Elite Mages' Academy

Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue were discussing by the side while the rest of them were resting nearby, helping the wounded treat their injuries. They had the utmost trust in Xiao Lin, and as for Gu Xiaoyue, most of Class Seven had turned their inability to understand Gu Xiaoyue slowly into respect for her.

The woman was warm on the inside and cold on the outside, she was not good at human interaction, and did not know how to talk to others, but her skills were something everyone had to admire. Her support magic was undoubtedly the reason their group had managed to hold on for so long, so no one had put any blame on her.

The one who was alone was Anna, who was not far away. The group had caused Anna to feel isolated, mainly because Anna did not speak Mandarin. Looking at them speaking in a language that she did not understand, that woman was noticeably confused and on alert.

That was why Anna could not help but look for Xiao Lin as she asked carefully, “If you’ve already found who you wanted to, can we leave now?”

Gu Xiaoyue measured Anna before using Normese, which was even better than Xiao Lin’s, to answer her, “Very sorry, we won’t leave, so you can go now.”

Gu Xiaoyue’s tone was firm, and it seemed like her attitude was not very friendly. Anna blinked with awkwardness and confusion. Xiao Lin immediately took over; because they did not have any information on the forest, so Anna was still very important to them. Xiao Lin even thought that the mercenary troop that had been separated in the forest might be a ‘tool’ that the academy had deliberately arranged for them to encounter.

“We got a piece of news earlier, and I don’t mind telling you. This forest, no, this area will encounter a calamity soon. Based on our understanding, staying here could be the best way to avoid it. Leaving would only lead to death.” Xiao Lin’s Normese was not as fluent as Gu Xiaoyue’s, but his words were essentially devoid of mistakes.

“A calamity? The beast tide?”

“No, not the beast tide; it might be an even more terrifying disaster than the beast tide. We still don’t know what it is, so we hope for your help, and of course, you’d be helping yourself.

“How did you learn of this?” Anna did not refuse immediately, but she was still very suspicious.

“It was the result of viewing the stars.”

“You’re an astrologian!”

“That’s right.”

Anna was immediately respectful. In Norma’s history, astrologians were always a respected profession. With regard to Xiao Lin’s skills, the woman voiced no doubts.

Gu Xiaoyue could not help but roll her eyes at that lying man, but did not object to allowing Anna to stick around.

However, Anna did not have any understanding of the so-called calamity at all. Based on Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue’s understanding, a calamity that could wipe out Epic rank monsters would probably be a disaster that could destroy the whole forest. Eliminating the possibility that it was caused by men, then it could only be a natural disaster of horrifying proportions.

An earthquake? A volcano? A meteor strike?

“Earthquake? Are you talking about that Gold-ranked spell? That’s impossible. How could a spell of that rank destroy this forest, and some of the beasts can fly.

“Oh, volcano? Are you talking about the Epic-ranked explosion? That spell is very hard to cast, and could destroy this place, but a lot of the Epic-ranked beasts are very resistant to fire.

“A meteor? Oh, you’re referring to the disaster from the skies? At that level, even some Gold-ranked spells could just destroy it from the sky.”

Anna’s expression was more and more confused, and Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue looked at each other bitterly. They were naturally thinking from the perspective of Earth, and Earth’s natural disasters were not even a threat in this place.

…

After everyone treated their injuries, the group of people did not hurry to move because they still needed to decide if their next direction was to go deeper or to go to the outskirts.

Xiao Lin had asked for their opinions, but there were very differing views. Leaving the forest safely would be seen as failing the examination, but they would preserve their lives. If they stayed back for the rewards, they might lose their lives.

Anna was very anxious. There was only thirteen days until the beast tide, and they were already too deep into the forest. If they wanted to return, it would need seven or eight days, which meant that they only had four to five days to think. Of course, they also need to take into account the possibility that the calamity would fall during that time.

Just as Anna had suggested earlier, during the period before the beast tide, there would be less beasts around the closer they were to the center. Those low-ranked beasts would linger around the outside, but that also meant that when the beast tide came, they would have the chance of meeting the terrifying beasts that stayed in the center.

After stopping and resting for a moment, their days passed by quite peacefully. Even though they never stopped encountering magical beasts, they did not meet any at the level of the earth dragon. For the regular students, that was pretty decent news since they already knew that the beast cores dropped were pretty good rewards. Even though regular beasts did not drop very pure beast cores, to most of them, even the smallest reward was something.

However, after three days, Anna subtly reminded Xiao Lin that it was not a good omen. If the stronger beasts had suddenly disappeared; that meant they would quickly encounter even more horrifying beasts.

“Didn’t you say that the beast tide is still ten days away?” Xiao Lin asked curiously.

“That’s right, but we’ve already been wrong once, so I can’t guarantee it won’t be wrong again.” Anna was obviously frustrated. “It was told to me by the astrologian in the mercenary group before we got separated.”

“Have there been any mistakes before?”

“Never; this time is really strange. The stars are always at certain fixed positions. Its something time has told us after thousands of years, so it can’t be wrong.”

“So, what you mean is that there is some error in the stars that led to some of the rules of the beasts being affected?”

“That’s basically the principle.”

Astrologians on Planet Norma were existences that were like astrologists on top of shamans; that was why Xiao Lin easily understood what Anna meant, but what could possibly have caused an abnormal movement in the stars. He was not an astrologist, and had no way of answering a specialized question like that. However, in his mind, he felt like he was missing something.

When the fourth day arrived, they could no longer delay making a decision. Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue argued a lot. Their speculations were the same to a certain degree. This time, the academy did not give tasks that were procedural, but they felt like it was already procedural to a certain degree.

If they left at that point, they would definitely be judged to have failed, but the beast cores they had obtained earlier were already enough for them to profit. Staying back was even riskier, but it was possible they could obtain even richer profits.