Chapter 246: Just you? Are you worthy?
This magic staff was made of an unknown material. It was greyish-brown in color and felt rough to the touch. The staff was about one meter long, and its upper part was diamond shaped. The three amethysts were palm-sized. They emitted a beautiful bright light and sparkled as if containing water ripples. The three amethysts looked like three miniature lakes at a glance, and were placed in a triangular formation.
Ancients script were as dense as a bunch of tadpoles in the ancient, handwritten notebook. These two things had been unexpectedly embedded within the tombstone! One could tell that they were very valuable with just a single glance. They could even be the relics of Ayermike Cotton himself.
Han Shuo held the two items in hand, taking a deep look, and then unceremoniously put them into the space ring. He flicked a glance around and saw the fragmented rocks of the tombstone sparkling with different colors. He couldn’t help but feel surprised and carefully assessed each one.
“Mhm, scarletheart iron and whitelight silver ores. I hadn’t thought that the tombstone was refined from these strange ores. No wonder I couldn’t see through the material!” Han Shuo softly exclaimed. He picked up some of the broken stones and identified them.
The surface of the tombstone had actually been refined from several strange ores smelted together. However, after the Demonslayer Edge had broken it apart, the interior revealed ores that hadn’t completely melted, many of which were still raw ores. Looking at the magic staff and notebook, one would understand that it wasn’t because the refiner of this tombstone was lacking in ability. They definitely did this on purpose, for fear of ruining the items inside if they completely refined all the ores.
What happened in this forbidden land five hundred years ago? Why was Ayermike Cotton here? Why was his tombstone here? Han Shuo didn’t know and didn’t care. What he wanted was to collect anything of value here before leisurely leaving this area.
After placing the magic staff and ancient notebook into the space ring, Han Shuo also unceremoniously did the same with the raw ores. He then walked to the pit where little skeleton and the earth elite zombie were, closing his eyes and placed his hand on each of the bones containing the strange energy.
In a blink of an eye, roughly ten white jade-like bones were also shoved into the space ring by Han Shuo. Seeing their hard earned bones taken away by him, the little skeleton and earth elite zombie weren’t at all angry. They even expressed joy, as if the more he took, the more honored they became.
When he took a look around the whole area, there were no longer any complete skeletons. In the pit, the little skeleton and earth elite zombie were excitedly picking things up here and there. Like two small porters, they held the bunch of bones under their arms, on their backs, and in their hands.
When these two fellows were almost completely hidden by the white bones, the little skeleton’s purple sockets shone brightly and he looked at Han Shuo to transmit a message. Han Shuo began to chant a spell. The little skeleton, elite earth zombie, along with the bones that they had to made four trips back and forth to collect, were sent back to the other dimension.
After the two fellows left, Han Shuo stood in the sky and swept the entire area. Seeing there weren’t any more abnormalities in this forbidden land, he had Gilbert transform and returned to the cemetery of death.
This time, the human and dragon didn’t encounter any danger during their return trip. Han Shuo released three yin demons along the way, and had Gilbert slow down. He searched carefully for materials to refine pills and weapons. This actually took them a total of ten days before they finally returned to the cemetery of death.
Han Shuo had managed to collect a good amount of refining materials in those ten days. Upon returning to the cemetery of death, the materials would be enough for Han Shuo to refine several things that he wanted, as well as a cauldron full of rebirth pills.
Han Shuo had actually reaped a lucrative harvest during this excursion into the Dark Forest. Although there had been some crises halfway, he resolved them by relying on the virtue of his luck and wits. The feeling that he received when he returned to the cemetery of death was quite good.
As he collected enough pill and weapon refining materials, Han Shuo carefully weighed his options. He decided to do a closed door session in the cemetery of death, ready to refine a pill cauldron in addition to some small magic treasures, before continuing to refine rebirth pills.
Determined, Han Shuo decided to research the refinement of pills and magical treasures. He stayed in the cemetery of death for three months.
When he emerged after the three months were up, the cold winter had passed and all beings had awoken from their hibernation. It was a season in which the spring flowers were blooming vibrantly. At the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, it was the time where students took an exam to test their individual power.
At the dark major’s biggest testing field, the teachers and students of the necromancy major were grouped. They had to wait for the dark major students to finish before they could use the equipment in the testing field for their exams.
