418 An Epic Battle!

After choosing his companions, Baiyi went to gather his Voidwalkers. A few of them were currently giving lectures to students, so he had to wait for the classes to end. As Baiyi was not in a hurry, he decided to take a stroll around Da Xue, admiring the work of his hands. 

"Hm-hmph! Look at how serene the surrounding is, how tranquil the atmosphere is, and how picturesque the sceneries are!" As Baiyi looked around his academy, an intense wave of pride welled up within him. He wished nothing more than to pat himself on the shoulder. "Holy s***, you've done it again, me!" 

He continued strolling until he reached the corner of the Activities and Events Center. It was a five-story building, which contained a mini-theater, a chess room, and some other special rooms. These were salons for activities that encouraged positive growth and learning, not some "French salons" or Swingers' Salon. 

This was where the students spent their free time. Despite how early the morning was, excited cries, cheers, and even wallows echoed into the corridors.

"Ahahaha! I got it!! I got it!!!"

"I'll tear this stupid sealion into half!!!" 

Judging from their passionate shouts, it was obvious that these students were spending their class-free morning playing some sort of thrilling games.

Baiyi's footsteps halted. Even after the center had been built, he never once visited here; his focus had always been the students' studies and exam performances, with nary any attention or care to his students' non-academic activities. In fact, he was very surprised when he caught rumors that the students had a tradition of creating popularity polls every semester, but even more surprising was that he, Principal of Da Xue, had always occupied the last few positions.

Was he really that unpopular among the students, even if they respected him greatly?

Surely there was a misunderstanding somewhere! A teacher's nature was to rectify their student, so Baiyi went into the center, intending to see what his students were usually engrossed in and tried his best to mingle with them more — or, at least, correct their incredibly-untrue impression.

The entire ground floor was designated as a large clubhouse where different activities were carried out in different corners. Some students were playing chess, while a few couples were staring into each other's eyes with passion — until their peripheral vision caught Baiyi entering the premise and they instantly sat straight up, followed by a sudden fit of conspicuous coughs to alert the other couples.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

On the very end of the clubhouse was a huge crowd where spirits were riding a nigh-maniacal high. They were so absorbed in their own game that they did not even notice Baiyi joining their crowd, and instead all of them seemed to be goading someone?

"You coward! Dip you damn hand into that box and try again, or don't ever let me hear you claim you love her!"

"A man is nothing more than a pile of uselessness if he dares not try to summon his waifu!"

"Shut up, all of you! I'll do it again, okay?! It doesn't matter if it costs my next month's allowance… If I could get my hands on her, I'll happily eat dirt as my meals every day!"

In the middle of the cheering crowd was a student wiping beads of sweat off his forehead. He gritted his teeth and chucked a few pieces of gold coins into a box next to him, then poked another box nearby. 

The top of the box suddenly ejected ten cards out from a slit on top.

The student dashed towards them, grabbing them into a pile in his hand before slowly turning them to the front, one by one. The crowd around him huddled close together, trying to see the characters had he obtained this time.

The first nine cards had been revealed to a relatively quiet and unresponsive crowd; It seemed that none of them had matched any expectation. Quickly, with the last card in his trembling hand, the student flipped his last hope's front side forward—and was greeted by the sight of a man whose skin was black more than tanned, giving a bright, white smile at the student.

"…Gahahahahahah! I am done! I am blessed! Ahahhaahha! I got my waifu; ahahahha!" The student suddenly let out a fit of hysterical laughter, shoving everyone in front of him to the side. With the card in his hand, he shrieked and laughed and ran out of the clubhouse. 

The rest of the students watched his back with looks of pity. Someone even muttered ruefully, "Another had lost it again…"

"Can someone be a dear and comfort him? I mean, if you have the skills, the Tribal Chief is still pretty, er... useful! Right?"

"Okay, I guess it's your turn now."

"Pass. I can sense some foreboding aura from the box today..."

When the summoning event ended, the crowd suddenly realized that the object of their attention was gone and that Baiyi was standing in their midst. This gave them a pretty big fright. Within seconds, however, the students managed to regain their composure. They bowed respectfully and greeted in unison, "Hello, Sir Principal!"

"It's alright; relax a little, okay? Oh, and please, put those boxes down. They are not going anywhere," Baiyi said loudly.

Two students who had attempted to sneak away with the boxes froze in their tracks, before obediently placing the boxes down and hanging their heads low, in shame. 

"Be honest; who started this game?" Baiyi asked as walked towards the box. He examined the box with his psychic energy, and to his surprise, he found a familiar formation within it; it was the replica of a formation he had invented. 

In Baiyi's head, the list of possible suspects suddenly reduced to just one person. He did not even need the students to answer him anymore. 

However, the students answered, "It's Professor Majesty, sir."

Baiyi was correct. There was only one person who would dare ask to be called 'Professor Majesty'; only this person would so shamelessly promote such a gatcha game: Baiyi's unreliable teacher — the Archmage!

That fella had played his gatcha games since he descended into a suit of armor to become a professor at Da Xue, and he had not complained about it at all. Baiyi had wondered if the geezer had finally managed to reign in his passion for these games; if that was the case, then, all this time, the Sage-Emperor of the Magi must have had more self-discipline within him than what he had shown to others. 

