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nProfessor Evans heard Lisa’s question, but she simply ignored her and continued looking at Vale with a discerning eye.

nShe knows that Vale didn’t simply bind the unconscious Mountain Bandit on the floor.

nHe seemed to have done something more than that while Headmaster Jean, Isaac Vermont, and Sherman were fighting outside. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it allowed Sherman to escape.

n“I think you’re overthinking it, Professor Evans. We’re going to leave now.” Vale said as he grabbed Lisa’s arm and took her away.

nGale wasn’t planning to let Vale escape.

nShe wanted to use her Judgement Eye Spell, but someone suddenly held her shoulder.

n“That’s enough, Professor Evans. Just let the two go.” Headmaster Jean said in time.

nGale failed to activate her spell because of that interruption… “Y-you…” Gale looked at the Headmaster with fury as she felt her Dark Energy start going out of control.

nIt was the backlash for that forceful cancellation of Spell Activation.

nLuckily, Headmaster Jean didn’t want her to be injured as well, so he used a Spell to calm the flow of her Energy.

nNevertheless, Gale didn’t thank him because of that.

n“Why did you do that? I’m not going to hurt Vale! Tsk… I’m sure you noticed that Vale did something just now. Are you sure you just want to let him go?” Gale Evans said as she wanted to reprimand the Headmaster.

nShe doesn’t seem afraid at all.

n“Yes. Don’t mind him… We need him to participate in the Twelve Academies Competition and win a few competitions for us. If you have problems with him, settle it after I return his shadow.” Jean said with an eerie smile on his face.

nGale felt confused, but she knew that the Headmaster had probably planned something for Vale. She knows this person really well..

nShe could only sigh because of this as she shifted the topic.

n“Did you use the Thunder Emperor to attack him?” She asked.

n“Well, I want to see Vale’s current strength. I thought of forcing him into a life-and-death situation to show his real power. Unfortunately, a puppet is still a puppet. He’s not strong enough.” Headmaster Jean said with a helpless smile on his face.

nIf possible, he wanted to do it himself… He wanted to attack Vale and force him to use all his strength. However, it wouldn’t be good if Vale started considering them as his enemies. It wouldn’t do good for his plan.

n“Hmph… Are you even going to return it?” Isaac suddenly said as he appeared behind the Headmaster.

nAs a Dark Alchemist, direct combat wasn’t his forte. However, he decided to fight Sherman with the Headmaster because he wanted to try some of his new Alchemical Items.

n“Of course… I’m planning to return it. As long as we keep Heinz with us, he could produce more Vale in the future. There’s nothing to worry about.” Headmaster Jean replied.

nThis answer made Professor Gale’s eyes light up.

n“So I can do whatever I want with him once he gets his shadow back?” She asked.

n“Yes… That means that the Twelve Academies Competition is already over, so you can do whatever you want.” Headmaster Jean said as he turned around to leave.

nAs for Professor Gale, she started giggling by herself as she looked in the direction where Vale had disappeared.

n***

nThe Thunder Emperor, a known mountain bandit that turned into a mercenary, was defeated and captured after infiltrating the Vermont Academy.

nThis information quickly spread in the western and southern regions of the kingdom where Thunder Emperor’s forces are active.

nAfter his disappearance, his bases started getting attacked by some Arcanist Organizations that he had offended before… 𝙡𝒊𝙖.𝙢

nHundreds of his men died, and most of his wealth was plundered.

nHowever, as the ’empire’ of the Thunder Emperor started collapsing, Thunder Emperor suddenly appeared together with Charles Blackwood, the exiled Headmaster of the Dark Arts Academy. There was also a mysterious Arcanist that was supporting them, but not even his name was known.

nThe three of them stopped all enemies who were planning to destroy everything he had built.

n“Hmm?” Vale knitted his brows as he read the article in the newspaper. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮

n‘The Thunder Emperor returned to his base with Charles? No way…’ Vale knows very well that this is impossible.

nThere was no way he would be able to escape after being captured by the Headmaster.

n‘Puppetry? No… Is it Cursed Contract Bestowal?’ Vale sighed internally as he felt pity for the two.

nThe Headmaster must be controlling everything from behind the scene.

nPerhaps, the mysterious person that was together with the two might even be the Headmaster or Isaac Vermont, who had nothing better to do.

nThose who plundered his wealth might even be the Headmaster himself. After all, the news about the Thunder Emperor’s capture wouldn’t be this fast. It would require weeks or months since the spreading of information across various provinces wouldn’t be an easy thing to do.

nNevertheless, Vale didn’t think too much of it as he was already happy with the result of his experiment. Although his Touchless Extraction was still limited in distance and capacity, he felt that as long as he practiced daily, he would be able to get a decent result.

nThis was indeed what he had done over the past three months.

nVale continued practicing his Touchless Extraction and continued extracting Energy Points.

nMost of his targets during this time were the Variants that always lurked around the Academy.

nHe could only extract them with 5 to 8 Energy Points, but it was better than nothing.

nAfter three months, however, Vale had to stop his experiments as the Spell Mastery Examination had finally come.

nThe Examination this time wasn’t just for Class 2. Three other classes will join them, and everyone will see the Spell Mastery of their fellow batchmates.

n“Hahaha! Finally! Vale, you could show everyone that you’re the only one who deserved to attend the Twelve Academies Competition.” Chad suddenly said after their class ended.

nTomorrow would be their Examination, so there were no club activities today. They were planning to return to their dormitory, to at least practice their Spells a little bit more.

n“What are you saying? There would be ten spots in each batch… Why do you want him to go alone?” Aubrey suddenly asked Chad as she lightly smacked the back of his head.

n“Haha… I guess he was just too happy that the Spell Mastery Examination would be together with other classes. I wonder if Maya could match Vale.” Lisa muttered as she was also looking forward to tomorrow’s examination.

nThe source of this content is 𝒊𝒃𝙖.𝙢

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