Chapter 103: Soul Crystal

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Soul Crystal

The four teammates also shot to fame overnight thanks to their performance that day.

But just as the excited crowd rushed to find out more and tried to close the distance, they discovered a rather embarrassing truth: whether it was Jeremy or the remaining four members, they were all as sealed as a vault door.

Aside from Lomita and Raphael, who could still exchange a few words with Captain Jeremy, almost no one could strike up a conversation with them.

While the entire academy was buzzing with lively gossip, the five individuals who had just quietly returned to the Class 659 classroom of the Anima department were enduring a suffocating storm.

The classroom was dead silent. So silent that even each person’s breathing became bizarrely loud.

Griffin leaned back in the magic chair without saying a word, Griffin’s eyelashes drooping to cover his purple eyes, making it impossible for anyone to guess what was going through Griffin’s mind.

Leon crossed his legs and leaned sideways against the back of the chair. The instructor’s attitude was entirely outside of Leon’s scope of concern.

Lucius propped his chin on one hand, while the fingers of his other hand lazily spun a quill pen. The feather tip swept back and forth across the desk, forming a faint streak of light.

Evelyn and Phoenix remained seated in the back row, maintaining an attitude that absolutely nothing had anything to do with them.

Jeremy cast a glance toward Griffin.

All things considered, second place wasn’t that bad. Was it really necessary to drop a single sentence and then remain dead silent for a whole ten minutes like this... it was truly intimidating.

Jeremy looked up at the magic clock hanging on the wall.

The matches began at eight in the morning. Including the competition time and the travel between arenas, the whole thing only consumed nearly five hours. It had just passed one in the afternoon.

When would they be allowed to get the hell back to the dorms?

Griffin probably wouldn’t go so far as to take the entire remaining half of the day to cram in another training session, right...

Just as that thought ran through Jeremy’s mind, the space in front of him rippled slightly. A semi-transparent gemstone sparkling with a mix of gold and purple light appeared, hovering at his eye level.

In front of the other four, an identical gemstone also appeared.

That golden-purple hue radiated a life force so pure that the magic power in Jeremy’s sea of consciousness automatically stirred in response. Its shape and aura somewhat matched the item recorded in an ancient tome Jeremy had flipped through a few days ago.

But perhaps it wasn’t that.

Jeremy looked up at Griffin: "Teacher, what is this?"

Griffin replied flatly: "A Soul Crystal. Used to expand the sea of the soul."

Jeremy’s finger halted in mid-air.

Was this thing really a Soul Crystal—a divine artifact that only existed in the records of the basement library?

Griffin casually waved a hand and took out five of them at once, then simply pushed them over to his students like handing out candy?

The value of this item... even using the word "priceless" to describe it would be an understatement.

Besides expanding the sea of the soul, a Soul Crystal also fortified the soul’s structure, leaving behind a permanent defensive mark. Once the owner’s soul fell into a state of severe injury or was attacked directly, that mark would automatically activate, even proceeding to repair any tears.

In short: it was both an expanded magic power reservoir and a lifesaving talisman for when the grim reaper came knocking.

Even the empire’s royal family probably couldn’t pull out five of these crystals at once.

Just what exactly was this man’s background...

Jeremy was a bit curious, but Jeremy didn’t ask further. With Griffin’s unpredictable, moody temperament, it was better to tread carefully in all matters.

As Jeremy stored the crystal into his spatial ring, Jeremy asked, "Why are you giving this to us all of a sudden?"

Griffin propped his chin up, his entire body exuding a languid demeanor like a lazy cat basking in the sun.

"In this tournament, where do you think you lost?"

The question thrown back had absolutely nothing to do with what Jeremy had just asked.

Jeremy fell silent.

This question was a bit difficult to answer.

Leon—someone who had always treated all worldly possessions like trash—was also slightly moved when facing the Soul Crystal hovering in front of him. Ultimately unable to resist the temptation, Leon closed his hand and collected it, rarely lowering his voice a few degrees: "Naturally, we lost in terms of Inscriptions. If our Holy Covenants were on the same level, there is no way we could have lost."

The remaining four did not speak up. But that silence was precisely a sign of confirmation.

Even if they didn’t need top-tier Holy Covenants, as long as they weren’t those bottom-ranking numbers, as long as it was an upper-tier Spirit Covenant, their limits would absolutely not stop at this second-place position.

As if seeing through every layer of their thoughts, Griffin’s fingertip tapped lightly on the desk three times, Griffin’s gaze sliding over to the person holding the position of captain:

"Is this your answer as well?"

Jeremy hesitated for half a beat, ultimately still nodding: "Yes."

"Then what do you think is my purpose in giving the Soul Crystals to you?"

What kind of answering a question with a question was this?

Jeremy grumbled internally, but since the man had just shoved such a massive windfall into their hands, outwardly Jeremy still had to play along: "So that our strength can be raised to another level, securing absolute victory in the next semester’s tournaments?"

"You knew and you still asked?"

Jeremy: ... He was just making a wild guess.

Just how much did Griffin care about their performance, for him to hand over even a divine artifact as easily as flipping his hand?

Griffin couldn’t be bothered to care what was going through his students’ heads. Griffin’s gaze swept over the five of them, his tone so flat it didn’t carry a single grain of emotion, yet as nonchalant as someone who truly had the qualifications to manipulate all things:

"Inscriptions bestowed by the gods cannot be changed. But your limits are for me to decide."

This statement was so arrogant it could be directly classified as hubris.

But for some unknown reason, Jeremy genuinely believed that Griffin could do it.

As for whether the students believed it or not, it held absolutely no value to Griffin. Griffin’s demeanor remained as casual as ever, only his voice beginning to be tinged with a layer of chill that slithered down the listeners’ spines:

"I can put in the effort. But if in the end you do not reach the level I expect, then do not blame me for being heartless."

Jeremy couldn’t hold back: "Then what is the standard for that expectation?"

"Depends on my mood?"

Jeremy quietly pulled out the Soul Crystal he had just put away and placed it on the desk, Jeremy’s face devoid of any emotion: "Then can I refuse to accept this?"

Griffin smiled: "No, you cannot."

Jeremy was already used to Griffin’s capriciousness. Used to it to the point of being speechless.

The other four stood watching, not knowing what to interject to make it appropriate.

Griffin completely didn’t care how far his students’ moods had plummeted.

"Keep the Soul Crystals for now, wait until the blood moon night next month to swallow them, the effect will be multiplied exponentially. As for tomorrow, after the semester summary meeting, everyone goes home, no need to drag your faces to find me and report."

As soon as Griffin finished speaking, his figure distorted and then vanished from the classroom, doing exactly as he pleased, just like always.

With this decision, Jeremy was actually very satisfied.

Even though it was painfully obvious that Griffin was trying to shake off work for himself, it truly cut out a bunch of unnecessary wasted time.

Leon didn’t care whether Griffin left or stayed. Remembering something, Leon jutted his chin: "If during the vacation that damn dying wish suddenly points the way, what do you guys plan to do?"

Jeremy had also considered this matter: "We will cross that bridge when we come to it. If it’s not too urgent, we’ll leave it to be handled after the New Year when school starts. If the deadline is tight, I’ll send a message early, and the whole team will gather at the Tower of Time in the empire’s capital."

"That works." Leon nodded.

The remaining three had no other objections.

Briefly discussing a few specific details, they also didn’t linger in the classroom any longer.