Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Orderly yet uneven footsteps sounded outside the door, drawing closer.
Henry Eric's ears twitched. He climbed up from the desk, rubbed his sore eyes, settled his gold-rimmed monocle on the bridge of his nose, then spread open the register before him.
He had graduated from First University less than a year ago. Although he was a Registered Wizard, his poor grades had kept him from joining those famed hunting teams of the New World, and he had been unable to remain at the university. In the end, he could only enter the Wizard Alliance.
Then he had been assigned to Black Prison, becoming a glorious registration clerk.
He was responsible for registering prison visitors and everyone entering or leaving.
He was still in his apprenticeship period.
According to the old hands in the prison, a registration clerk's work was easy most of the time. Aside from the hunting teams on rotation, this sunless world rarely received outside visitors.
But there was always that dreaded word: "but."
Ever since Eric had become a registration clerk at this castle, the number of visitors entering and leaving Black Prison had abruptly increased dozens of times over. Almost every day, more than a dozen—or even several dozen—wizards arrived. There were researchers studying at First University, professors, teaching assistants, and staff from First University, renowned hunting teams from the New World, and many old-timers from Under the Moon Council.
Even the old prison guards who had spent their whole lives in Black Prison had never witnessed such a spectacle.
Clearly, something major was about to happen in Black Prison.
As for what exactly it was, the prison staff had privately discussed it. Some said the Immortal Qin Hunting Team had ambushed the teams entering the New World aboard the Mist and