The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 137 Xingyuan Academy
For mages, Xingyuan Academy is like the holy city of Lesser in the eyes of clergy—a true sanctuary in their hearts, even if it is chaotic and dangerous.

Eric isn't a mage, but his sister is. Whether for research or something else, Eileen will come here sooner or later, and he needs to scout things out for her, since his understanding of the Star Origin Academy is limited to the game.

It is said that nearly a thousand years ago, a star fell from the sky and landed on this land, setting the mountains ablaze.

The fire burned for countless years before finally stopping, turning the original mountains into a vast plain, encompassing present-day Castelfel, most of Dorne, and the entire Kingdom of Arsha.

This newly formed plain was thus named Falling Star Plain.

The first group of humans to arrive here found the star that had cooled down. It changed hands several times before finally being offered to the King of Castelfel and enshrined in the underground space of the palace.

After the kingdom fell and the palace changed hands, the star remained in its original place.

The name of Xingyuan Academy also comes from this star that fell to earth.

Eric arrived at the academy, and like the Lutia Magic Academy in the north, the gates here were also guarded by gargoyles. However, there were more gargoyles here, more than a dozen pairs, and they were also larger, standing more than ten meters tall.

These gargoyles also serve as a form of access control; their red eyes represent an ultra-high-definition image recognition system specifically designed to check student IDs—the college's badge.

Eric witnessed firsthand how someone trying to sneak into the academy was spotted by the gargoyles, then grabbed like a chick and thrown out of the academy.

"what--"

Eric's gaze followed the sound, while 3D surround sound filled his ears from left to right.

He couldn't help but panic: Is a student ID from over two hundred years ago still valid?
Eric rubbed the badge a few more times, then steeled himself and went inside.

After walking a few steps, one of the gargoyles suddenly turned its head.

"..."

Eric swallowed.

With a sound of stones rubbing and colliding, the gargoyle slowly lowered its body, bringing its grotesque head close to his face, its blood-red eyes staring intently at the badge on his chest.

Eric had over a dozen escape skills at his disposal, ready to flee at any moment.

Then, the gargoyle moved its head away, raised its body, and returned to its original posture.

Thankfully... the senior's student ID is still valid.

Eric wiped his sweat and, under the watchful eyes of the various mages around him, entered the palace.

Anything new and unusual is worth paying attention to, especially for mages who are naturally curious. Soon, someone caught up with him and asked him what had happened with the gargoyle.

Eric showed him the badge on his chest.

The man's eyes widened. "A five-hundred-year-old academy badge!"

Eric stared wide-eyed. "This is from five hundred years ago?"

“Yes, I’ve seen it in books and I’ve also seen replicas. The original badge looked just like this. Since the gargoyle let you in, this must be the real thing,” the mage said.

It turns out that this badge didn't belong to the necromancer himself either.

"Where did you get this?" the monk pressed.

“I killed someone and picked it up from him…” Eric told the truth, and the mage immediately took several steps back.

“…a necromancer from two hundred years ago.” He finished speaking.

"You should have said so earlier." The person leaned closer again. "I don't think you're cut out for magic. Keeping you around is a waste. I'll trade with you."

Although he was already aware of the situation, Eric was still somewhat annoyed that someone had pointed it out so bluntly: "Can't I keep it as a collectible?"

"You... a soldier? You're a soldier, right? Why are you collecting this?"

"My sister is a mage."

Eric pushed him away. "This was left for her. I'm just here to check out your college's environment. If it's not good, I won't transfer."

The man still wouldn't give up, catching up to him and saying, "Want to get into the academy? Easy! Give me your badge, and I'll have my teacher arrange it for you. My teacher is a Grand Mage!"

"My sister's teacher is a moon fairy."

"..."

After dismissing the man, Eric turned around and saw a skeleton walking towards him.

As they passed each other, the skeleton turned its head to look at him, and the eerie blue flame of its soul flickered in its eye sockets.

