Kalé headed for the Academy of Raya Lucaria to rest for a while. After bidding farewell to Kalé, Bai Shi mounted Torrent and rode away from the academy gate town. Once past the church district, he just had to cross the lair of the Glintstone Dragon—Smarag—to reach the location of the crystal cave. However, as he passed by the massive dragon’s nesting ground, Bai Shi circled it twice but saw no sign of the great Glintstone Dragon. Bai Shi scratched his head, finding it odd. "Strange, where did it go?" "Did it go out for a stroll?" Bai Shi had been thinking about whether he should capture it later to serve as a hired thug or perhaps as a pet for Ranni. Ranni already had a Glintstone Dragon, so one more wouldn't be a problem and would even be easier to manage. Bai Shi rode past the Glintstone Dragon's lair and found the entrance to the Academy Crystal Cave in the forest at the base of the academy. Here, there was a narrow opening. Unlike the game's design, which used an imp statue seal, this one was concealed by an illusionary wall. "This place is pretty well hidden." Bai Shi remarked casually. It had taken him quite some time to find it. He waved his hand to dispel the illusionary magic and walked inside. Within the cave were numerous pale purple glintstones, and alongside them gathered quite a few sorcerers. They were startled to see Bai Shi and immediately brandished their staves, launching a volley of spells. As if taking a leisurely stroll, Bai Shi easily dodged all of their relatively weak magic. This cave was completely outside the academy's surveillance. These were likely sorcerers who had been exiled, unaware that the academy had been claimed and unsealed by Bai Shi. Not wanting a fight, Bai Shi spoke to them. "I've reclaimed the Academy of Raya Lucaria. All of you, stand down." But the sorcerers across from him were skeptical. "How could we possibly believe something like that just because you say so!" Seeing their disbelief, Bai Shi couldn't be bothered to explain further. He charged forward and knocked them all to the ground, one punch for each. Looking at the handful of sorcerers twitching on the floor, Bai Shi suddenly remembered that he could have used the mark of the moon from Ranni as proof of his identity. Even if it didn't prove he was the current master of the academy, it would show he was an associate of Ranni, which these sorcerers would surely have believed. Well, he'd already beaten them up, so he decided to leave it at that. "Do you believe me now?" The sorcerers on the ground nodded frantically. "We believe you, we believe you..." "In any case, take me to the person in charge here." One sorcerer glanced around from the floor and, seeing that none of his peers were willing to get up, reluctantly stood. He was afraid that if they waited too long, this guy would take them all out. He led Bai Shi, weaving through the twists and turns of the cave. Soon, they arrived at a spacious cavern where a dozen or so sorcerers were gathered. These sorcerers wore various glintstone crowns, belonging to different schools of study. But for all intents and purposes, they now belonged to a single faction: the Crystalian school of sorcery. They were explorers of the Stone-Wisdom, dedicated to studying the subtle thoughts of the Crystallian collective. Their leader was a tall, powerfully built Battlemage. Seeing their guard from the entrance lead a stranger inside, the sorcerers all stood up, staves in hand. The one who appeared to be the leader remained wary, calling out from a distance: Bai Shi cleared his throat and replied: "I am the new master of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. It has now reopened." "I came here to reactivate the Magical Realm." After speaking, Bai Shi revealed the mark of moonlight Ranni had left on him. Seeing the phantom of the dark moon, the sorcerers here were mostly convinced. But they had been secluded here for too long, unaware of the situation outside, and now faced with such a massive change, they couldn't help but whisper among themselves. Meanwhile, the sorcerer who had been punched moments ago stared at the moonlight mark Bai Shi displayed, feeling a sense of exasperation. Why didn't you show that earlier? If you had, I could've been spared a beating. Bai Shi looked toward the Battlemage and began to question him. "Do you know that the Magical Realm has been damaged?" "Of course. We're the ones who quietly sabotaged it." "This is the place we decided to live after our Crystalian school was cast out of the academy." "To make things less comfortable for that disloyal, unrighteous lot, we went up from here and disrupted the Magical Realm." "Few people know that the academy's Magical Realm is actually located outside its walls and is connected to the Crystallians, so even after we sabotaged it, they couldn't catch us." Realizing that Bai Shi was here to repair the Magical Realm, he quickly added: "Oh, rest assured, we didn't destroy the magic circle completely." "We left a failsafe, so repairing it will be quite fast." Hearing that it could be repaired quickly, Bai Shi felt relieved. "Then take me there." "It will also be a good opportunity to meet the mysterious Crystallians." The strength and skill of the Crystallians were exceptionally high. The few true Crystalian sorceries required extremely high intelligence to cast; the academy's versions, like Crystal Burst and Shattering Crystal, were merely crude imitations. