Chapter 216: Lance Has the Heart of a Student

In the center of the hall, natural light filtering through the dome shimmered softly. Although it wasn’t brilliant, it provided ample illumination for the tranquil space. Lawrence strove to steady his emotions as he walked briskly toward where Lance and Karen were standing.

"Dean Lawrence." Both Lance and Karen greeted Lawrence as he approached.

They were deeply grateful that the dean had managed to carve time out of his busy schedule to grant them the opportunity to observe the Wind Primal Tablet.

"Lance..." Lawrence's attention was focused primarily on Lance. After studying the young man's expression for a moment, he said, "Perhaps I should arrange another session for you instead."

Seeing Lance there gave Lawrence an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

Lance looked back with a guileless, slightly puzzled expression, as if he didn't understand why the dean was hesitating. Dean Lawrence had a packed schedule ahead of him, so how could he afford to spare any more time?

Just as Lance fell into a brief silence, hesitating to ask about the workload concerns that were on his mind, Karen interjected. "Dean Lawrence, Lance is both capable and reliable. I feel completely at ease observing the Wind Primal Tablet alongside him."

Ever tactful, Karen then gave a polite, respectful nod to Lawrence as she continued, "I'm sure Lance wants to help lighten your workload, too."

"I see." Lawrence observed the harmonious yet subtly measured dynamic between Lance and Karen.

There was no sign that Lance was coercing or manipulating her. To harbor baseless suspicions about Lance would only reveal his own base prejudices...

Fixing his gaze on Lance, Lawrence said seriously, "Lance, Karen is the student that the Yaloran delegation values most highly on this academic visit. I need to ensure she returns to Yaloran healthy, safe, and happy, following the planned itinerary. However, I'm simply too busy to oversee it all myself. Could you help me with this?"

It was a tactful way of asking Lance to guarantee that no harm, physical or emotional, would befall Karen. In fact, the dean was terrified of the prospect of anything going wrong for her. He decided to simply entrust the task to Lance.

Lance nodded with a smile, exuding a strong sense of responsibility. "Of course! Rest assured, sir. I guarantee Karen will be perfectly well with me. I won't let her suffer the slightest grievance at our school."

Lawrence reflected for a moment. Perhaps he had misunderstood Lance after all. "In that case, you two can observe together."

Lance was a man of his word. Setting aside his eccentric personal style, his promises were truly reliable.

"By the way, Lance, while you're incredibly skilled at card making, I..." Lawrence hesitated, stopping himself mid-sentence. "Never mind. Just get along well with Karen."

He was actually a bit worried that Lance's abilities might discourage Karen, making certain things difficult to say. However, the boy didn't strike him as the arrogant or overbearing type. Based on what Lawrence knew of him, Lance certainly wouldn't use his talent to bully Karen.

"In just a moment, I'll open the gateway to the dimension inside the primal tablet for you."

After briefly speaking with the two of them, Lawrence walked over to the council seating area at the center of the hall to shake hands and confer with the scholars dispatched by the magic spire.

There was the usual lone recorder from the magic spire, along with several staff members from various crafting guilds, all of whom respectfully greeted Dean Lawrence.

Clearly, although the dean appeared completely unpretentious within the school, maintaining no sense of distance even from the students of the Sages' College, he was a figure of immense reverence in the outside world. He was not only a High Priest of the Church of the Goddess of Fate, but also a renowned holder of the Wind Primal Tablet. He was famous across the entire Southern Continent.

As for the College of Magical Engineering, their faculty members usually came to observe the results, but since it was Saturday, they refused to work overtime and simply didn't show up.

Somehow, a reporter from The Hutton Times had also found her way here. In fact, this lively young reporter had been sitting in the audience for a while now, waving repeatedly at Lance as if trying to catch his eye. Lance merely offered only a polite, brief nod in acknowledgment and didn't engage further.

Luviselle was the reporter from The Hutton Times and she was also the secretary of the Student Management Council. She sat in the front row, eager to interview Lance and Karen.

Although Lance didn't recognize her, having never met her in the Student Management Council headquarters, she was already well aware of the two newcomers, Lance and Hyperion.

During this brief interval of waiting, Dean Lawrence's earlier statements had actually piqued Karen's interest.

She looked up at Lance, who was standing beside her, and asked curiously with a soft voice, "So, Lance, are you actually skilled at card making?"

There were many types of magical artisans. Within the Sages' College, those proficient in magical engineering tended to be scroll-makers or appraisers. On the other hand, most professional magical engineers would go to the College of Magical Engineering rather than the Sages' College, which primarily trained combat-oriented roles.

For Lawrence to allow Lance to observe the Wind Primal Tablet, he must have a talent for magical engineering and some aptitude in artisanal crafts. She had just learned that it turned out his specialty was card making.

"I know a thing or two," Lance replied modestly.

He understood that Dean Lawrence's earlier remark was a hint to remain humble, so he naturally adopted a more reserved demeanor than usual.

Karen smiled mischievously. "Dean Lawrence himself said you're great at card making. Do you realize how much weight that compliment carries?"

Having spent so much time with Lawrence, Lance and the others often failed to grasp just how significant a figure he was in the eyes of other kingdoms.

"Dean Lawrence just hasn't seen me blow up my cards," Lance sighed. After all, Talia spent all day calling him a trashy card-exploder.

As the standard preparations concluded, Lawrence walked back toward Lance and Karen, who had been chatting in low voices. The two of them immediately stopped conversing.

"Let's begin."

Lawrence immediately summoned an ancient, carved stone slab. Its thin, compact form possessed a smooth, warm texture that had deepened in color over the ages. Faint magical patterns pulsed rhythmically on its surface, and a blue-gray aura shimmered in the breeze, as if recounting a story that had accumulated over millions of years.

The moment the stone tablet appeared, a gentle breeze swept through the ancient Tower Library. Every slight gust caused pages to flutter. Dancing in the sunlight like sprites of the hall, specks of dust moved with lightness and grace.

Sensing the emergence of such formidable magical power, many students on the upper floors were drawn to the scene. They gathered by the balconies as curious spectators watching Dean Lawrence, who stood at the center of the plaza on the library's ground level.

As Lawrence channeled his mana into the uniquely shaped Epic enchanted card, cracks began to appear and multiply across the stone surface. Finally, the stone tablet split apart completely, revealing its true, underlying form.

It was the form of an enchanted card, crystal-clear and shimmering with a faint, ethereal glow. However, what truly caught everyone's eye was the peculiar light it emitted. It was not a pure orange, but instead a hue streaked with a hint of crimson!

The next instant, having absorbed a portion of Lawrence's mana, the stone tablet, suspended in mid-air, underwent a rapid transformation, unfurling into a small Void Gate in the center of the library.

"The two of you may begin."

Maintaining the open state of this primal tablet required a constant drain on Lawrence's mana. Yet, he knew that Lance and Karen understood exactly what to do without needing further instruction. The process was much like entering the Shadow Realm.

The two acknowledged Lawrence with polite nods and stepped, one after the other, through the Void Gate.

Unlike the genuine Shadow Realm, this alternate dimension created by the primal tablet was a more simple construct, and required neither matchmaking nor waiting periods. Within the chaotic, pitch-black darkness, the entire world lit up again in mere seconds.