Chapter 176 Shadow Step



"I see…" Vale can only say as he was still processing all the information he heard from the Headmaster.

"This is incredible, Vale… I'm not sure how the Malefic Branch made by Heinz works but it will surely become our Faction's future. I hope that he can make plenty of you… No, I hope he succeeds in his research..." Headmaster Jean said in excitement.

"…"

Vale wasn't sure how to comment on that as he simply agreed with the headmaster.

"I hope he does…"

After this, Vale was told to keep the Life Converging Crystal… He didn't just profit from his Extraction but he also gained new items thanks to the generous Headmaster.

"Headmaster, may I know what are these items on the shelf?" Vale asked. It was now time to learn some things related to this steel bunker and everything inside it.

Headmaster Jean was, of course, expecting some questions from Vale. This place is extremely weird after all.

There are corpses from different species and otherwordly items that you wouldn't find elsewhere. If Vale wouldn't be curious about these things, it would be more suspicious.

"The ones on the shelf are called Arcana Relics…"

Vale squinted his eyes as this is the first time he heard something like this. Well, it wasn't surprising that he was unaware of it considering he doesn't even know anything about Immortal Fragment.

Seeing Vale's confusion, Headmaster Jean continued to explain.

"You can say that they are just broken pieces of a previous Mystical Artifact but they still contain incredible power that we can't understand until today."

"A broken Mystical Artifact?"

"Yes… There is a rank above the Sovereign Artifacts… They're called Arcana and these items here are highly connected to some Arcana that has appeared in the past…"

"I see… Arcana Relics…" Vale felt that he was learning things that a first-year student like him shouldn't learn at this stage.

"Thank you for letting me know, Headmaster…" Vale added.

"Yes… As for the Corpses here, I can only tell you that they came from a place where all the Arcane Paths are discovered... You will know more about it some day if you're fated."

"Hmm? A place where all the Twelve Arcane Paths are discovered?" Vale asked in confusion.

To be honest, he has no idea how the practice of Arcane Arts started. He only knows that each Arcane Path has founding members or first practitioners… It was then spread to many people as these founding members started accumulating members to obtain a stronger force and better resources.

He didn't think too much of it since he's more focused on getting stronger in the present time.

The past is simply a history that he would learn in the Academy.

However, at this time, he felt that this past is actually quite important… After all, understanding the Celestials, Monsters, and Immortals would help him find whatever they left behind and perhaps, he can extract them!

"Yes… I can tell you now that I'm not aware of that place and only the founding members were aware of it. Anyway, my collection is only something I inherited from the previous Headmaster so my knowledge is also quite limited…" Headmaster Jean said with a smile.

Vale stiffened as soon as he heard this. After all, there are some rumors that Headmaster Jean actually killed the previous Headmaster to obtain his current position.

'Did he kill the Headmaster to obtain this basement filled with precious corpses and arcana relics?' Vale mused as he nodded to the man in front of him.

Vale asked a few more questions about the corpses and the relics as he felt that this information would be very useful someday. Of course, he also answered some questions from the Headmaster.

In the end, Vale still asked for 'normal' corpses...

"Headmaster, these corpses here are too high-level… Do you have a collection of normal ones? I mean, corpses of Arcane Practitioners? It doesn't matter which Arcane Path they were practicing…"

"Hmm…" Headmaster Jean didn't immediately answer and pondered for a moment.

"If you don't have a collection of them, can you bring me to a place with some preserved corpses?" Vale continued.

Although there is probably a different source of energy that he can extract using his system, thanks to his discovery of Immortal Fragments, he only knows about the corpses of people for now.

Until he learned what other things he can extract, he would certainly focus on extracting these corpses since they can stably provide him with attribute points.

"Hmm… My friend has a few so I can introduce you to him. He's from Dark Magic Branch so those corpses he has with him were probably cursed due to his experimentation. Is that alright with you?" Headmaster Jean asked.

"Yes, Headmaster. That's perfectly fine for me."

"Follow me…" Headmaster Jean said as they left the steel bunker.

As soon as they were out of the wooden cottage, Headmaster Jean had no unnecessary words as he simply grabbed Vale's shoulder once again as the latter's vision turned black…

It was the teleportation technique once again!

It seems that this technique doesn't work inside the cottage so he was led outside.

Then, in just a few seconds, Vale realized that he was back at the Academy Grounds. To be exact, he arrived at a huge building not too far from the Academy.

On his left, he can see the walled castle or the Vermont Academy about 3 miles away. The factory where he lived for a year was also quite visible because of the smoke it is emitting…

If Vale wasn't mistaken, he can see this area when he was still at the Steel Factory… This place should be an empty hill!

He didn't expect that there is actually a secret building here!

"Ho~ It seems that you realized where you are… Anyway, my friend is here and I'll just inform him about your arrival."

"Yes, Headmaster! Ahhh, can you tell me about the movement technique you used? If possible, I want to learn this as well." Vale bravely asked.

As he experienced how awesome this ability was, there was no way he wouldn't be interested.

Headmaster Jean simply laughed it off as he said with a chuckle.

"You can't learn it since I'm using a Mystical Artifact to do this. However, the closest movement technique is called Shadow Step. It's a Tier 2 Dark Spell and you should be able to learn it since its requirement is only 17 Spirit Strands and 8 Life Strands."