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 And the Stone-Wisdom possessed by the Crystallians was something the sorcerers of the Lands Between struggled to grasp. Bai Shi had yet to truly come into contact with the Stone-Wisdom, which was why he couldn't wield Primeval Sorcerer Lusat's Glintstone Staff. His teacher, Sellen, had used Primeval Sorcerer Azur's Glintstone Staff with such ease before; she must have mastered the Stone-Wisdom. Led by the sorcerers, Bai Shi finally saw the Crystallians in the depths of the cave. There were two Crystallians in this academy cave, both sitting cross-legged on the ground. Beside them lay a long spear and a staff, respectively. Their entire bodies were made of pale blue glintstone crystal, without a single impurity. The only thing that could be considered clothing was the cape on their backs. But their bodies showed no discernible gender, so perhaps there was no need for covering. Seeing someone enter, and sensing they were not hostile, the two Crystallians stood up and walked over with stiff, deliberate steps. After a moment, as if deciding this was too slow, they stood with their feet together and hopped over in a series of bounces. The Crystallian holding the staff stood before Bai Shi. Its body began to glow, producing a unique thought-form. Bai Shi could sense the flow of its consciousness but could not comprehend it. The Crystallian seemed to realize that Bai Shi couldn't understand its language, so it tried another method. A pale blue light flickered rapidly across its body, and Bai Shi's eyes gradually widened. Though he didn't understand what the Crystallian had done, the Crystallian sorceries—Crystal Burst and Shattering Crystal—had already appeared in his mind. The casting methods for these two spells had been directly transferred into Bai Shi's mind, like a face-to-face file share. Bai Shi wanted to thank the Crystallian but had no way to communicate with it. As for the sorcerers of the Crystalian school, none of them were particularly powerful and could not fully understand the Crystallians' intentions, relying on a mix of interpretation and guesswork. However, according to them, the Crystallians were very fond of Bai Shi and intended to give him a treasure. At the Crystallian's signal, the sorcerers retrieved a resplendent crystal staff from a hidden place and presented it to Bai Shi. It was a pure crystal staff that could not be crafted by human hands, its entire body formed from deep blue crystal. This staff enhanced Crystallian sorceries, but only those with sufficient intelligence who had touched the Stone-Wisdom could wield it in human form. Bai Shi grasped the Crystal Staff, but just like with Master Lusat's staff, he couldn't use it. It seemed his intelligence attribute was still too low, preventing him from touching the so-called Stone-Wisdom for now. Currently, Bai Shi hadn't invested very many points into intelligence, with it being only at 41. And if he remembered correctly, the intelligence requirement for the Crystal Staff was 48. He wondered if he would be able to use it after reactivating the Magical Realm. If 48 intelligence was enough to wield the Crystal Staff, did that mean an intelligence of that level could make contact with the Stone-Wisdom? If he could use it, then with a bit of reinforcement, this would be the strongest staff at his disposal. He was completely unable to use Master Lusat's Glintstone Staff, and while the Sword of Night and Flame could serve as a catalyst, it was, at its core, still a sword. When it came to sorcery scaling, the Sword of Night and Flame still paled in comparison to a true staff. After accepting the Crystal Staff, Bai Shi and several sorcerers in charge of repairing the magic circle rode the elevator to the top of the tower. The lift platform floated up out of thin air, swiftly ascending to the highest level of the bell tower. Stepping off the lift, Bai Shi now stood at the very peak of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. From this height, he could clearly look down upon the entire academy spread out beneath him. Bai Shi soon spotted his teacher, Sellen, standing in the building opposite him. He waved in her direction, and Sellen, noticing him, smiled and nodded back. Bai Shi and the sorcerers walked up the stairs along the exterior of the bell tower, arriving at the spot where the magic circle for the Magical Realm was inscribed. The magic circle on the ground had been deliberately severed, rendering it incapable of performing its original function. With the collaborative effort of the several sorcerers, the circle was quickly and completely repaired. They looked at Bai Shi and said: "Lord Bai Shi, please infuse it with your magic power and restart the Magical Realm for the academy." "Activating the Magical Realm requires a massive amount of magic power, so please be careful." Bai Shi stepped forward and stood in the center of the magic circle. He stretched out his hand, and the magic power within him surged forth, pouring into the circle beneath his feet. As the immense amount of magic was continuously infused, an azure light began to glow along the circle's patterns. When the entire circle under Bai Shi's feet was lit, a colossal, illusory magic circle spread across the sky. At this point, Bai Shi was feeling the strain; his magic power was nearly depleted. The amount of magic needed to activate this thing was far too great. The Full Moon Queen's reserves of magic power must have been astonishing. Bai Shi drank four Flasks of Cerulean Tears in succession before he was finally able to fully activate the magic circle, covering the entire academy. From the moment the Magical Realm fully formed, countless stars began to glitter in the academy's dark night sky. Whenever and wherever, the stars would now be by the sorcerers' side. Bai Shi let out a sigh of relief. He had finally managed to start it up. Once activated, the Magical Realm would sustain itself through its own magical cycle, requiring no further infusion of power. At that moment, Bai Shi felt his mind become incredibly clear, his understanding and knowledge of sorcery deepening significantly. Bai Shi took out the Crystal Staff again. The previous awkwardness was gone, and he could now use it normally. He could probably communicate with the Crystallians to some extent now, too. Bai Shi flourished the Crystal Staff, and a miniature Magical Realm immediately appeared at his feet. While activating the grand magic circle, he had learned this spell as well. For the next few days, all he had to do was wait for Melina's rebirth. However, the time Melina would need to be reborn might be longer than what he and Ranni had estimated. In the Carian Grand Library, Ranni had temporarily departed, leaving Rennala alone. Cradling the Rebirth Amber, Rennala suddenly noticed something unusual about Melina. Her eyes opened, and she looked down with a mother's love at Melina, who was curled up inside the egg. "Oh my, there's some kind of seal on you..." "Let Mother undo that seal for you~" She reached out to touch it but was repelled by another force, and blood trickled from her fingertip. But Rennala paid it no mind. She touched her finger to the seal again, continuously working to break the ancient enchantment. "Don't you worry, my sweet child. I will make sure you are reborn perfectly."