Chapter 182: Double Stunned
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After sending the two girls into the classroom, Baiyi strolled around the academy leisurely. At the moment, the academy was quite deserted. All the exchange students were gone and many of the academy's own students had left as well, forming a sharp contrast with the lively and festive atmosphere from a few days before.
Still, there were many people from the Church who had not left yet. Somehow, it seemed like they were multiplying in numbers. Many fully armed paladins and chaplains were walking in the academy and more than half of them were wearing either grey armors or grey robes. That meant that most of those people were not just regular clergies, rather, they were from the Judicial Court instead.
F*ck! Are they here to look for me? Baiyi was a little worried. However, judging from the way they looked, the judicial paladins and judges did not seem like they were searching for anyone. Somehow, it felt like they were keeping an eye out for something instead.
Are they trying to protect a church senior or something? Puzzled, Baiyi could not help but wonder. He walked another round around the academy and what made him even more surprised was that there were at least 1000 judicial court personnel in the academy! And that was only counting the amount of people that he saw with his eyes.
According to the Paladin, as a secret service, the Supreme Judicial Court was streamlined and had a staffing that was just slightly over 1000 people. So, did it mean that almost all the court members were gathered in the Celestial Fortress Academy even though it had no relations to the Church?
Seriously, they're not here to catch me, right? Baiyi could not think of any other reason that would make them go to such length. In order to find out more, he tried to approach the judicial paladins but there was no response at all from them. He tried to take another step further by talking to them but just as he was about to open his mouth, a cold voice could be heard from one of them.
"It's classified business! Do not get close!"
Although the tone was harsh, that man did not seem like he was going to take action. It looked like their target was not Baiyi after all.
Hmm, so what are these people doing over here? Even supposing they were here to protect some of the Church's bigwigs, there was absolutely no need for them to employ their entire army force. On top of that, the defensive division of the Church was usually handled by the paladins and the crusaders, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Judicial Court at all.
Curiosity slowly rose up in Baiyi's heart. Quickly, he went to a secluded place and changed into the armor of Sven the Rogue Knight. After he had covered himself in the black curtain, he activated the Shadow Assassin's secret technique, Sneak, and slipped into the area that the judicial paladins were guarding.
From that direction, that should be where the highest building of the academy, the Mage Tower was situated. That was the place where Mia successfully unlocked the enchantment the Explorer left behind last time. After Baiyi had managed to sneak through the two defensive lines, he found out that there were no teachers or students at all at the Mage Tower. They were all replaced by the grey-colored judicial members.
Could it be that there's a big-time secret in the tower? Baiyi asked in the Void.
"What secret could it have?" The Apprentice said in a pitifully innocent tone, "This place is open to public! Didn't you enter the tower a few times already, Sir Hope? Sigh... W-Wait a minute! There is indeed one place that is prohibited from the public."
"What? What? What?" The other Voidwalkers who had their interests piqued quickly asked.
"Is there a sealed laboratory that was used by an ancient powerful man before?" The Explorer speculated
"Maybe a mighty all-powerful Divine Weapon is hidden there?"
"Could it be that a powerful prisoner is being held as a hostage there?"
"Maybe there's an important invention that would shatter the world if it's unveiled?
"Wait a minute! Maybe a girl who loves painting lives in the tower?"
"Perhaps, a group or one beautiful girl is imprisoned there?
"Don't tell me a tentacled magical beast is being held there?"
After the two Walkers who came up with the last two questions were banned from speaking, the Apprentice, who was also the former academy's president finally had a chance to open his mouth, "Erm, everyone, all your speculations are wrong. The Celestial Fortress Academy is just an ordinary high school so how could it possibly have those things that you suggested? What's being locked inside is a huge magical furnace that was constructed by a former president. It's an antique that's unstable and very hard to control. I've thought of demolishing it but somehow, I didn't have the heart to do it because after all, it has witnessed the long history of the academy. In the end, I just locked it up in the workshop and prohibited people from accessing it in order to prevent accidents from happening."
After finding out that it was only a furnace, the rest of the Walkers lost their interest and scattered away like birds. Only Baiyi continued to ask, Is there anything special about this furnace?
"None," the Apprentice replied with a sense of certainty, "Well, the only difference that it has from other furnaces is that its power is much bigger than ordinary ones. Because it's an old design, it lacks safety restrictions and poses a huge safety hazard to the public. The structure of the furnace is still quite solid and the sealing ability is very good as well. It's a furnace that's forged from the Aulham Alloy."
Oh? Aulham Alloy? How wasteful! Looks like your ancestors were once rich and mighty, no wonder you're so reluctant to throw it away, Baiyi joked.
The Aulham Alloy was actually made from the Mithril, blue gold, Parr steel and a series of materials that were suitable for conducting Mana along with a certain amount of anti-magic metal. Not only did it have the best magic conduction performance among all other materials, it also possessed many advantages like having high resistance and so on. There was no doubt that it was indeed the best material to forge a magical furnace with.
