The Academy's Final Stage

From the time Ba Xi started the dispute to the delivery of ingredients to prepare for the competition and then to the end of the competition, a little over a week had passed.

During this period, the adventurers' exploration of Lake Liurnia never stopped; on the contrary, their progress accelerated.

This is partly due to the increasing number of people entering the area, and partly because people are gradually becoming familiar with it and even starting to personalize certain aspects of their experiences.

One striking feature is that the Academy Gate Town has been transformed into a more and more livable place.

Led by the Skyrim Strategy Team, a group of mages and Orcs, working in civil engineering, cleared the collapsed buildings and built new houses. Although the appearance was not very attractive, the sturdiness was top-notch, enough to withstand a Jyuratodus's charge without collapsing.

The Academy Gate Town is large enough to accommodate new adventurers.

External caravans naturally noticed this underground city that could be opened for a long time. After noticing the business opportunity, they quickly formed a team to transport resources to Lake Liurnia, where they sold various supplies to adventurers, including food that creatures depend on for survival.

Water is not a problem either. Lake Liurnia is full of water, so you can drink as much as you want. At most, you'll find some impurities like crab roe or octopus roe. It's good enough that you don't find any nymphs. If you really don't want to drink the water here, you can find a magician to Summon Water Elemental fairy.

For now, the logistical issues in this area have been resolved, allowing those at the front lines to explore the unknown without any worries.

The Raya Lucaria Magic Academy is the key destination for adventurers throughout the Lake District.

The final boss on the first floor is the Crystallized Old Man, who can manipulate Crystallization Magic and Laser Bug. He is a nightmare for lone wolf adventurers, but also a prisoner in group battles.

Both the left and right paths lead to the boss's room. The left side emphasizes combat intensity and is filled with groups of monsters, but the combat power of individual monsters is somewhat weakened. The right side emphasizes team puzzle-solving and is full of mechanisms and puzzles that require multiple people to solve. There are fewer monsters, but most of them are elite monsters.

During the exploration, you can randomly obtain various weapons, equipment, war ash, Forging Stone, and even gold and silver jewelry.

On the second floor, the final boss is Magic Professor Miriam, who accompanies the adventurers throughout their exploration. She occasionally appears and fires a [Loretta's Greatbow] at you, seemingly capable of creating clones, but most of the time only one entity exists. As the number of adventurers entering the second floor increases, she becomes overwhelmed.

The more adventurers who enter the second floor, the lower the probability of being ambushed by Mi Li An.

If you don't kill Mi Li An during the exploration, she will fight the adventurers in the final room and will not reappear on the second floor to snipe them until she is resurrected. So the adventurers have come up with a strategy, which can be summarized as follows: exploration can wait, Mi Li An must die!

Everyone who has been treated like a dog by Mi Li An harbors murderous intent towards her. When Mi Li An is resurrected, a large number of adventurers who have been crouching at the door of the boss's room will rush in and chop her into pieces before enjoying a peaceful exploration process.

Depending on the number rolled on the dice, defeating Mi Li An will randomly reward you with the following items: [Magic Professor Set], [Loretta's Greatbow], [Loretta's Greatbow - Student ID Qualification], [Magician Ball Amulet], Experience Candy M, and the golden [Painting Fragment "Waste Stone" Part 3].

It's worth mentioning that killing Mi Li An outside the room has a chance to obtain her dog-walking special move, "Miriam's Disappearance," but doing so is extremely difficult.

The second floor features various classrooms, Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom and a Transmutation classroom. Each classroom has its own testing method. Those who meet the requirements will enter and undergo a trial. Passing the trial will unlock the corresponding magic learning qualification on their Student ID.

For adventurers, the addition of these classrooms makes Raya Lucaria look like a real academy. Academies should impart knowledge, not compete with professors in marathons.

The third level is led by the Red Wolf of Radagon, whose agility is unparalleled. The open battlefield makes it even more formidable, and adventurers have to relentlessly pursue it. However, for adventurers who have been tempered by the Crystallized Old Man and Mi Li An, the Red Wolf, who honestly runs on all fours, is like a kind angel. Not only is it slower than teleportation, but its movement trajectory can also be predicted.

This is a boss that will bring tears to the eyes of adventurers, although it can unleash a large number of Magic Glintblade, summon annoying wolf packs during battle, and add a second Red Wolf after the boss is at half health.

But all of these combined can't compare to the lousy Laser Bug and Crystal Field! The Red Wolf's combat experience is simply amazing, and coupled with its fluffy and handsome appearance, it has now risen to become the most popular boss monster in the Lake District, second only to the Caria Knight Mugram in popularity.

However, amidst the atmosphere where everyone loved the Red Wolf of Radagon, a swordsman quietly shattered.

When Jia Paer saw that even a wolf could cast ranged magic, while he could only swing his hammer, his sense of imbalance reached its limit.

How can a wolf learn such cool magic?!

