Chapter 44: A Long-Awaited History of Ancient Magic

In March of 404 in the new calendar, Jiang Zhe and Professor Hodd Kendi, who had gone to the Mage Tower in Vandell, finally returned to the Riox Magic Academy. What did this mean?
It meant that Jiang Zhe would have to face that exam on the history of ancient magic again… cough!
Leaving aside the few youngsters busy preparing for their exams, let’s talk about Professor Hodd taking Abel to see the old dean, Grette Kaines.
It must be said that despite Abel’s complaints about her grandfather’s harshness, when she actually saw the old dean, her eyes still welled up with tears. She bit her lip, her voice choked with emotion.
“Hehe,” the old dean smiled warmly at his only granddaughter, put down his pipe, stepped forward, gently patted her head, and sighed softly, “I’m glad you’re back, Abel…”
“Mm…” Trying to suppress her excitement, Abel pretended to be indifferent, giving a slight hum.
Unfortunately, Abel’s subtle reactions didn’t escape the old dean’s notice. Yet he didn’t want to expose it. After staring at her deeply, his eyes filled with memories as he sighed, “You’ve grown up, Abel. You resemble your mother so much…”
Seeming to feel the care from her only relative, Abel couldn’t help but lift her head and call out softly, “Grandpa…”
The old dean smiled, his face filled with a smile of relief and satisfaction.
Seeing himself standing aside as if unnecessary, Professor Hodd seized the opportunity to say, “Old dean, Abel, I think you two have a lot to talk about. Maybe I should leave first…”
“Don’t go!” Before Professor Hodd could finish speaking, Abel’s face tensed up, she glared at him fiercely, and muttered something under her breath.
“Hehe,” looking at Abel and then at Professor Hodd, the old dean shook his head with a smile and said jokingly, “Hodd, I’ve never considered you an outsider…”
Hearing the old dean’s teasing words, Professor Hodd’s face showed embarrassment and confusion. Just as he was about to speak, the door was knocked.
The old dean glanced at the door, then went to his desk, picked up his pipe, and said while smoking, “Come in, Professor Manhert!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Professor Manhet pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing Abel, he froze for a moment, then seemed to remember something and realized what was going on. He bowed slightly as a gesture of courtesy toward her, then said to the old dean, “Dean, the students from Salonia are about to arrive at Riox…”
“So soon?” The old dean exhaled a puff of smoke from his pipe and smiled. “That old fellow really intends to compete with our Riox students, huh?” He then said to Professor Manhet, “Take care of this matter. Don’t neglect our guests who have come from afar.”
“Yes, Dean!” Professor Manhet nodded, then gave Professor Hod and Abel a polite smile before turning to leave.
As soon as Professor Manhet left, Abel couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing serious,” the old dean replied. He habitually walked over to the huge glass window, gazing down at the students playing in the garden outside the castle, and said with a smile, “The exchange of experience and knowledge between the students of Salonia and Riox was originally just to cover our tracks. But now… Salonia wants to win, and Riox can’t lose either… Otherwise, it would be embarrassing if word gets out. Those old folks from Salonia like to exaggerate things. If we lose, it’ll be troublesome…” He seemed to think of something else then turned to Professor Hod and said, “Let’s not talk about this for now. Hod, go prepare for the assessment in a few days…”
“The assessment is in a few days? So urgent?” Professor Hod looked puzzled.
“The timeline has always been tight,” the old dean said, turning around with his pipe in his mouth. He glanced at Abel, then said to Professor Hod, “I thought four days for the round trip would be enough, but who would have thought…”
“What’s the problem?” Before Professor Hod could speak, Abel retorted indignantly, “It was you who left me in Vandel. You haven’t come to see me in ten years. Now you want me to come back just like that? How can that be fair?”
“Alright, alright,” the old dean shook his head helplessly at his granddaughter’s complaints, then said to Professor Hod, “Enough about this for now. Hod, go get ready first…”
“Again, ‘later’…” Abel muttered angrily, then glanced at Professor Hod and stuck out her tongue sheepishly, “Um… I’ll be a professor at Riox in the future, right?”