A furnace that was made from such an expensive material certainly would have a very outstanding performance, that was why the Apprentice was not willing to dispose it in the first place. Now, Baiyi could not help but be tempted as he wondered whether he should take that piece of junk and make it his own. Even though the furnace might be a little flawed in its design, it was not an issue at all for a Voidwalker.
Of course, it was not the right time for that. What was most important was to find out what exactly was the Judicial Court up to at the moment. Maintaining his Sneak, he went closer to the Mage Tower but the closer he was to the tower, the tighter the garrison stationed there. An anti-invisible barrier was enchanted on the entire tower and there were people patrolling at every corner of the tower. Because of that, Baiyi's progress was very slow. For a moment, he was tempted to use the Hitman's tactic to enter the tower.
At that moment, a black carriage could be seen making its way towards the Mage Tower under the escort of a team of judicial paladins. The carriage was going at a very slow and steady speed. It seemed like there must be something really heavy inside. At once, a light bulb went on in Baiyi's mind and he quickly sped up towards the carriage. When the escorting judicial paladins had their eyes away from the carriage, he quickly sneaked under the carriage and held on tightly to the bottom of the carriage.
That was one of the most classic method of sneaking in. It was all thanks to the militia armor that he was wearing that he dared to do such a thing.
With the help of the carriage and the Sneak technique, Baiyi successfully went through the garrison smoothly. The carriage continued to make its way to the basement of the Mage Tower and the moment it reached there, a few judicial paladins took off the roof canvas and started to carry the goods up to the higher floor.
The guards in the basement were not as tight as outside, Baiyi even got to see what was being unloaded from the carriage, it was a neatly stacked pallets of iron chests. Each of the chest was embedded with runes and it was those runes that suppressed and shielded the magic ripple coming out from the chests.
The judicial paladins were all strong and sturdy. They were particularly agile carrying the chests up the floor. In just a blink of an eye, they managed to bring most of them up and only a few were left in the carriage. After Baiyi used his Psychic Energy to survey the basement and found out that there was no other strong barrier there, he seized the opportunity to cast a few illusions and stupefied the judicial paladins on their spots.
The effect of the illusion would cause the victim to enter a superficial state of consciousness. The spell duration was very short but it was extremely difficult to detect. The victim would usually assume that they dozed off after the spell had worn off.
Seizing the opportunity, Baiyi rapidly opened up one of the chest. No sh*t! The entire chest is filled with Octuplet Twin Crystals!
As the most most upscale product of Mana crystals, the Octuplet Twin Crystals contained a colossal amount of pure mana. Unlike ordinary Mana crystals that usually functioned as a disposable energy supply, the Octuplet Twin Crystal was able to supply a continuous amount of power. You could say it was like a high-powered power bank.
Why did the Church shipped over such a huge pile of oversized powerbank for? Baiyi became even more curious about the whole situation. Swiftly, he closed the lid of the chest and went to a dark corner to hide himself. At that moment, the spell wore off and the few judicial paladins snapped awake. Confused, they shook their heads to clear their minds and continued to carry the goods up.
Baiyi silently tiptoed behind them like a mouse, following them up the Mage Tower.
When Baiyi was sneaking around, at the southernmost of the empire, a massive scale of reinforcements were slowly leaving their campsite and making their ways towards Templar Fort. The commander of the reinforcement troop was Roland, the Paladin Grand Cross from the Holy City of Canningham. Three days ago, they had dispatched a small team of scouts but until now, they had not made their way back to the troop. In the end, the Grand Cross decided not to wait any longer and ordered the troop to immediately march forward.
Mr. Owl and Mr. Sorry were part of the troops as well. The student army had just arrived at the meeting point the night before. Like the Grand Cross, the two men were filled with anxiety and worries, a far cry from the excitement and the thrill that the students were feeling.
However, it did not take the entire troop too long before they came across the scout team that was making their way back towards the reinforcement troop. Riding along with them was a skinny old man.
When Grand Cross Roland saw the old man, he quickly leapt down from his horse and anxiously asked, "A-Archbishop William, why are you here?" He cast a condemning look towards the few scouts, as if he was admonishing them for coming back so late.
The paladins who acted as the scouts stared innocently at the elderly Archbishop William who was so old that he could barely walk, trying to explain with their eyes that it was because of him tagging along that they had no choice but to go slow.
Oblivious to the looks that were being exchanged, the elderly Archbishop dismounted the horse with great efforts as he panted loudly. For once, the Grand Cross fear that he would pass out from not being able to catch his breath. Because of that, he did not dare to urge him to move faster and it was all he could do to patiently wait for him to catch his breath. After a long while, the Archbishop finally opened his mouth, "Lord Grand Cross, why did you come with so many people behind you?"
"Huh?" The Grand Cross was taken aback by such a peculiar question, "B-Because Templar Fort is in danger that is why we came in such a hurry with these reinforcements."
"W-What?" This time, it was the Archbishop's turn to be stunned by his words.