This is clearly a skeleton powered by necromancy. In any other place, it would have been torn apart by the Papal Knights, bones and all. But this is Xingyuan Academy, where nothing is forbidden and all laws are permitted.

The premise is that he did not harm anyone on campus.

This is the most important rule of Xingyuan Academy: regardless of school of thought or status, no one is allowed to harm others within the academy; otherwise, expulsion is the lightest punishment.

I wonder if smashing someone else's skull counts...

Eric had no intention of trying, and soon saw a pale-skinned necromancer float over, the skeleton in front of him completely mimicking his movements.

"Kid, I think the way you looked at my baby just now was a bit offensive."

"I taught it."

"……excuse me."

After strolling around the outer veranda and seeing all sorts of mages, Eric entered the palace building, where the main body of the Star Origin Academy was located.

Like the Lutia Magic Academy, this place is also divided into various magic classrooms, but the number of students varies greatly. Some classrooms are even one-on-one lectures, with one person on stage talking about their new theories.

In crowded classrooms, there is no discipline whatsoever; the teacher is lecturing while the students are talking, and no one listens to the other.

Eric frowned as he watched, but that was just the style of Xingyuan Academy.

He passed another magic classroom with only a few people around. He was getting a little tired, so he went in and found a corner to sit down, figuring no one would care anyway.

He listened for a few moments; the person above was introducing a new type of circuit that could increase the power of magic by three percent, applicable to various types of enchantment runes.

"...Although this circuit consumes twice the materials as before, there's still room for optimization! Alice and I are researching which material can better convert the changes between these two steps. Admittedly, this will take time... well, a lot of time, so we're currently looking for a helper. If we ultimately succeed, your name will be second only to Alice and me in the report we submit to the professor..."

Eric glanced at the other people in the classroom, but no one paid any attention. The person above seemed to have anticipated this situation, shrugged, and continued speaking.

"Both sides are quite adaptable," Eric thought, then glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that someone seemed to be watching him.

He looked over and paused for a moment, because the other person looked somewhat familiar.

The man was probably in his thirties, with brown curly hair, a handsome face, and a demeanor that was clearly different from the other students. Compared to a mage, he seemed more like a leisurely nobleman who had just happened to pass by and come in to listen, just like him.

Who is here?

Eric looked at the man more and more familiar, but he just couldn't remember what his name was.

After their eyes met, the person quickly got up and came over, walking across most of the classroom to sit down next to him.

"What do you think?"

Eric glanced at him. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I understand the general idea of ​​what he's talking about, but when it comes to the specifics, I'm completely clueless."

"Haha." The man laughed instead. "I didn't expect there to be someone like me in this classroom."

“I’m not a student here,” Eric said.

"So, who are you?"

Eric didn't say anything.

The man didn't mind and continued, "It's alright. There are plenty of people of dubious origin here. Not just students, but more than half of the professors are of dubious origin. Who cares?"

Eric cared a lot.

Even if Eileen were to come, she shouldn't stay here for long. It would be enough for her to learn about industry trends and research cutting-edge technologies... he thought.

Seeing that Eric still didn't speak, the man introduced himself: "You probably don't know me, I'm Albert, and I've been here recently..."

"Depend on!"

Eric suddenly shouted, startling Albert. The people on stage also stopped and looked in their direction.

Eric rose and bowed, indicating that he had no intention of disturbing them and asked them to continue.

Upon hearing the name, he finally remembered who this guy was: Albert Capconner, the second prince of the Kingdom of Arsha, and also the number one traitor after the future eldest prince, Alaric, ascends to the throne.

This guy was indeed somewhat talented, but the eldest prince was far more talented and had no chance of succeeding to the throne wisely. He left Arsha long ago and traveled around. After the demons invaded the south and occupied half of the empire, Arsha's new king, Alaric, chose to preserve his strength and refused the invitation to unite with the empire's eldest princess, Natalia. Instead, Albert became more proactive in resisting the demons and used this as a pretext to raise the banner of rebellion against the king, attracting many people to his side.