“Well…” Facing Abel’s expectant gaze, the old dean seemed troubled. Frowning and shaking his head, he said, “You’ve just arrived in Riox. It wouldn’t be right to appoint you as a teaching professor right now…”
“What’s wrong with that?!”
“Well…” Looking at his stubborn granddaughter, the old dean was at a loss. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly smiled and said, “How about this? You act as a teaching assistant for now. Hode, you can help take care of Abel. If you encounter any difficulties, you can ask Hode—he’s the professor who knows Riox best…”
“Of course,” Abel blushed with embarrassment at his own instinctive words. With a huff, he pretended to be reluctant and said, “Teaching assistant… Fine, I’ll be a teaching assistant then…” As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Professor Hode.
Professor Hode looked troubled and awkward, stammering, “Dean, this isn’t right. This is Riox after all…”
Before the old dean could respond, Abel’s expression darkened, and he said angrily, “Hode Kandy, explain clearly—what’s wrong with Riox? Why isn’t it right?”
Seeing Abel’s fierce demeanor, Professor Hode shook his head repeatedly and stammered, “There’s… nothing wrong…”
“Hmph!”
“Hehe, alright, let’s decide it this way. Hode, you’ll have to work hard…” Ignoring Professor Hode’s pleading look, the old dean said cheerfully.
“Yes…”
Watching Abel, who wouldn’t back down, and Professor Hode, who looked helpless, the old dean’s face was filled with smiles. After sending them away with a smile, he slowly walked to the window and gazed kindly at the students in the garden, murmuring, “Only four years left… Sigh!”
Meanwhile, in Jiang Zhe’s dormitory…
After being apart for a whole week, the dormitory became lively again. Especially when Lisa and Lailira, who had come back after hearing Jiang Zhe and the others were back, saw those chess puppet figures, their envy and admiration were evident.
The most eye-catching one, of course, was Queen Kunin of Ravia, as she was the most beautiful among all the chess pieces. However, she seemed to have a bad temper too. Apart from Ravia, she treated everyone else with arrogance and indifference… Of course, when she looked at Jiang Zhe, Kunin still felt a bit fearful.

The other puppets were much more gentle. At least when Lisa teased the castle puppet Kanso, the little one didn’t seem upset at all; instead, it happily accepted Lisa’s caresses. Due to her inexplicable feelings for Scott, Lelira didn’t dare treat the knight puppet Knight like Lisa did. She simply observed it quietly, with a curious gaze. In her eyes, this knight puppet was like a replica of Scott—silent, stern, yet humble and polite. As Professor Vermand of Vandell said, these puppet figures carefully crafted by the renowned alchemist Professor Jerbart all had some unusual characteristics. One of them was that they weren’t “dead” puppets; they were “alive,” possessing a life of their own. Once the initial contract was formed, the energy that sustained these puppets came from the master’s continuous supply of magic power. Unless their core energy blocks were destroyed, they could exist in this world forever—of course, as long as the master was still alive. Right now, the little ones didn’t know that these puppets, created on Professor Jerbart’s whim, used a technique different from modern puppet-making methods; instead, they relied on a technology discovered in ancient ruins. Legend has it that tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years ago—perhaps even before the gods discovered this continent—various races and civilizations emerged in this world from time to time. Tens of thousands of years later, their traces were buried by history, leaving only some mysterious ancient ruins. Among these civilizations was a highly advanced mechanical civilization, which the magicians called the [Mekand]. It was a race even older than orcs and elves. To this day, magicians still only have a vague understanding of the Mekand. Some even doubt whether such a wise race truly existed in history, as the doctrine of the gods is almost a constraint in the minds of all magicians. Subconsciously, they believe that the gods were the first inhabitants of this world. According to ancient inscriptions in the ruins, the Mekand created puppets not for fun, but for warfare. Back then, they called these puppets “giant weapons,” viewing them as tools of war, weapons for killing. We’ll leave that aside for now.

In short, Professor Gerbart of the Mage Tower created these puppets while studying the puppet blueprints left behind by the Meikand people. With current puppet-making techniques, it’s very difficult to find an alchemist who can compare to Professor Gerbart—there are only a few such people at most.

The most notable feature of these weapons, ah, no, these puppets, is that they can grow. As time passes with their owners, they gradually develop human-like traits, and their personalities tend to align with those of their owners. If someone with malicious intentions obtains these puppets, their “hearts” will also be filled with evil thoughts.

Heh, it might be hard to understand, but that’s indeed the case. This is the puppet-making technique of Meikand, one of the mysterious races from history—a mechanical civilization.

Back to the topic. Although Jiang Zhe heard Professor Welman’s words, he didn’t think these puppets could help him in the future. Just take Soldier Sodges for example—a tiny guy who could be knocked down with just one finger—what use could he be?

