NOVPUBIn the center of the hall, the naturally refracted light from the dome gently swayed. It wasn’t bright but was enough to provide illumination for this quiet space.
Loren tried to calm his inner turbulence as he quickly approached the spot where Lanci and Carlen were standing.
"Dean Loren."
Both Lanci and Carlen greeted Loren upon his arrival.
They were both very grateful that Dean Loren could take time out of his busy schedule to allow them to observe the Original Slabs.
"Lanci..."
Loren’s attention was mainly focused on Lanci. He observed Lanci’s expression for a while,
"Perhaps I should arrange another session for you."
When Loren saw Lanci appear here, he always had a vague sense of foreboding.
Lanci looked confused and perplexed, as if he didn’t understand why Dean Loren was so hesitant.
The Dean would be very busy in the coming period, why then could he afford to waste more time?
Just as Lanci fell into a brief silence, without getting the chance to ask about Loren’s work situation, which he was concerned about, Carlen on the side spoke first.
"Dean Loren, Lanci is strong and reliable. I feel very at ease observing the [Original Slabstone Tablet-Wind] domain with him," Carlen said.
Carlen, being very considerate, bowed to Loren,
"I’m sure Lanci also wishes to lighten your workload."
"Is that so?"
Loren felt that Lanci and Carlen got along well, yet there was a subtle distance between them.
It didn’t seem like Lanci had coerced or deceived Carlen.
The groundless suspicion against Lanci made Loren feel biased against him…
"Lanci, Carlen is the most valued student in the Arolan delegation participating in this academic visit. I need to ensure that she returns to the Arolan Kingdom safely, healthily, and happily. But I’ve been too busy recently to take care of this. Can you help me?"
Loren looked again at Lanci as he asked this.
He was effectively asking Lanci to vow not to do anything that could physically or emotionally harm Carlen.
Loren was honestly too worried about Carlen getting into some sort of trouble.
So he decided to entrust Lanci directly with his request.
"No problem, rest assured, I promise to make Carlen happy and ensure that she won’t suffer any grievances in our school," Lanci reassured, smiling with a sense of responsibility and nodding gently.
"Then you can observe together."
Loren reflected for a while and concluded that he might have misunderstood Lanci this time.
Lanci had always been a man of his word, apart from his unique way of doing things, his promises were indeed trustworthy.
"By the way, Lanci, although you’re very good at card making…"
Loren hesitated,
"Never mind, just get along with Carlen."
He was somewhat afraid that Lanci might upset Carlen, but it was difficult to put it into words.
But then, Lanci was not the kind of person with an arrogant and domineering nature.
From what Loren knew about Lanci, he wouldn’t bully Carlen simply because of his own talents.
"Wait a moment, I will open the door to the inner sanctum of the Tablet for you."
After briefly explaining this to both Lanci and Carlen, Loren moved towards the circle of seats in the center of the hall, shaking hands and chatting with the scholars sent by Magic Tower.
There was only the usual clerk from Magic Tower along with several staff members from various Magic Artisan associations, who greeted Dean Loren respectfully.
Clearly, while Loren seemed unassuming in school and had no distance to students at Sage Academy, outside, he is an extremely revered individual who is not only a Great Priest of the Church of the Goddess of Destiny but also a famous holder of the Original Slabs throughout the South Continent.
Usually, staff members from Magic Engineering College also come to collect observation results, but since it was Saturday today, they refused to work overtime and simply didn’t show up.
No one knows which gust of wind had blown the reporter from Hutton Daily over.
Ever since a little while ago, an energetic junior reporter had been sitting in a seat, constantly waving at Lanci, as if trying to attract his attention. Lanci only responded politely, and then didn’t interact with her much.
Lavisseir, a reporter for Hutton Daily and the secretary of the student council, was seated in the front row, eager to interview Lanci and Carlen.
Although Lanci didn’t know her, after all, they never met in the student council room, she had already known about Lanci and Hyperion, the two new members of the student council.
In this brief waiting moment.
The instructions that Dean Loren had given earlier had aroused Carlen’s interest.
She looked up at Lanci beside her.
"Lanci, you’re good at making cards, aren’t you?"
Carlen asked softly out of curiosity.
Magic artisans also come in many forms, among the people at Sage Academy who are proficient in magical engineering, scroll masters and appraisers are more common.
Most professional magic artisans would go to the Magic Engineering College, rather than choosing to attend the Sage Academy, which primarily cultivates combat professions.
Dean Loren’s decision to let Lanci observe the Original Slabs must mean that Lanci possesses a talent for magical engineering and also has the abilities of a certain magic artisan.
Unexpectedly, Lanci is proficient in card making.
"A little."
Lanci answered.
He could tell from Dean Loren’s previous sentence that he was meant to be humble, so he naturally spoke more modestly than usual.
"Dean Loren said that you’re good at creating cards, do you know the weight of that praise?"
Carlen chuckled mischievously, they had been with Loren for a long time, and often failed to recognize Loren’s status from the perspective of other kingdoms.
"Dean Loren has never seen me bomb a card."
Lanci sighed.
For example, Tata always derogatorily refers to him as a worthless bomb card master.
While they were whispering to each other, after all routine procedures were completed, Loren once again approached Lanci and Carlen.
The two stopped their idle talk.
"Let’s begin."
Accompanying Loren’s remark, without any pause, he summoned an ancient stone carving floating board. The thin and soft texture became deep and full due to the baptism of time. The faint magic pattern shone brightly and dimly. The blue-gray fluctuation swayed with the wind, as if it was telling a story that had been suppressed for millions of years.
The moment this stone tablet appeared, a gentle breeze seemed to blow throughout the entire Gu Ta Library. Each slight air current would bring a few pages of the book to flip. Dancing under the sunlight, they were the library’s elves, light and nimble.
Feeling the appearance of this terrifying magic power, many of the students on the higher floors were attracted and crowded by the balcony as if watching a spectacle, looking at Dean Loren at the center of the Gu Ta Library.
As Loren infused magic power into this uniquely shaped epic magic card, more and more cracks gradually appeared on the surface of the stone sculpture.
Until the entire stone tablet cracked open and revealed its truly original appearance.
It was a crystal-clear magic card, almost transparent, and appeared out of nowhere.
But what truly caught people’s attention —
Was the strange glow it emitted — not a pure orange, it was mixed with a hint of crimson!
The next second, after devouring a certain amount of Loren’s magic power, the card in mid-air immediately initiated fission, forming a small Void Gate in the center of the Gu Ta Library.
"You may begin."
Maintaining the display state of these Original Slabs consumed Loren’s magic power.
But he trusted that even without his further instructions, Lanci and Carlen knew what to do next, because the process was similar to that of entering the Shadow World.
The two bowed to Loren and then passed through the Void Gate one after the other.
Different from the real Shadow World, this Stone Tablet World is more like an Artificial Shadow World, without the need for a matching process and waiting time.
In a chaotic blackness, within a few seconds, the entire world lit up again.