Eric still remembers his title in the game: Rebel Leader Albert.

Although this guy is a traitor, he's not a villain, but his reputation has never been very good—mainly among the players, because he acts rather deliberately pretentious in his words and actions.

To use a phrase Eric often heard in his past life, it's called disgustingly handsome...

"You know me?" His reaction made Albert realize something.

"It is an honor to have heard your name, Your Highness Prince Albert II."

Albert tossed his hair and lowered his voice, "Oh, I see."

Bubbles churned in his throat, and goosebumps ran all over Eric's body.

He immediately moved aside a little, and Albert followed suit. "Since you know me, you must not be an ordinary person."

Although Eric was reluctant to admit it, they did have some connection.

The Capconner family of the Arsha royal family is also a descendant of one of the Twelve Knights of the Founding. Several hundred years ago, the sister of one of Eric's direct ancestors married into the Capconner family, and now all Capconner descendants, including the Arsha royal family, have some of her blood in their veins.

Although hundreds of years have passed, this kinship has become extremely distant.

Regardless of what he plans to do in the future, Eric doesn't want to get involved with this guy right now, so he doesn't reveal his identity and only says that he heard about it.

“I’m traveling around now, making friends. Why don’t we get to know each other?” Albert said. “I can tell you have a noble air about you; you must be of noble birth.”

Eric raised his middle finger and activated a light spell. "I am a priest, Your Highness the Second Prince."

Albert paused, his interest waning considerably. The most obvious sign was that he no longer bothered with that deep, bubbly voice. "I see."

Those clergy with a relatively noble air are mostly of noble birth, but Albert felt that such people were more like him and he wasn't very interested in them—usually only those who were not important or well-regarded in their families would join the church and seek other opportunities—it wasn't that he looked down on them, but rather that the feeling of shared misfortune was too strong, and he had been avoiding thinking about this feeling ever since he left the kingdom.

Seeing his coldness, Eric felt he could chat with him a little longer. "I wonder what Your Highness is doing here?"

"Just killing time by doing nothing."

Albert stopped looking at him and turned to the mage on the stage. "Sitting here every day without moving, you can hear different people say different things. Even if you don't understand them, it's not too boring. Occasionally, you'll even have some unexpected gains."

Eric initially thought he was here to scout out potential rebels, but upon closer reflection, he realized that Eric probably didn't even have such intentions yet; he was simply feeling down and bored, so he came here to kill time.

"How long has Your Highness been here?"

"It's been almost half a year."

Eric was somewhat impressed that someone who knew absolutely nothing about magic could stay here for half a year.

After answering his two questions, Albert regained some interest in him. "What are church people doing at the academy? Haven't you always considered this place heretical?"

Eric made up a story, saying, "I was sent by the Papacy of Rasul to investigate."

Albert looked at him. "Then you're too young. If I'm not mistaken, you're from the Empire, some family, I might have heard of them."

“Hmm…” Eric still didn’t want to acknowledge the relatives, “the Horn family of Lutia.”

A look of confusion crossed Albert's face, but he said, "The Horn family? I seem to remember them."

You have a ghostly impression.

Eric didn't bother to expose him, and stood up. "I won't disturb Your Highness any longer. I'll go and continue my investigation elsewhere."

Albert nodded and watched him leave.

Eric had only been out of the classroom for a short while when he suddenly felt the temperature rise sharply behind him. He turned around and found a fireball floating behind him.

"..."

Who would dare to use magic to attack someone within the academy?
He quickly retreated, but his body crashed into a wall of wind that caught him and gently yet forcefully pushed him back in front of the fireball.

The fireball split into dozens, and the tiny flames reformed in mid-air into an arrow pointing forward.

Eric realized that one of the masters in the academy was calling him over.

