, and he also had a good-for-nothing apprentice named Luo Jieer.

The most frightening-looking old man was He De Si, the most senior magic professor who came to Bede City this time. Information about him was scarce because he almost always stayed in the Mage Tower. His main research focused on the circulation of magic related to all attributes.

It was based on the description in the letter sent by Gong Qiying that he recreated the Glintstone Pebble, although it was completely different from the real Glintstone Pebble in essence.

The visiting delegation of professors was also centered around him.

There was another professor absent, so we'll leave that aside for now.

"Something good has happened, it's up to you to seize the opportunity."

With a smile, Jia Paer recounted everything he had seen and heard in the [Raya Lucaria Magic Classroom].

Numerous unfamiliar magician names, "that thing," Sorting Hat, Research Area.

And most importantly, there is the Magical Radiance that helps people learn magic.

When Jia Paer saw the professors' thoughtful expressions, he knew what their answer was.

No one can resist the allure of the Zane Dungeon, no one.