Elite Mages' Academy

Xiao Lin’s muddled mind immediately snapped awake. His body shot up, but he realized that there was a slight pain coming from his feet. He struggled to stand up, and squinted as he tried to use the limited amount of sunlight to appraise his surroundings. After that, his heart plummeted.

It was a prison. A wet place with filthy walls and a foul stench that assaulted his nostrils. Lying next to him were the other monitors, but none of them seemed to be awake. There were two cells, and there were six of them in Xiao Lin’s cell. He hurried over to wake someone up, and shouted at the other side.

Just like Xiao Lin, after the initial grogginess, they began to notice their surroundings and all of them were shocked before they quickly turned to anger.

“Why are we in jail?”

“Damn! It must be the rebels. We were too careless.”

“It can’t be the rebels. I think we’ve been betrayed.”

“Betrayed? By who?”

“The ones we helped must have gotten greedy, and took advantage of our sleep to capture us!”

“Oh! Who was the one who helped them first yesterday? Those natives had nothing to do with us!”

“What do you mean by that, Han Manman. It’s not like you didn’t give out your things as well!”

…

The prison cells suddenly erupted like a marketplace. Everyone was very agitated, and was constantly speculating. Some of them even tried to put the blame on others.

“Everyone quiet!” Xiao Lin took a deep breath, saying angrily, “What’s the use of saying all that now! Look at our current predicament first!”

After a moment, most of the monitors quieted down. A few of them still seemed to have something to say, but were quickly stopped by the ones next to them. In the dim light, everyone looked around. Even in this environment, they could not help but have a strange feeling. At some point, Xiao Lin had slowly turned into a leader that was more persuasive than Cheng Ming. Of course, it was only because Xiao Lin was stronger, and they did not retaliate because of that.

The monitors needed a leader, which was why the school had the year leader position. While the year leader was absent, Cheng Ming had been the temporary figure that everyone silently acknowledged, but now Xiao Lin had taken over. Cheng Ming did not express any discontent. He probably felt the same way as Xiao Lin, they needed to first grasp their current situation before thinking about how to get out.

Xiao Lin let out a sigh and looked at the door that was locked tight. Even after the commotion just now, no one had come to check on them. It seemed like they had been left there by themselves. After that, he said, “The first thing is the time. We arrived in the town and stayed in the inn during the second day. How much time would have passed now?”

“It seems like it’s day right now, but I don’t feel like we were brought here right after we fell asleep because we would definitely have felt it, so I think it’s already the next day.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange? How could we not have reacted at all. Even if we really were that tired, it can’t be possible that none of us reacted.”

“It can’t be more than a day. I’d be famished.” Cheng Ming’s appetite was the best gauge they had at the moment.

Xiao Lin nodded. “I think we’ve been made. Try and see if any of us can still use our strength–sword aura or mental strength.”

After a moment, just as expected, everyone was shocked and angered to realize they were powerless.

Xiao Lin sighed. “Then let’s treat this as the next day. Now comes our team. Everyone, report in. We’ll start with Class One.”

After all twelve of them reported their names, Xiao Lin’s expression sank. Everyone realized something was wrong too. The monitors were all there, but Ibeiya was missing.

Xiao Lin forced himself to calm down, continuing, “Now, motive. If it was really done by the commoners in the town, then it can only be for money. Everyone check yourselves.”

Their bags had all gone missing. Even Xiao Lin’s spatial ring was nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, other than himself, no one could open the ring, but it still caused him some grief. The rest of them were the same. Everything they brought along, as well as their weapons, had gone missing. What caused them to sour was the fact that the New Dollars the academy issued to them were untouched in their pockets.

“Even refugees understand the purchasing power of New Dollars on colonial grounds. Even if they had no way to get there, New Dollars are still useful in the Silver Province.”

“So, we can eliminate the possibility that it was for money, but who did it?”

“The griffins!” Chen Dao brought up the ambush during the night again.

Originally, they had their doubts on whether or not the griffins were mobilized by someone, but thinking about it now, they started to believe it. There was definitely someone watching them in the shadows.

Everyone fell quiet. The only thing they were not certain about at the moment was whether or not this was done by the academy to increase the difficulty of the monthly examination.

“Then let’s think about how we should get out.” After a short silence, Xiao Lin spoke up.

“Get out? How would we get out? Don’t forget we can’t use any power right now.”

“We haven’t eaten for at least a day. We don’t have our physical or mental strength. We should at least wait until we’ve rested up to think about it.”

Xiao Lin said, “Yes, once we recover, this prison might not be able to keep us in. With Chen Dao’s fireballs and Cheng Ming’s strength, we have many ways to get out, but if this was not the academy making things harder for us, if someone is really scheming something, would they give us the chance to escape? We might encounter something worse while we’re resting.”

“Do you have a better way?” someone asked hopefully. After all, no one wanted to stay in that dark, filthy, and smelly prison cell.

“All I can say is, it’s a plan borne out of desperation.” Xiao Lin smiled bitterly.

“You’re crazy!” Class Eight’s Zhang Shengguo exclaimed from the other side.

“Ah, you understood it as well.” Xiao Lin acknowledged Zhang Shengguo’s words. Even if he had some problems with vanity, he was quite intelligent.

“I object! There’s absolutely no need!” Zhang Shengguo said angrily.

“Can you just tell us already?” More of them started to sweat.

Chen Dao had a moment of realization, widening his eyes in disbelief. “Hold on, Xiao Lin, surely you’re not telling us to commit group suicide!”

“Yes, that’s right…”

“My God…”

After a moment, the quiet prison cell once again erupted in clamor.