Old Yao bit down on his pipe and glanced at her.
"Matters like this... university regulations are explicit. Members of the Professor Joint Conference and the heads of the academies are not allowed to interfere in the personnel decisions of student-run organizations," the dean of Jiu You Academy replied solemnly. "So I'm not allowed to give my opinion on this."
"Suppose—"
"I won't answer hypothetical questions."
"Then do you think—"
"There's a saying about the darkest place being right beneath the lamp. In other words, I tend to overlook the students of Jiu You Academy in one way or another. So I don't have strong feelings about it." The professor refused to give the female Diviner the slightest clue for her divination.
Zhu Ling paused, then tried a different approach. "What about Alpha Academy? Which of its students do you like best?"
"Who I like doesn't matter." Professor Yao finally stopped walking, choosing to end the subject. "But as far as I know, the students of Alpha Academy prefer that youngster named Sephrano... All right, that's enough of this. You should go report in."
With that, he pushed open the small black door beside him and gestured for them to enter.
Light suddenly flooded the young hunters' eyes.
Beyond the door lay a spacious, brightly lit hall. Its ceiling was nowhere in sight; overhead stretched a void dotted with starlight. The floor was polished brass, covered in intricate runes. Silver-white magic power flashed through the engraved lines from time to time.
Countless thick candles hung upside down in the void, spilling pools of orange light that bathed the entire hall in the colors of a sunset's afterglow.
At the far end of the hall sat several enormous beings, ranging from dozens to hundreds of meters tall. Draped in loose Wizard