Depending on the number rolled on the dice, defeating the Red Wolf of Radagon can randomly yield the [Magic Glintblade], [Magic Three Glintblades], or their learning qualifications, Memory Stones, Experience Candy L, Wolf Pack Ashes, and Spirit Calling Bell.

The third floor's map still features different classrooms, but compared to the second floor, which has a variety of unique classrooms, the third floor can be clearly divided into two major factions: Crystal and Radiant Stone. Each faction has different small classrooms that teach the corresponding magic.

The classrooms on this floor have an ancient feel to them, blending seamlessly into the atmosphere of the college, as if they were classrooms that have existed since ancient times, while those on the second floor are all newer.

And indeed, that was the case. The adventurers discovered a tattered diary, whose owner appeared to be a Radiant Stone mage. The diary recorded some of the daily life at the academy, and the mage who wrote the diary complained, "These mages who joined later have taken my job with those strange spells!"

Combining the information about the Sorting Hat previously learned from the Hunting Handbook, we can infer that after being defeated by his "natural enemy," Raya Lucaria sealed himself in another dimension to isolate himself, but unexpectedly communicated with magicians from other eras or other "blank" dimensions there.

These foreign magicians entered the academy, interacted with local traditional magicians, created magic, and ushered in a "magical golden age" in self-isolation.

However, judging from the diary, there seems to be some conflict between the outsider and the local magician, which has aroused people's interest.

Because the magic academy had previously performed too perfectly, and the conflicts between the magicians disrupted that perfection, people love to explore imperfections, just like paparazzi who are keen to dig up dirt on celebrities.

The discovery on the fourth layer only exacerbated this sense of "imperfection."

"What exactly happened here?"

On the fourth floor of the academy, all paths leading here were sealed off. Only by relying on the [Admission Certificate] obtained from the invisible Dung Beetle on the third floor were the adventurers able to pass through the seal and arrive here.

The atmosphere here is completely different from the previous three floors; it's oppressive, strange, and serious. And what the adventurers see upon entering makes them widen their eyes in astonishment.

Corpses, corpses everywhere.

The corpses of mages, Puppet Soldier, Ogre Knight, and knights the adventurers had never seen before, their armor painted with azaleas.

"What's going on? It looks like a small-scale war has broken out?" Si Telan shrank her shoulders, feeling uncomfortable with the grim atmosphere of the battlefield.

Are you sure this is a small-scale war?

Mei Erjia pointed to the traces left by magical attacks all over the ground; no matter how you looked at it, the traces left by these magical attacks were quite astonishing.

Why would the academy seal such a war scene on the top floor? It exudes an air of decay, as if it has been weathered by a long time, unlike the floors below which seem to belong to a different era.

They don't seem to be from the same era?

Various enemies, now Living Dead, roamed the ruins after the war. After killing the knight with a cuckoo embroidery on his chest, the group found the following passage in the Hunting Handbook.

[Cuckoo Knight]

[The knights serve the academy, but the cuckoo peeking out from its armor conveys a message—we will never be entirely loyal to the academy!]

This is a microcosm of the struggle between the academy and the royal family.

Won't they be completely loyal to the academy? And what is the royal family anyway?

Some people thought of the Moon Princess and the Full Moon Queen, whose titles have a very royal feel to them.

They were initially thought to be the leaders of the academy, but now it seems things are not so simple.

Later, some adventurers learned of the existence of the royal family from the descriptions of the Caria Knight armor and magic spells prefixed with "Carian".

Extending from this, people have boldly speculated that the Raya Lucaria Magic Academy was originally ruled by the Caria Royal Family, but later internal forces rose up, trained the Cuckoo Knight to rebel against the royal family, and eventually this turned into a war.

Speculating on history is always exciting; the feeling of peeling back the layers of mystery is quite wonderful. Although exploring these backstories is of no use to adventure, people still enjoy it immensely.

The question now is, when did this war between the academics and the royalists break out?

Was it before or after the college closed itself off?

There are many different opinions on this, and it's unlikely there will be an answer anytime soon, but—

The adventurers' purpose today is not to explore these things.

Is everyone ready?

Standing before the heavy gate adorned with stars and the full moon were fifty of the most elite adventurers in the Bede City.

Strategy Team, Skyrim Strategy Team, Elite Farron Guard, Elf Race, Magic Association.

Everyone deserves credit for making it here safely. The final checkpoint is just ahead, and all the previous fatigue has been washed away, leaving only a surge of excitement.

"Then, let's move forward!"

Leon pushed open the heavy door, and a bright light instantly filled everyone's eyes—the light that descends upon people every night.

Moonlight!

A full moon rose before all living beings, and accompanying the full moon was a clear, cold female voice, as cold as ice.

Do not disturb your mother's sound sleep.

I'll quickly get through the second and third levels in one chapter; I'll add details later depending on the situation. Next up is the climax.