After the tragic experience that had happened to her family, little witch Lisa suddenly became much more sensible. Although her nature was still unruly and stubborn, she was no longer unreasonable to the point where people hated her.
“Master Fanny, has Bryan really not returned to the academy in the past six months?” Lisa looked helplessly at Fanny and asked in a sweet voice.
“Lisa, you have been asking this for two, three months already. He really hasn’t come back!” Fanny replied with a gloomy face. She thought in her heart, That damnable naughty devil, where has he been for the past six months? He hasn’t come back to see me in so long.
“He said he would return to the Empire shortly after leaving Valen City, but it’s been so long and he still hasn’t returned, can it be that something’s happened to him?”
“Don’t speak nonsense, how could something happen to Bryan?!”
Fanny was also worried that Bryan had disappeared for half a year. However, she didn’t dare to think any bad thoughts. That was how humans were. Just one bad thought would be enough to derail their entire train of thought, and everything would go downhill from there. One thought could cause them to fall into inextricable sadness.
“Master Fanny, your students can commence their exams.” A dark major teacher shouted from a raised platform.
“Let’s go, let’s go watch a bit!” Necromancy major teacher Gene was still indulgent to Fanny as ever. He displayed a gentle smile, urging Fanny onwards.
Nodding her head politely, Fanny maintained a distance from Gene and went with him to the raised platform. The dark major students happened to be descending. A few of them had on arrogant expressions and didn’t immediately leave. Instead, they laughed and lowered their voice to murmur about something.
The dark major students that been humiliated by Han Shuo at the last competition were made a laughingstock for the longest time. The longer Han Shuo had vanished for, the more their embarrassing experience would be forgotten. However, their hatred for him couldn’t be erased. From time to time, they would find opportunities to poke, bully, and make fun of the necromancy major students.
After Han Shuo left, the necromancy major returned to its previous state of decay. The exuberant heroic spirit was short lived for only a few days. The students continuously waxed eloquence on how good things had been when Han Shuo was still there.
“It makes no difference if the necromancy major takes the test or not! What can their students accomplish?!” Phillide, the strongest student in the dark major, sneered disdainfully at the approaching necromancy major students.
All of the dark major students, who were standing nearby, joined in and laughed loudly, each one louder than the one before, as if they feared the necromancy students wouldn’t be able to hear.
“Phillide, don’t use such a loud voice within the testing field!” The dean of the dark major, archmage Deo, had a bland smile on his face, as he softly chided the clamor Phillide and the bunch of brats had created. He didn’t look the least bit serious.
Be it the necromancy major students or teachers like Fanny and Gene, all could see that Deo’s smile held a trace of delight and indulgence. Han Shuo had stomped on both the light major and the dark major last time at the competition. As the head of the dark major, Deo had lost a great deal of face and naturally didn’t hold any bit of goodwill towards the necromancy major.
“I know, dean!” Phillide chuckled off to the side as he answered. He then ridiculed, “Looking at the necromancy department taking test, isn’t that interesting?”
“True. We’ve nothing to do anyways. Let’s stay and watch!” All of the students, who’d been stomped by Han Shuo last time, chimed in to agree with Phillide, rapt interest on their faces. They looked at the first person coming up to take the test, Athena, as if they were watching clowns walk up stage.
“I heard that it’s this stupid woman’s fourth attempt to take the test. If she still can’t advance to novice mage, she might as well go die already. What an embarrassment!” Phillide smiled, ridiculing viciously.
“Phillide, and who the hell do you think you are?! If Bryan were here, he definitely will rip your mouth off!” Lisa couldn’t listen to those words and couldn’t help but snap at Phillide.
“Humph! How could that brat have run around so arrogantly! If I hadn’t had a stomachache last time? Heh heh, now that my body has recovered, it’s time to settle the debt, but he’s disappeared for half a year. Doesn’t this explain it all?” In the last competition, Han Shuo indeed participated in Phillide’s stead. The former had done so with a bang, making Phillide lose all face. He’d even been scolded by Deo. He still felt indignant about it even now, not wanting to be the least bit inferior than others.
“Oh, so you say I’m hiding from you? Just you? Are you worthy?” Han Shuo’s shadow appeared like a ghost. A blue magic robe adorned his tall body, an odd smile hung on his face. He walked measuringly into the testing field, raising his voice as he said, “I’ve return this time to graduate ahead of schedule. Today, I will take my final test at the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force.”
