Chapter 79: The Vice Dean Returns [Fixed]

Some time later, Albert finally returned from the Third Enclosed Ecological Zone.

The vice dean was unharmed, and the two instructors who had accompanied him had also returned safely, but none of them looked relaxed. Their visit had been enough to prove that the Third Enclosed Ecological Zone was nowhere near as clean as the official reports claimed.

Inside the vice dean’s office, Albert placed a thin sheet of paper beneath the desk lamp.

Victor had already seen it once.

It was the list of thirteen names, but like before, it was only the final line that caught his attention.

[E——]

Victor studied it for a moment.

"Is there any way to restore the rest?"

"We tried three different methods." Albert shook his head. "None of them worked. Even this E might not be the beginning of the person’s full name."

Victor nodded. He had considered that as well.

It could be a name, a codename, or perhaps even some kind of project designation. There was not enough evidence to decide which one it was, much less conclude that the person on the final line was Elias.

However, Victor could not simply ignore the System’s earlier reaction. It had detected faint anomalous traces, and the assessment was incomplete. That matched how the System had treated Elias, whom it could not fully assess. Even if the remaining letter proved nothing, Victor could not pretend that reaction had never happened.

Albert moved the list aside but did not put it away. Instead, he took out a small recording crystal and placed it on the desk. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"We inspected the underground facility beneath Observation Station C," Albert explained. "There were no active researchers inside, and we didn’t find any large magical beasts. Most of the facility seemed abandoned, but a fairly well preserved set of old Astral observation equipment was still there."

He paused briefly.

"One part of it had recently been reactivated."

Victor’s eyes changed slightly.

"When?"

"Yesterday."

"That was before the Seventh Trial Ground incident," Victor said quietly.

The timing changed his previous judgment.

He had assumed that after the plan in the Seventh Trial Ground failed, someone had hurriedly replaced it with the Third Enclosed Ecological Zone. Now it seemed that the zone swap had not been a last minute decision because this place had been prepared in advance.

"What does the equipment do?"

"We haven’t completely analyzed it yet." Albert unfolded an old blueprint across the desk. "But I confirmed at least one thing while we were there."

Three large monitoring facilities were marked on the blueprint. Their locations were almost identical to the three Mana Core Badge sites Cecilia had shown him earlier.

Albert traced the faded lines running beneath them. The three facilities were connected by an underground energy structure, but that connection had later been deleted from the academy’s official records. On newer records, they would have appeared to be three separate monitoring sites.

"This blueprint is from four years ago?" Victor asked.

"Yes."

"Which facility was reactivated?"

Albert’s finger stopped directly on Observation Station C.

"This one."

"What about the other two?"

"We haven’t found complete activation records for them yet. Station C is the only one with a recent activation record that we can confirm."

Victor looked at all three marked locations.

"What happens if they activate together?"

"I don’t know."

Albert did not pretend otherwise. Fatigue was visible on his face as he kept one hand on the blueprint.

"But those facilities weren’t built simply to watch ordinary magical beasts. From what we can tell, they were meant to let one specific type of mana form a stable resonance across three separate regions."

One specific type of mana...

Victor’s gaze narrowed on the blueprint.

...Astral mana?

It was only a theory. The equipment beneath Observation Station C was related to Astral observation, and the three Mana Core Badge sites matched the three facilities, but that was not enough to treat his guess as fact.

Even so, the outline of the plan was becoming clearer.

Hundreds of freshmen would enter the Third Enclosed Ecological Zone during the screening. They would fight magical beasts, release mana, use skills, and trigger disturbances throughout the zone. If someone used the Mana Core Badges to lure three students toward those locations, the facilities could be activated beneath all that noise.

Even if the outside world detected abnormal magical fluctuations, the first assumption would probably be that they came from the screening.

And if the mana involved truly was Astral mana, Victor could not leave Leah out of his calculations.

He still did not know whether she was meant to stand at one of the three locations or whether her presence served some other purpose. However, allowing her to enter the zone without precautions was no longer acceptable.

Victor’s first thought was to keep Leah out of the ecological zone, but that would only address one part of the problem. The hidden facilities would still be there, the screening would still proceed, and whoever had prepared everything would retain the opportunity to act.

Rather than trying to guard against a plan he did not yet understand, it would be better to deny them that opportunity entirely.

The problem was that Victor could not stop an academy examination on his own. Suspicion was enough for him to prepare, but the academy would need evidence it could act upon.

His gaze settled on the blueprint before returning to Albert.

"Can this blueprint be used as grounds to suspend the screening directly?"

"I’ve already asked the Safety Committee to review it again." Albert’s expression wasn’t pleasant. "They promised an answer tonight."

Victor glanced at the time. There was now only about a day and a half before the screening began. If the board handled this normally, there might still be time to resolve everything before the examination.

But if they continued insisting, then Victor would have to prepare for the worst case scenario.

"One more thing." Albert suddenly pulled a transparent evidence box sealed with mana from beneath the desk.

Inside was a small piece of silver metal.

"What’s that?" Victor asked curiously.

"I found it beside the second sealed door underground." The vice dean pushed the evidence box toward him.

"Looks familiar, doesn’t it?"

It certainly did... because the shape of that piece of metal was almost identical to the missing section of the damaged silver disc in Victor’s possession.