Chapter 349 - 349: The Wisdom Challenge

When Kain's team reached the central area, the champion teams of the second and third years also arrived.

The second-year champion team was led by a female student named Kya, who was said to have reached the mid-class in two magic systems, possessing great strength. The third-year champion team was not led by one person but two, a pair of siblings named Arlo and Quinn.

The three parties watched each other warily, seemingly wanting to evaluate their opponents thoroughly.

Just then, the Principal's voice appeared, echoing throughout the hall yet transmitting directly into everyone's ears.

"Congratulations, champions. To be able to stand here, your efforts have been unbelievable."

"Therefore, there will be a change in the regulations this time."

"First, for the third-year champion team, as long as you win, you will immediately receive a slot to enter the Tower of Magus."

As soon as the Principal finished her sentence, the entire hall immediately erupted, especially among the third-year students.

If they had known that they only needed to become the overall academy champions to enter the Tower of Magus, they would have tried harder.

The third-year champion team was stunned for a moment, and then their faces showed ecstatic joy. The Tower of Magus, the holy land of the Magus, was only one match away from them.

"Of course, if you cannot defeat the others, that ticket does not deservedly belong to a loser. The second-year champion team also has a similar opportunity."

Both champion teams received good news, but Kain's team did not. After all, the mechanism of accumulating 27 stars to get a ticket to the Tower of Magus had been applied only to the first years. The second and third-year students could no longer apply it, so the ticket was offered directly as a reward.

Regardless, everyone needed to become the overall academy champion to touch that prize, so there was nothing to be jealous of.

"In front of the three teams are three challenges leading to the final battle. Each team can choose a challenge to overcome, proceeding simultaneously."

"First, strength."

An upright sword rose from the void, representing the challenge of strength.

"Second, will."

A shield rose to the right of the sword, representing the challenge of will.

"Finally, wisdom."

A scepter rose to the left of the sword, representing the challenge of wisdom.

The twins Arlo and Quinn stepped forward first and placed their hands on the sword; their entire team disappeared along with the sword. Kya immediately chose the shield. Finally, the central area was left with only the lonely scepter and Kain's team.

The wisdom challenge happened to suit his preference as well.

"Is everyone ready?"

Kain turned back to ask, and everyone nodded slightly.

Then, he touched the scepter, and his vision blurred for a moment.

When it returned to normal, Kain found himself standing inside a rather dark space lit by an unnatural light source, just enough for him to see the path. More strangely, his four teammates behind him had disappeared.

Kain frowned, but he didn't ponder for long, seemingly understanding something as he continued to walk.

At the same time, in the Principal's office.

Faith sat on one side, comfortably leaning back with both hands behind his head. Seeing the scene of Kain being teleported alone, he couldn't help but laugh, turning to the Principal and saying.

"Aren't you afraid he will come to call you to account for doing that?"

"What do you know? I am an educator, and I want to give students the best possible chance to develop."

The Principal's intention was that in the wisdom challenge, if Kain were kept with his team like the other teams, then his teammates would not gain any training because he was there. So they had to be separated, with a harder puzzle prepared for Kain, while the others still followed the old standard.

But Faith knew perfectly well that this lady Principal was making excuses to stall for time after she had confidently presented the challenge's puzzle to Faith, only for him to solve it within five minutes. This made the Principal fear that if Kain encountered this puzzle, he would solve it at that same speed, and that wouldn't be fun, right?

Of course, Faith did not dare say that out loud; he only clicked his tongue and observed, attempting to solve the "advanced" puzzle that the Principal had highly guaranteed could stall Kain long enough.

Walking a long distance, Kain encountered a slightly inclined slope, but it wasn't difficult to overcome.

However, what was noteworthy was a large wall blocking the way directly on the slope, with a small passage in the middle of the wall. Additionally, the wall was decorated with many strange patterns, scattered into non-uniform dark blocks except for a horizontal line; in each block was the shape of a jet-black straight bar with different slanted angles, and their sizes were also non-uniform.

In short, looking at it, it didn't seem like anything at all, but both Kain and Faith understood that this was the puzzle set by the Principal.

This time, even Faith had to clap his hands in appreciation.

"To think it wasn't seen through by me; this puzzle of yours truly has some depth."

"Of course, this is my masterpiece... wait, you saw through my previous puzzle from the very first second?"

"Of course, spending 'five minutes to solve it' was already a high degree of respect from me."

This sentence of Faith's only stopped at his throat and wasn't spat out; one who lives under another's eaves must know how to bow.

Besides, solving this puzzle and competing once again with Kain was an interesting thing to do in his free time.

As for Kain, he merely glanced at the wall and the mess on it for ten seconds, then walked straight into the small door in the middle.

The Principal was also uneasy; although outwardly confident, who knew what these people were holding in their heads.

If Faith hadn't "slipped up," she would have thought the previous puzzle had challenged him a bit.

Fortunately, five minutes later, Kain reappeared at the area of the wall and the slope. Clearly, he had failed to escape.

Faith wasn't too worried either, because as of now, he hadn't finished solving it, so there was no reason Kain could have solved it that quickly.

At this moment, Kain slid down from the top of the slope, looked at the wall, and stood there in deep thought.

Faith's expression was no longer playful; he too was staring intently at the wall.

"It's a pity one cannot see what is inside that passage. What did Kain encounter?"