Watching that little guy pick up a teapot larger than himself, pour a cup of water, and bring the huge cup over to him, Jiang Zhe was speechless.

Well, fine… When I’m free later, I can tease it to pass the time. I can’t let it waste my magic power for nothing, even if it’s just a little…

“Are everyone here?” With the sound of footsteps, Professor Hodde appeared at the door in a flash and said without catching his breath, “Listen up! The school has decided to hold an exam on the history of ancient magic in three days…”

“Three days?” Jiang Zhe almost spat out the tea he had just drunk. He stared at Professor Hodde in disbelief and said, “Professor, are you joking? Three days? Try memorizing all that in three days!”

It was clear that Professor Hodde wasn’t in a good mood. He rolled his eyes and said, “It wasn’t me who made this decision. If you’re unhappy, go talk to the dean. Just memorize it properly…” As he turned to leave, he seemed to remember something, glanced at Jiang Zhe a few times, tapped his finger, and said meaningfully, “Although it hasn’t been decided yet whether we’ll be the examiners this time, your trick from last time won’t work. You kids—can you really deceive the eyes of the school professors? Be honest!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Jiang Zhe weakly chuckled. As he raised his head to speak, he saw Abel suddenly appear behind Professor Hodde, smiling at Jiang Zhe. The kids were instantly stunned.
“It’s okay, I’m leaving first…” As if avoiding something, Professor Hodde vanished in a flash, leaving only Abel, who was stamping her foot in dissatisfaction.
“Sister Abel?” Raviya called out in surprise, noticing the light gray magic robe worn by Abel, a robe only professors could wear.
Abel giggled and said, “Starting tomorrow, I’ll be your professor… assistant. If I’m grading you, I’ll go easy on you!” She said the word “assistant” very vaguely.
“Really?” Jiang Zhe asked instinctively.
But before he could finish speaking, Raviya interrupted him. She glared at Jiang Zhe sharply before smiling at Abel and saying, “It’s okay. Then thank you, Sister Abel. But I think we can all pass…”
“Is that so?” With a hint of meaning, Abel smiled at Raviya, causing the latter’s face to turn inexplicably red. Then, as if remembering something, she stamped her foot and said, “That jerk didn’t even wait for me… Kids, get ready well!” With that, she left quickly.
As soon as Abel left, Allen’s wailing voice rang out.
“Good heavens, three days! How can three days be enough?” He instinctively turned to Scott, about to speak, but then, as if remembering something, he awkwardly turned to Jiang Zhe and said, “Right, buddy?”
“Three days…” Jiang Zhe pondered for a moment before shaking his head. “It really isn’t enough…”
“Do you still want to do it like last time?” Raviya rolled her eyes at Jiang Zhe and shook her head. She did some quick calculations in her mind and said softly, “It’s a bit rushed, but if you just memorize some key knowledge, it should be enough…”
Before she could finish speaking, there were again hurried footsteps outside the door. Everyone turned to see Professor Hodde leaning on the door, breathing slightly heavily. “I forgot to mention this earlier. Either today or at the latest tomorrow, some students from Salonia will come to our academy for a visit. Don’t embarrass yourselves too much, understand?”
Hearing Professor Hodde’s words, Allen blinked and said awkwardly, “Professor, is it embarrassing if we fail the magic history exam?”
“What do you think?” Professor Hodde glanced at Jiang Zhe with a half-smile.

