Chapter 64: It's Just That Someone Is Carrying the Burden Forward

Chewing on a piece of beef jerky, Kalia followed Roland out of the assembly hall.

With the opening ceremony concluded, the next step was to report to their respective colleges.

Because of Flam, Kalia had nowhere else to go except the College of Magic, but precisely for that reason, she didn't really need to report in.

After all, no one would dare slight Lady Flam's dignity just because Kalia failed to check in.

Everyone in the entire College of Magic knew that the legendary elven mage was notoriously petty.

Offend her?

Then you were in for a world of pain.

Therefore, after her admission procedures were completed, the teacher from the College of Magic—who was only temporarily helping out at the admissions office for the advanced class—told Kalia directly that whether she wanted to report in, and whenever she wanted to do so, was entirely up to her.

Thus, she decided not to rush over to report today anyway; Flam had already explained the general matters to her.

Even her course selection had already been sorted out by Flam.

Major in refined mana control, minor in spell construction.

Kalia had no objections to this.

Her experience in Riscane and her out-of-control abilities once again made her realize that she needed to further harness her own power.

Both for herself and for everyone else.

Right now, however, she just wanted to go with Roland to the College of Magical Engineering to meet his new teacher.

She wondered what kind of person he or she would be.

Were they easy to talk to?

In addition, Kalia was also very curious about the look Roland had given her just moments ago.

Though her attention had been briefly diverted by the beef jerky, she had come to her senses now.

Reflecting carefully, when they first met this morning, that guy Roland had actually blushed when he saw her.

Yet after she spoke a few words to him, he reverted to his usual deadpan expression.

Even though his patience with her had clearly increased a lot... she still felt like the way he looked at her wasn't entirely innocent.

She had a sneaking suspicion that this guy was thinking strange thoughts.

"Hey, Roland."

"What is it? Still hungry? That's all I have on me. If you want more, I'll see if I can find some for you in my teacher's office later."

"Oh, I'm not talking about food!" Kalia put on a straight face. "What on earth did that look you gave me just now mean?"

"What look? I don't know what you're talking about," Roland replied with absolute nonchalance.

"Hmph! That's the look!"

"I always make this expression."

With that, Roland flicked Kalia on the forehead. "Stop overthinking all this nonsense. Have you thought about what to do for the end-of-semester examination?"

"Examination? There's an examination?!"

Kalia stopped eating her beef jerky altogether and stared at Roland in utter bewilderment.

Roland instinctively wanted to make a sarcastic remark, asking if she hadn't listened to the academy director's speech.

But he quickly realized that Kalia indeed hadn't listened.

After all, aside from chatting with him, mocking the academy director's bald spot and long, boring speech, she had spent the entire time eating.

She had even fallen asleep right after.

It was simply too naive of him to expect her to have heard anything.

"At the end of every semester, all colleges hold their respective examinations."

"The content of the examination varies, but it is generally a practical combat test."

"The specific content and format are determined by the academy itself."

"Have you figured out how you're going to pass the examination?"

Roland's words completely shattered the pleasant illusions about campus life that Kalia had managed to build up with such difficulty.

"Nooooo!!!!"

"Alright, alright, stop wailing. The examination isn't that hard for you."

For Roland, who had already witnessed Kalia's combat capabilities and the catastrophic disaster she could potentially become in the future, he had not the slightest doubt that she would pass the academy's examination.

"Can we form a team for the examination?"

"Yes, and there are no restrictions from the academy. As long as the other person is willing, you could even drag someone from the College of Alchemy to help you pass the test."

"Yay! Then can you team up with me?"

"I..."

Roland, who had originally intended to agree immediately, hesitated for a moment.

He suddenly remembered that Iluvia seemed to have invited him to form a team a long time ago.

"Kalia."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"As for teaming up, let's see what the examination content is like when the time comes. The end of the semester is still far away anyway."

Roland continued, "Besides, passing the examination isn't strictly mandatory either."

"As long as you can ensure you acquire enough credits for graduation through other channels."

"Eh! There's that method too?!"

Kalia's eyes lit up. "What kind of methods are there?"

Roland recounted all the valid information he had extracted from the academy director's nonsense.

Hearing this, Kalia instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

It sounded like there were quite a few avenues available; it seemed she didn't need to worry about the exams after all.

Just as Roland finished speaking, he sensed an unknown mana fluctuation.

It was a spatial reaction!

Thanks to the Blink skill, Roland remained quite sensitive to spatial disturbances.

Recalling the recent assassination attempts, Roland yanked Kalia behind him. The next instant, a spatial rift flickering with black light appeared right in front of the two of them.

"Whoosh!"

A silver-gray longsword flew out from the spatial rift, spun around in the air, and thrust straight into the ground right in front of Roland.

As for this suddenly appearing mysterious weapon, Roland's choice was... to use Blink to take Kalia away from the spot.

He was not about to touch something of such unknown origin.

That was one of the survival rules old Lancelot had written down in his journal!

The caution of the older generation of adventurers had been fully inherited by Roland.

Yet, after Roland used Blink to put some distance between them, the sword actually flew up on its own and once again drove itself into the ground before him.

This time, after embedding itself in the earth, it even wiggled back and forth on its own, as if tempting Roland to pull it out.

Roland did not panic; he grabbed Kalia and maxed out his Blink distance, teleporting a full five hundred meters away in a single bound.

This time, the sword didn't fly over immediately.

Roland breathed a sigh of relief, but soon he noticed a silver-gray streak of light flying in from afar, only to plant itself right in front of him once more.

...

"Whose sword is that?"

The suspicious, mysterious figure shrouded in a black hooded cloak shook her aching right hand and looked toward the direction from which the sword had flown.

Just a moment ago, she had wanted to grab that sword to prevent this intensely suspicious object from continuing its pursuit of Roland.

She just hadn't expected that the moment she gripped the hilt, she would feel a searing, agonizing pain instantly spread through her entire body.

It hurt as though her core source within was about to explode.

She had been forced to let go.

Glancing back, in the bushes by the roadside, a tall, thin middle-aged man was lying motionless on the ground.

His neck was bent at nearly a ninety-degree angle, and the skin punctured by shattered bone fragments barely maintained the connection between his head and body.

The expression on the corpse's face remained normal—a gloomy, sinister look, as if he had no idea what had even happened.

Clearly, this corpse had its neck snapped instantly by terrifying wrist strength, not even giving it the chance to feel pain.

"First an imitation puppet lying in ambush by the road, then a sword, plus last night's assassin—tsk tsk, there really are quite a few people eyeing this kid."

"Old man Tolan really handed me a troublesome job."

"I'm dealing with assassins in the shadows while this guy is off nonchalantly romancing—tsk, men."

"Still, we're almost at the College of Magical Engineering anyway. You can handle the rest yourself, old man Tolan."