Xia Lun remained silent.
He didn’t ask how the evil god known as "Fictitious Truth" had been severely injured, nor why its eye was now embedded in his own body.
Aina nestled against him with a sweet smile, and a flicker of tenderness and sorrow passed through Xia Lun’s eyes.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much Aina had endured for him during his absence.
"Aina."
"What is it?"
"I love you."
"Even if you say such things now, I can’t immediately reward you, you know?" Aina’s eyes curved into crescent moons as she laughed.
Almost no students were eliminated in the second test.
"Alright, then… there’s one final test left. If you pass, you’ll officially become students of Oliphant," Delyan announced to everyone present.
Xia Lun was slightly surprised. Both the first and second tests had been far more lenient than he expected.
He had assumed that Oliphant, as the continent’s top magic academy, would have much stricter and more demanding entrance requirements.
"Times have changed, Hero," Liyana said, as if reading his thoughts. "During the Age of Chaos, the world’s mana was abundant. But ever since the Demon King ended that era and ushered in the Age of Order, the world’s mana has drastically thinned, leaving magic in decline…"
"Mages have become fewer and fewer. In terms of both numbers and strength, today’s mages are far weaker than those of the past… Well, life is more peaceful now, so I don’t exactly hate these days."
"Besides, Oliphant’s reputation as a top-tier magic academy comes from its scale," Aina added. "It has nearly 100,000 students. In this era, it’s common for mages to enroll in magic academies."
"But, Xia Lun… just who was that Demon King?" Liyana suddenly leaned in, scrutinizing Xia Lun’s face.
"After you disbanded our party, we heard you went alone to seal the Demon King… What kind of person was he? It’s been so many years—can’t you tell me now? Oh, Aina, you must be curious too, right? If you ask him, he’ll definitely listen to you…"
Aina nuzzled against Xia Lun’s arm. "Would you tell me, Xia Lun?"
"No."
"What if I begged you?"
"Still no." Xia Lun’s expression remained calm, his smile unreadable.
"Then what if tonight…" Aina whispered something into Xia Lun’s ear in a soft, honeyed voice.
"I… I still can’t." Xia Lun coughed lightly, his face flushed.
That was close—he had almost agreed.
"What a shame," Aina sighed. "You see, Liyana? Even I can’t make him talk."
Meanwhile, Liyana covered her cheeks, her face burning red.
Aina hadn’t bothered to hide her whisper from Liyana, and with the sharp hearing of an archer, Liyana had caught every word.
Married couples really do play… wildly…
"If… if Xia Lun doesn’t want to say, then forget it. He must have his reasons for keeping it secret… Let’s not pressure him," Liyana stammered, still blushing.
Truthfully, there was no reason.
Xia Lun muttered inwardly.
It was simply because the Demon King in question was standing right in front of Liyana.
Suddenly, Xia Lun sensed something and slowly raised his head.
Then, with a faint smile, he dismissed it.
……
"No… This can’t be real…"
Kalinda collapsed to the floor, covering her face in despair.
Before her, a magical ice mirror reflected Xia Lun’s face.
Upon closer inspection, Xia Lun’s features bore a faint resemblance to Wolund’s.
And given how young Xia Lun looked… If he were Wolund’s son from an earlier time, then all of Wolund’s strange behavior over the years would finally make sense.
But that wasn’t all—the girl beside Xia Lun also shared some resemblance to Wolund.
Could Wolund have not just a son, but a daughter as well?
Kalinda felt as if she had been struck by a hammer, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"Will you give up, Kalinda?" she whispered to herself.
"No! Is your love for Wolund so shallow?"
"He hasn’t publicly acknowledged having a wife yet! Maybe they’re divorced!"
"Even if he’s a divorced forty-year-old with two kids… Is that really enough to make you stop loving him? How superficial!"
"I love Wolund as he is now, not his past… Even if he made mistakes before, there’s nothing shameful about that."
"The Wolund I see today is a hero admired by all!"
Determination reignited in Kalinda’s heart.
"I will make those children call me ‘Mother’ willingly!"
"That’s it—the children are the key! If they side with me, Wolund will have no choice but to surrender!"
"Keh-keh-keh… What a brilliant plan!"
"No, no, Kalinda, you mustn’t laugh so wickedly."
She wiped the drool from her lips. "Heh-heh-heh…"
……
"Who is that?" Xia Lun asked Aina.
"Someone close to Wolund. Probably just curious about us," Aina instantly deduced. "Ignore her. If she becomes a nuisance…"
"Aina." Xia Lun’s tone carried a hint of warning.
"Then I’ll tell Wolund," Aina stuck out her tongue playfully. "What, did you think I was some bloodthirsty maniac?"
"Of course not, Your Majesty the Demon King."
Delyan led the group forward, soon arriving at another location—an arena.
The arena was vast, surrounded by iron gates, with thick stone pillars scattered across the field, each engraved with unknown totems.
The spectator stands were empty, clearly not open to the public at the moment.
The freshmen exchanged nervous glances, unsure why Delyan had brought them here.
But one thing was certain—an arena meant combat.
Most of these youths had no battle experience. Many hadn’t even learned their first spell yet, making this place seem entirely irrelevant to them.
Delyan announced expressionlessly, "The final test."
"Each of you must kill a goblin."
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