“That’s what Allen said. Why are you looking at me? Even after Professor Hodde left, Jiang Zhe still felt depressed.”
“There’s no other way,” Allen said, wearing an expression of making a painful decision. He shook his head seriously at Jiang Zhe and said in a deep voice, “Dude, there’s no choice but to use that trick!”
“That trick?” Jiang Zhe was stunned for a moment before seemingly remembering something. He turned to look at Scott, only to see the latter holding a teacup and shaking his head helplessly.
“Which trick?” Ravia asked curiously, glancing at Allen, who was grinning, and then at Jiang Zhe, who seemed to have realized something.
Then, when Jiang Zhe hesitantly told Ravia about it, a wave of suppressed screams filled the room.
“No! Absolutely not! How could you do this?!”
“Stop it, shh,” Allen said, sneaking over to the door and peeking outside before closing it. He then turned around and shrugged, saying, “You saw it yourself. There was no other option.”
“No!” Ravia shook her head repeatedly before looking at Jiang Zhe and saying seriously, “Sos, I absolutely disagree!”
As soon as Ravia finished speaking, Lisa also tried to persuade him, “Allen, Ravia is right. This really isn’t good. How about this? I’ll tutor you, as long as you don’t mind my poor grades…”
“That’s not possible,” Allen said politely, shaking his head with a hint of sadness. “It will exhaust you, Lisa…”
“Hehe!” Lisa lowered her head shyly.
Taking advantage of this moment, Allen turned to Jiang Zhe and asked, “So, what do you say, dude?”
Before Jiang Zhe could respond, Ravia stood up, placing her hands firmly on the long table. She looked at Jiang Zhe seriously and said, “I disagree, Sos! Absolutely disagree!”
Looking up at Ravia’s determined gaze, Jiang Zhe felt uncomfortable and retorted, “Do I need your permission for everything I do?”
“You!” Ravia’s face turned red instantly. Whether from anger or some other reason, she gritted her teeth and said angrily, “I… if you dare do this, I’ll report you!”
“Great!” Allen walked over and sat down at the long table, saying nonchalantly, “Some people just talk without any consequences. If you want to report us, go ahead. Even better if they deduct more credits or just expel us. That way, I can head to the Royal Knights Academy earlier…” He then turned to Jiang Zhe and said with a grin, “Want to go together?”

As soon as Allen finished speaking, Lisa became anxious and said anxiously, “Don’t say that, Allen!”
“Okay, okay… But if it really happens that way, there’s nothing I can do either…”
Right after that, Ravia spoke in a strange tone, “Stop talking nonsense. How could the academy expel you guys over such a trivial matter…”
Allen then raised his head and said oddly, “Who knows!” He paused for a moment, then looked at Ravia irritably and said, “Besides, since you say it’s a trivial matter, why are you still fussing over it? You’re overstepping your bounds, aren’t you?”
“I… Who said I’m going to interfere with you guys…”
“Fine, then just act like you don’t know anything…”
“But… such things…” Shaking her head, Ravia turned to Jiang Zhe and said softly, “I can help you. You don’t have to use this method, right?”
Seeing the concern in her eyes, Jiang Zhe couldn’t bear to say more to her and just replied irritably, “Three days? Sister, give it a try?”
“What are you talking about?” Ravia was slightly amused by Jiang Zhe’s strange expression. After pondering for a long time, she slowly shook her head and said, “Three days is indeed too tight. But for this kind of thing… Well, even if I reluctantly agree, do you know where those test papers are?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Allen said cheerfully, “Hehe, actually, we do! They’re in a room deep in the basement!”
“Huh?” Ravia was momentarily stunned and stammered, “But… but… Oh, right. I heard there’s a forbidden barrier there, along with guardian beasts and… and magic puppets too…”
“Enough, enough. I can even create a synthetic beast!” Allen shrugged with a smirk, then glanced at Scott and Jiang Zhe and said softly, “How about tonight, or maybe tomorrow night?”
With a troubled look on her face, Ravia, Jiang Zhe shook his head and said, “That won’t work. It’s too early and we might get caught. Let’s do it the day before the exam…”
“Great!” Allen snapped his fingers cheerfully, then glanced at Scott. Scott shook his head helplessly and said calmly, “You guys decide. I have no objections!”
“Then it’s settled,” Allen nodded seriously, then turned to Ravia. Ravia glared angrily at Jiang Zhe, stomped her foot, and said resentfully, “Don’t come to me. I don’t know anything!”

“That’s settled then!” Glancing at the people in the room, Allen lowered his voice and said with a smile, “It’s two nights from now…”
As he spoke, neither Allen nor Jiang Zhe, nor anyone else, noticed that everything happening in that room was being displayed inside a crystal ball…
“Pretty bold of them, trying to steal exam papers too, hehehe…” The old dean seemed to be laughing heartily as he watched Allen speaking seriously inside the crystal ball.
In contrast to the old dean’s smile, Professor Hod said irritably, “I knew these brats wouldn’t be easy to deal with!”
“What’s wrong with that? The school rules don’t forbid stealing exam papers,” the old dean said after a pause, smiling. “Our teaching philosophy at Riox isn’t to produce students who can only pass exams… If these kids can get their hands on them, so what if we give them?”
“What does the dean mean…”
The old dean stared at the crystal ball and said with a smile, “These three kids are very interesting, especially that one named Thos. Maybe they’ll become important figures in the future, but for now, let’s teach them a lesson: As a qualified magician, one must constantly assess their true strength. Blindness, impulsiveness, and recklessness are all unacceptable! Hod, go and prepare that room…”
“Yes, dean…”