Lord of Smoke and Dust"

Chapter5 Fossa

It's difficult to lie in front of a college overseer, those half-meter-tall owl-like creatures are special magical beasts cultivated by the mysterious headmaster of the Black Magic Academy.

With combat power surpassing that of high-level magical beasts, these owl-like creatures can handle any disputes among apprentices below formal magicians.

Not to mention, in this Black Magic Academy, there are hidden magic inscriptions and alchemical eyeballs everywhere.

Investigating the truth of the matter or even directly restoring the details of the recent battle is not a problem.

However, because of the conflicts among low-level apprentices, it's clear that the overseers of the academy won't go as far as to use surveillance eyeballs to reconstruct the battle scene.

When Sain took out the badge representing the identity of a formal black magic apprentice, the overseers chose to let the matter rest.

As for the second half of what Sain said, it was giving the owl-like creature a way out.

With a flap of its huge wings, the remains of the low-level apprentice Ilk, who had already been corroded into charcoal by strong acid, were blown to the sides of the road under the influence of the elemental wind.

These body fragments would be the best fertilizer for the underground plants in the White Crow Forest.

Considering that conflicts and battles among apprentices often break out at the Black Magic Academy, similar fertilizer is not uncommon in many corners of the White Crow Forest.

Sain gave a slight bow to this wise owl-like creature and paid no attention to the strange looks of the apprentices around him as he walked step by step toward the dormitory building where he belonged.

As for the pale mask that was Sain's spoils of war, he had already put it on his face.

Indeed, it was a magical item, and after putting it on, Sain noticed that his field of vision had become much clearer.

...

The Black Magic Academy in the city of Mosobla, with a total number of apprentices, fluctuated between seven hundred and eight hundred annually.

Every year, apprentices fell for various reasons, and new apprentices emerged as well.

Of these new apprentices, only a small fraction came from age-appropriate children in the city of Mosobla.

More than ninety percent of them, like Sain years ago, came from the surface, children who were abducted and plundered by black magicians through various means to the underground.

Sain vaguely remembered some things from before he was six, such as his luxurious golden hair and handsome face, both signs that he was a noble.

Including when he first came to the dark region, he could snatch food from other children, which also came from his childhood practice of some basic swordsmanship and breath techniques.

These things were out of reach for commoners.

Sain didn't have many memories of his background and childhood. Except for his last name and the kind face of his mother in his dreams, Sain couldn't recall anything else.

The life at the Black Magic Academy had consumed much of Sain's energy. Rather than dwelling on the past, Sain wanted to live his life steadily.

The dormitory buildings provided to the apprentices by the Black Magic Academy included more than twenty buildings, each with six floors, and each floor had eight rooms.

The more powerful the apprentice, the closer their dormitory building was to the center, and the higher the floor.

The reason strong apprentices chose these locations was that meditation and spell experiments required a relatively quiet environment.

It wasn't uncommon for some powerful apprentices to occupy an entire floor by themselves.

Similarly, every year, during the initial entry of new students, there would always be intense conflicts over dormitory issues.

Sain's room was on the fourth floor of the fifth building behind the dormitory complex.

As a low-level apprentice, he obviously couldn't get such a good location through competition.

The reason he could live here was due to his cohabitation with his girlfriend Lena.

Lena was his benefactor, his senior, his guide in magic, and also his girlfriend.

From a certain perspective, Lena should be his mentor.

Including Sain's considerable talent in fire elemental knowledge was due to his years of assisting Lena with magical experiments.

"Click!" As Sain pressed the magic crystal lamp, dim light appeared in the room.

It was a room covering an area of about seventy square meters, not too large. However, it appeared even more cramped due to the accumulation of various materials, books needed for experiments, a bathroom, and a separate small experimental platform.

But when he returned here, Sain felt genuinely relaxed because this was his own nest.

The air had a faint acrid odor, and Sain recognized it as the burning smell of low-level magical material - Black Oakgrass.

Lena wasn't the type to tidy up, and in fact, over the years of cohabiting with her, Sain had been the one taking care of the house.

Looking around, Sain realized Lena wasn't home, so he dragged his somewhat tired body to the central bed.

This was a special large bed formed by merging two single beds, born on one night two years ago.

Perhaps thinking of certain scenes, Sain's throat gurgled, and he shook his head.

He placed his harvested items on the desk next to the bed and sat cross-legged on the bed. In front of him was a large bottle of intermediate detoxification potion given to him by his mentor Moses.

After pouring the detoxification potion into his mouth, Sain used his mental power to begin his routine meditation.

Meditation was the gentlest way to restore mental and magical power and sometimes could even replace sleep.

As Sain gradually entered a meditative state, his depleted mental and magical power began to recover, and the Blue Moss Poison in his body also slowly dissipated under the influence of the intermediate detoxification potion.

There was no fixed duration for cultivation, and when Sain opened his eyes again, it was already the next day.

The meditation, which had lasted for over ten hours, had finally restored Sain's spirit to a more vigorous state.

It was only when he stopped meditating that he noticed that his girlfriend Lena had returned.

"You're back," Sain said in a low voice.

"Yeah," Lena nodded.

Appearing by the window at this moment was a girl with a height of only 1.5 meters, fiery red hair, and a cold demeanor.

Lena wasn't a talkative person, and in fact, even after eight years of living together, their conversations were usually short and awkward.

Her external appearance and height made Lena look like a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl.

But Sain knew that this wasn't Lena's real age.

From the moment they met eight years ago, Lena had maintained this appearance, and in the eight years that had passed, she hadn't changed at all.

According to the rumors from the Magic Academy, Sain knew that Lena had turned into this appearance due to an experimental accident that she had with her mentor many years ago.

Sain didn't know Lena's exact age, and he hadn't asked. Just like Lena had never asked Sain for his last name or his childhood background.

Everyone has their secrets and corners not understood by others.

Although Sain and Lena had a physical relationship, they seemed not to have completely opened up to each other yet.

"Are you injured?" Lena first looked at the magic wand and the pale mask Sain had placed on the bed, then furrowed her brows and looked at the bloodstains clearly visible on

's chest.