Following the flaming arrow that led the way, Eric walked through the academy for a while, getting closer and closer to the center of the palace.

No one dared to stop him along the way; most people wore gloating expressions, as if they were already used to this tactic of calling students to the office.

The flaming arrow led Eric deep into the palace, stopping in front of a magical floating staircase. He stepped onto it, and as the staircase rose, the flaming arrow dissipated.

When the floating platform reached the top, all that remained in front of him was a spiral staircase.

From this vantage point, one could overlook the entire Xingyuan Academy. Eric didn't linger; he spiraled up the stairs to the top room.

This feeling was incredibly familiar. The last time was when he met his teacher, Agnes, and this time, sitting here waiting for him was also a moon elf.

"It really is you, Orieta's half-human child."

As one of the most important NPCs that mage players cannot avoid, Eric also recognized her and bowed, saying, "Grand Mage Lydia."

“You recognize me.” Lydia, who was over three hundred years old, looked to be in her thirties or forties. “Did Agnes tell you?”

Eric offered no further explanation, nor did he want to cause trouble. "Yes."

"What are you doing here? You didn't come here to see me, did you?" Lydia asked. "Although I've wanted to see you and your brother for a long time. When I saw Orieta's face through the gargoyle's eyes just now, I thought it was my imagination."

...It turns out the gargoyle's reaction originated from her.

Eric lowered his head: "I just happened to be passing by the academy and came in to take a look."

"You have no talent for magic, so it's pointless for you to look."

Eric resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Just curious."

Lydia seemed to smile, then got up and stared at his face for a while.

“You look so much like Orieta… Everyone who has met her says the same thing when they see you.”

Eric said that Agnes had said that.

Lydia didn't show much aversion to the clansman who accidentally killed her. "Olieta was the last hope of the moon elves, and her death is a shadow that Agnes will never be able to shake off for the rest of her life. It's a wonder she dared to take your sister as a student and keep her by her side. She probably thinks she's lived too long."

Eric had been curious before but forgot to ask, and now he finally had the chance: "I'd like to know, what exactly does 'last hope' mean?"

Lydia looked at him for a moment. "She is the hope for the moon elves to break free from their shackles."

She paused, then sat back down in her original spot. "As for what the shackles are, if you don't know, then there's no need to know... Anyway, the last hope has been shattered, and the moon elves are destined to perish completely."

She didn't want to say more, so Eric didn't ask any further questions.

Lydia was very interested in Eileen, whom she had never met before, and asked her a lot of questions about her. Eric told her everything he knew.

After listening, Lydia remained silent for a while, then sighed softly, "I just want to see her one last time before I die."

You've lived much longer than Eileen... on another timeline.

Eric thought to himself, but said aloud, "Going to Lutia shouldn't be too much of a problem for you."

Lydia shook her head. "This is not in accordance with the arrangements of the God of Nature."

Eric rolled his eyes inwardly.

"Xingyuan Academy is the center of magical research on the continent. Eileen may come here to study in the future."

Lydia smiled slightly. "Then I'll wait for that day to come."

Thinking about his previous doubts, Eric casually asked Eileen what she thought of her growth.

Lydia said that Eileen had not failed the elven blood flowing in her veins.

"Is this considered fast?"

"She is still half-human after all, but how many humans yearn for this and yet you think it's too slow? I've only ever seen such talent in one other human in my entire life, and that person is called Xinmagu."

Eric's heart skipped a beat. After a moment of silence, he finally asked, "How long will it take for Eileen to grow to the point where she can destroy half of Lutia with a single spell?"

“He has the face of Olieta, but his mouth is full of human destructive desires. It’s really awkward to me.” Lydia looked at him and shook her head. “Besides, only someone who knows nothing about magic would ask such a question.”

She paused, then said, "But I can tell you the answer: I can't do it right now. Let her try for another three hundred years."

(End of this chapter)