Chapter 67: The Underground Research Tower

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: The Underground Research Tower

When the brilliant light dissipated, the desolate scene before their eyes had been distorted and completely altered.

The ruined clearing vanished. Standing right before them was the interior space of a massive tower.

Magic crystal lamps, deeply embedded in the crevices of the walls, lit up simultaneously, clearly illuminating every architectural detail. The area and height of this tower were so grand that it rivaled the Academy’s auditorium.

From one corner of the first floor, a floating spiral staircase made of white crystal stretched all the way to the top of the tower. The entire structure was built from pure crystal and silver-gleaming obsidian. Hovering in the vast open space were hundreds of high-tier star-patterned magic matrices, spinning slowly.

Jeremy’s gaze swept across, instantly recognizing that one of those complex light rings was a spatial compression matrix. According to what Yusha had once taught, in the magical realm, space and time were the two most obscure and difficult elements to control. Yet here, they were applied as carelessly as cheap decorations.

He continued to cast his eyes around to assess the surroundings.

The first floor was a massive library cum laboratory. Dozens of magic crystal cabinets, taller than a person, were arranged in neat rows. Inside, they contained not only yellowed parchment books but also sealed exquisite magic tools, sparkling magic cores of magical beasts, all sorts of bizarre bubbling potions, and even dissected magical beast corpses soaked in preservation fluid.

Right in the center of the space was a research pedestal made of a solid block of obsidian. Scattered across it were piles of test tubes and magic tool components in the midst of being assembled. As for the upper floors, they were all enveloped by a thick layer of magic barrier; one could only faintly see countless closed doors, completely unable to see through the inside.

Griffin staggered toward the only door located close to the left side of the first floor. He pressed his blood-stained fingerprint onto the seal, and the door slid open soundlessly.

Inside was a bedroom decorated in an extremely minimalist style. There were no curtains, no carpets; aside from a metal bed spread with stark white sheets, there was no other piece of furniture whatsoever.

The task of delivering the person could be considered complete. Just as Jeremy was about to step back, he saw Lucius decisively flick his wrist, throwing Griffin straight onto the mattress. The action was fluid and decisive, without the slightest hint of mercy.

"We can leave now, right?" Lucius dropped the words coldly, turning around intending to leave.

Being thrown so forcefully, Griffin’s internal organs violently jolted, and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He clutched his stomach, reluctantly leaning his back against the headboard, and smirked mockingly: "Do you guys have the heart to abandon your heavily injured teacher all alone? Are you that heartless?"

Lucius’s face remained utterly rippleless, directly treating his words like the wind blowing past his ear.

Noticing the speechlessness evident on his teammate’s face, Jeremy had no choice but to sigh and proactively speak up: "Is there no other healer or mentor inside this tower?"

Griffin adjusted his breathing, his tone sluggish yet carrying an unconcealable arrogance: "This space was created single-handedly by me; aside from me, naturally, no one else is permitted to enter."

Jeremy fell silent for a beat. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Since that was the case, why did he refuse to go to the infirmary earlier?

"We don’t possess divine power, and we’ve only just scratched the surface of healing magic; I’m afraid we can’t be of any help to you, Teacher. How about I go out and invite a healer over?" Jeremy tried to appeal to whatever shred of reason this man had left.

"It would be useless even if those trashes came." Griffin spat out every word caustically, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth down his chin, yet his demeanor was as leisurely as if he were critiquing a cup of tea, completely unlike someone on the verge of death: "Go to the crystal cabinet outside, in the third compartment take the potion vial engraved with seven star patterns, then go to the second compartment and take the golden orb, and bring them in here."

"...Understood." Jeremy turned on his heel to fetch the items, not bothering to argue back.

Five minutes later.

After draining the potion vial, Griffin’s complexion had recovered a bit of vitality. However, the thick black demonic energy wrapping around his wound had yet to dissipate; they frantically devoured the newly grown flesh.

He slowly placed the golden orb into his palm and crushed it.

An elegant pale gold light instantly bloomed, gently enveloping the entire room. In less than a second, the deep gash on his abdomen knitted together and closed completely. The foul-smelling fog of demonic energy was also purified without leaving a single trace, vanishing like accumulated snow meeting the sunlight.

Feeling the extremely gentle purifying power glide across his skin, Jeremy silently assessed it in his heart. That orb was definitely a Holy Spirit Orb condensed from pure divine power; judging by that brilliant color, its purity was absolutely not low.

If this entire massive space was Griffin’s personal territory, wasn’t this man’s wealth a bit too terrifying? Was this something an ordinary teacher could possess?

"The team tournament is over, right?" Griffin suddenly opened his mouth, interrupting his train of thought.

"Yes, today is the first day of the holiday." Jeremy replied. Other people’s teachers stood guard at the grandstand, while their teacher didn’t even bother to check a single message in the group chat.

Griffin didn’t even bother to ask what rank they placed. He raised a hand, flicking out a cleansing magic, shedding all the bloodstains and dirt on his body, then flatly announced:

"Three days from now, your training location will be the Wasteland world located behind the Abyssal Rift. The duration is two months. During this time, I will submit a leave of absence application to the department on your behalf; take these next two days to prepare yourselves well."

Jeremy: "..." His jaw clenched slightly, his chest suppressing a heavy exhale.

Griffin’s expression remained calm, as bland as if he were asking what they wanted to eat for breakfast tomorrow.

While in reality, the Abyssal Rift was a taboo noun, a place even more terrifying and despair-inducing than the Demon realm. Its official name was enough to make anyone shudder: The Taboo Wasteland.

If Covenants were the final gifts the gods left for humanity, then the Wasteland world was the eternal calamity and curse sown by the fallen gods.

The other end of the Rift led straight to an apocalyptic realm completely overrun by inhumane mutated monsters. According to records, the area of the Wasteland was equivalent to the entire Sylva continent, serving as a second parallel continent.

It was just that humans and all intelligent creatures that once lived there had been driven to extinction a million years ago.

The brutal, cold-blooded monsters had devoured every living being, using their destructive power to level every advanced civilization to dust. That place was now nothing more than a literal purgatorial slaughterhouse, and that was also the reason it was called the "Wasteland."

In ancient times, hundreds of fallen gods manipulated the Wasteland, forcibly creating Rifts connecting to the Sylva continent. The gods of light could not directly descend to intervene, so they had no choice but to seal the fallen gods away. The Covenants bestowed by the six hundred and five gods belonging to the righteous faction of the Divine Realm were meant for humanity to arm themselves against this apocalyptic disaster.

Once the Rift defense line collapsed, the entire Sylva continent would turn into a second Wasteland, and everything would vanish into thin air in the blink of an eye.

Precisely because of this, not only the Human race, but also heterogenous races like Elves and Beastmen had to establish vanguard armies, taking the hunting and killing of alien monsters as their core mission.