The Blood Spear Academy looked the same as before, with almost no one on the surface, and so silent one would think the place was deserted.
Arthur, Lucas and Liz returned to that place. Arthur wanted to go to Odemore for a quick trip, but it was on the other side of the continent, and that would delay their mission by a lot.
He did not want the Blood Council or the rector suspicious about him, so the best course of action was to just return.
"I can use the anchor in one of the next days when things settled down." He thought.
The trio went to the remote area of the school where their cabins were. Then they used the trapdoor to go underground to where the real fun was.
"Shall we deliver this quest and get ourselves the reward?" Liz said with a chuckle.
Of course, that was the first thing they did after returning to the school. They went to the same building they got the quest for, and then showed the paper which the chief of the village stamped.
Then, the attendant went to browse their records, and saw the stamp was authentic.
"Here, this is your reward."
The attendant gave them a small sack of leather which had mana stones inside. These stones weren't of the best quality, and the quantity was low as well, but it was a good starting point for weak mages like them.
As for the contribution points, these were added automatically, so they did not need to worry about it.
"Ah! It feels nice to have money!" Lucas said as they left the building.
Liz rolled her eyes, and then said with a smirk, "it is nice for you to say since our share of the mission will go to your weapon!"
"Oh, come on! Only this time, okay? It is not as if we will not get another quest soon."
"She was just joking, bro, relax. What shall we do next?" Arthur asked.
'
They could get more quests, but then they would just be doing low-ranked ones with lower rewards. Arthur believed the best thing they could do was get stronger and practice other things inside the school, as it was a safe place for the time being.
"Let's focus on ourselves first. Get stronger with magic, and practice the things we want, like my enchanting and your alchemy. Maybe one quest a month? Let's see how we are till that point." Liz said.
Lucas nodded, agreeing with everything she had just said, and Arthur felt the same way. If it was only him, then sure, go out on some adventures would not hurt because he was already strong, but Liz and Lucas had just started their magical path, so practicing was more important than getting money.
Before doing such things, they went to the shop and bought a magical weapon for Lucas, as that was something he wanted. The weapon of chose was a spear, which Lucas felt it was cool!
"Look at how handsome I am now!" Lucas said as he did some sloppy moves.
"Put it inside your magical pouch when inside the school, or else some people will come looking for trouble."
"You're right."
The trio left the shop, and then heard an announcement which travelled through the underground area, calling each one of them to the palace, the biggest building in the underground.
Arthur did not know who called them, but he was almost sure it was the rank 3 mage in charge of the school.
All the students went to the palace. No matter what level of strength you had, they had to obey to their master, or else the punishment would be death!
"What is happening? Have any idea, Arthur?" Liz asked Arthur who she believed to be the person with the most experience.
"Hum, the only reason for them to call everyone is for an event, which I doubt it will happen, or something happened with the war. I believe it is the latter."
No one had a good feeling about it, but what could they do? Even though some did not want to go answer the call, they did anyway.
When they got in front of the vast palace, someone was flying in front of it, looking at all the students who approached the place.
The person had a youthful face, wore a crimson robe, and had a white hair long enough to almost touch his butt. It was the first time the new students saw their leader, Arthur included.
For a moment, he was scared that his disguise would be seen, as the aura coming from that man was insane, but nothing happened, so he relaxed a bit.
'',
After the stream of students stopped, the man in crimson robes spoke once again.
"I am calling you today because of the war. Some of our weaker schools are being raided, so we have to respond with the same coin."
"The two schools we are aiming to attack are The Crystal Waterfall and the Scorching Sun. Anyone who is at least in the 7th circle will take part, as for the rest, you will stay here. This is all. You have one month to prepare."
The man disappeared, and most of the students sighed in relief. Those who were below the seventh circle would not have to take part in the war, so why worry?
"Arthur, this is good news. We don't need to fight in the war, and-" Liz stopped talking when she realized Arthur did not take the news as good as everyone else.
"The… the Crystal Waterfall is the school where Kai is, and Theo is in the Scorching Sun… How can I be this unlucky?" Arthur thought.
He did not mutter a word until the trio returned to their cabins, and there he told them about his two friends who helped him a long time ago, and those two were in the schools they would attack.
"Bro… This is unlucky… What will you do?"
"Either pretend to reach the seventh circle and go with them, or just flee from the school and intervene there."
"Are you going to kill all of our students who will take part in the fight?" Liz asked him with a worried face.
Although she did not know most of them, it was still something she did not agree.
"That, or just take my friends and leave."
"Arthur, we never thought of asking but, what side of the war are you in?"
"Both me and Lucas went to this school because it was easier to get into. You know that the only school who teaches the shadow element is the Ouroboros, and no one can enter that place…"
"If I could get you two into Ouroboros in the future, like a year from now, would you go?"
"Could you really? If yes, then yes, we will leave this place. A year from now? I will work hard to not be a burden to you!" Liz said.
Lucas said the same words. Then it was settled. Both Lucas and Liz would go to Ouroboros after Nefion dealt with the rank 3 mage, which would take at least one more year.
Now Arthur needed to think of a way to rescue his two friends in just one month.