Chapter 172: Leaving the academy

Vlad and Seraphina exchanged glances before also moving out.

"Where should I look for Shadow?" Vlad wondered, the sound of his heavy footsteps echoing through the fallen leaves. "He appeared out of nowhere before. I will try looking for him where I found him last time."

He was about to run towards the vast terrain beyond the forest but stopped after taking only a couple of steps.

"Oh right, I should use the same method I did last time," he murmured, his lips rising into a smirk. "The other beasts aren’t gonna like this. But who cares about them?"

His hair began swaying without any wind, his silhouette shrouding in dark mana. With a sudden burst, he released his Umbra mana outward. The moment he did, he felt reverberations through the ground, the rustling of branches, followed by the terrified screams of animals echoing from every direction of the forest.

"Hahaha, just like that," Vlad laughed, spreading his arms. "Run for your lives, fuckers."

In just a few seconds, the entire forest fell silent again, or more accurately, no soul was left within a few hundred metres of Vlad.

Moments later, Vlad felt something poking at his back. "Oh, so it actually worked," Vlad chuckled, turning around.

He found the dark figure of Shadow standing there, looking at him with its pearl-like blue eyes.

"How’ve you been doing, buddy?" Vlad asked, caressing its face.

The unicorn blinked as if answering his question.

"I came to take you out on a long journey," Vlad continued. "Would you like to see the unseen world with me?"

Shadow blinked again in response.

Vlad drew a saddle from his storage ring that he had bought a few days ago from the market. He settled the leather saddle onto Shadow’s back and tied the bridle around its head before mounting it.

"Now I really look like a knight," Vlad complimented himself with a smug grin, grabbing the reins with both hands. "Let’s go, Shadow."

Shadow released a snort before moving through the woods at an incredible speed. In just a couple of minutes, Vlad reached his next destination, the hot spring at the border of the inner forest.

He drew a small envelope from his storage ring and stabbed it into the bark of the tree beside the pond using a nail, the same tree where he and Lily had sat together.

"I hope she sees it," Vlad murmured before mounting the unicorn again.

When Vlad returned, both he and Seraphina were left with parted lips.

"Your companion is a Dark Unicorn!?"

"Your companion is a Qilin!?"

They exclaimed simultaneously, staring at each other’s beast.

The majestic Qilin on whose back Seraphina rested had shining sea-green scales. The fur on its hooves, the tip of its tail, and its head burned with golden flames. It stared at Vlad and his beast companion with the sharp intensity of its golden eyes.

"Damn, our beasts look like regular animals in front of them," Hugo sighed, sitting atop a white direwolf. Alisha was mounted on a crystal fox, while Raphael was the only one who had an aerial beast, a griffin.

Naturally, Hugo’s offensive words did not go unnoticed by the direwolf he was sitting on. It immediately shook its body, causing Hugo to fall to the ground.

"H-hey, not cool, Ghost," Hugo muttered, rubbing his back. Ghost only growled in response, giving him a sharp stare.

Now that they were all prepared, they left the forest, reaching the open grassland. Using Raphael’s teleportation array, the squad, including their beasts, were teleported to the bottom of the Great Wall, inside the campus. Behind them was the towering wall, whose top was not even visible from the bottom due to the fog of the early morning, while the hills covered their view from the front. A wide path had been created along the wall at the bottom by carving through the hills.

"It was a nice decision not to eat anything, or it would have all been out already," Vlad muttered, his brows furrowed in discomfort as he felt like throwing up.

"Take this. You will feel better," Seraphina said, handing him a ginger-flavoured candy.

"Thanks," Vlad replied. He unwrapped it and put it in his mouth.

"Good morning, students," Aldric’s voice came from the front. He was already present there, waiting for them. "I hope you are all prepared for this mission."

"Yes, Professor Aldric," the party replied.

Aldric nodded. He pressed the ground with his cane, forming a wide magical circle. With a few twists of the cane, two tall humanoid figures ascended from the ground, reaching almost twenty metres in height. Their bodies were formed of smooth grey stone resembling obsidian. Thin cracks ran across their arms, chests, and faces, glowing faintly with an earthy light. Their faces were somewhat featureless, with glowing eyes and only subtle indications of a nose and mouth.

"They are high-ranked spirits, Stone Titans," Seraphina revealed to Vlad. "Just so you know, a Stone Titan is as powerful as a Cavalier Knight. If you can summon one high-ranked spirit, you can directly graduate from the Spirit Summoning course."

The revelation elicited a gasp from Vlad. He was aware of the high standards of the academy. If they were graduating students simply for summoning a high-ranked spirit with no duration limit, then it would truly be an extremely difficult achievement. Yet Aldric had just casually summoned two of them with a few twists of his cane.

Aldric finally lifted his hand from the cane as he began forming a series of hand signs. Dozens of complex magical circles became visible on the heavy iron gate embedded in the wall.

"Open!" Aldric commanded, clapping his hands.

The magical circles slowly moved to the sides of the gate as if opening a curtain.

The Stone Titans moved towards the gate, placing their palms against each door and pushing them outward.

The ground beneath their feet cracked under the immense force, yet the doors remained immovable. They removed their hands and struck them against the doors again with a heavy bang, the noise reverberating through the air.

This time, a heavy metallic groan echoed as the doors shifted slightly. The Stone Titans maintained the pressure, slowly stepping forward.

The doors opened only slightly, a snowy breeze entering through the gap and swaying the hair and clothes of the squad.

The opening was wide enough for the squad to move through.

"Go, students," Aldric ordered, his tone calm. "And keep this in mind. Your safety is more important than the mission itself."

The squad nodded. They mounted their beasts and moved outside through the doors.