However, that notion no longer existed in Baiyi's mind. That old geezer had DIY-ed a bootlegged version, which he had used to con these students of their pocket money! How had the old geezer's face not yet dropped from his own shameless antics?! Furthermore, despite making a profit from scamming students, the old geezer had had the gall to ask Baiyi for a pay rise many times! Baiyi had had it!

"What happened to the money gathered?" Baiyi asked, pointing at the box. 

"A part of the profit is used to, um, print out new cards. Maintaining the formation is quite costly, and, uh, colors and papes are kinda expensive too. The rest of the profit is used to aid students who have financial problems," said another student. 

'Huh? This is weird. That old man did not line his pockets with his ill-gotten gains?' Baiyi was startled.

It cost a lot for students to enroll in Da Xue, so for many families with average income, it was nigh-impossible to pay the fees for only the first semester. Some of these parents were willing to do just about anything to get their kids into the best academy in the world, even if it meant living on a ridiculously stringent budget. The entrance exams were already incredibly difficult, so if kids from average families managed to pass it, their parents would not want to disappoint them. 

Students from such families were usually more mature and understanding than their peers. During the academy session, they take up odd jobs around the academy to raise more money for their fees. Some Voidwalkers who were notable for their compassion, like the Alchemist Walker and the Engineer Walker, created as many jobs within the academy as they could for such students. This would also ensure that Baiyi does not outsource projects.

As an emperor, helping the destitute in society had always been one of the Archmage's responsibilities. He had created the game to satisfy the craving of some students whilst generating money from the richer students, which he gave to the poorer students. 

Realizing that this was the case, Baiyi decided to give some props to his teacher. 

"Surely these cards are used for some other games, right? I don't think anyone would be too excited if all it does is to try to draw out desired cards, right?" Baiyi asked as he drew a random card from the box. 

On the card he had just pulled out, there is a picture of a beautiful female elf. The art style of this female elf was not that of oil paintings made to look as realistic as possible; instead, the female elf closely resembled the moe, magical girl anime art-style from Earth. In fact, it also resembled the art style of Takeuchi Sensei.

If Baiyi was not mistaken, this should be the work of Kashi, the Painter Walker, who never had a problem copying the art style and character design of others. Other than being a painter, he was also an intellectual property thief, which was why he had stolen art styles from Baiyi's memories of Earth.

Below the drawing of the female elf was a large heading: Elf Archer. There were three stars beside the text, which Baiyi guessed referred to the rarity of the card. On the bottom left and right corners of the card were two numbers, and in between these two numbers was another text: 'Deals 100% critical damage towards creatures of the Church.' 

'What sort of gamemaster would look at a fairy and say, "Gosh, this must be effective against 'creatures of the Church'?" Was this taken straight out of my nonsensical mind of my whimsical teacher?' Baiyi pondered. A moment later, he said, "Can I see a round of game?"

"Sure thing. Now, let us present to you, Wallace and Chazz — the best gamers of our group — to give you, our most respected principal, an epic demo! They have the best decks here," a student announced. 

This Wallace hailed from the famous Wallace family. They were respectable journalists, with skills that transcended that of false journalists, who only know how to copy the stories of others. In time, the Wallace family rose to become the top newspaper outlet in the Empire. With this much financial resources, it was not a surprise that a child from the family would have the money to play this expensive gatcha game. 

Chazz's family was not the least bit inferior to Wallace's family. His family had the largest toad farm in the Empire, and they offered a wide range of toads for medicinal or alchemical purposes.

Chazz and Wallace walked to the middle of the ground. They both had on leather holsters, in which they stored their deck of cards. After greeting each other, Wallace chuckled. "I shall begin now. Behold, Alchemy Faculty Principal, in the next few rounds, my mana crystal growth will multiply by twofold!"

He whipped out a card from his holster, assuming the coolest pose he could muster, and threw it down on the floor. Almost instantly, a mini hologram of the Archmage, which glowed a brilliant blue. This signified that this character was already reaping the aforementioned buff.

Seeing his opponent going for a heavy attack from the get-go, Chazz sneered. "Hmph. This is a game that demands true skills; it is not some game you could win just by spamming whatever golden card you have! Let me teach you a lesson today! Activating trap card — 'Experiment Error'! Your experiment has failed. Your Alchemy Faculty Principal is no more!"

"Aaahhh!" Wallace, who watched the mini hologram of the Archmage disappear, let out a bloodcurdling scream. He seemed to have suffered some damage from the backlash. 

"Hmph! Now it's my turn. Summoning, Engineering Faculty Principal; activating the effect, 'Magical Marionette Legion'! Let it rip!" Chazz shouted with glee, watching Wallace's HP plummet at an alarming rate. At this point, he was sure that he had won. 

"Tch! I admit that I have underestimated your penchant for traps. But, don't you think that it's enough to scare me! My turn. I summon Professor Nydore! Recover my lost health and annihilate these ragtag band of machines!" Wallace cried, tossing out another card, which gave rise to a mini hologram of Nydore.