Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 273: Lock and Key

The fact that they were able to expand so much as colonists in Planet Norma was not because they were particularly intelligent or gifted, but rather because they hit the largest possible jackpot.

Resurrection, even if it had a lot of limitations such as requiring resurrection towers and sacrificing 20 years of their lifespan, it still allowed those of them from Earth to hold a huge advantage over the natives.

The residents of Planet Norma were quite religious, so the mental impact was quite significant when they were facing an enemy that could constantly resurrect themselves.

Fighting hard to kill a foe only to have them come back unharmed after a few minutes was the stuff of nightmares—the kind that you did not know how to wake up from. Almost any army would slowly start to collapse.

That logic was something even a freshman could clearly see, so Xiao Lin understood it as well, which was why he was so nervous waiting for the answer after he asked the question.

“They obtained the lock, but it will forever be shut!”

The president’s confident tone did not bring Xiao Lin any relief. Instead, he seemed even more somber and worried. Xiao Lin bit his lips, slowly muttering, “So, if they now have the key to unlock that lock, what would happen?”

The completely unexpected answer gave the president some pause, but the old man who had something against Xiao Lin could not help but slam the table, staring at Xiao Lin as he berated, “Nonsense! You’re a freshman who has not even reached the Black-Iron rank. What right do you have to speak of this! Do you really understand the resurrection law?”

Xiao Lin swallowed, not knowing how he could explain it to them.

He had thought about the high priest Asabanor who managed to return from The Final Land. The former high priest of the Thunder Kingdom was filled with hatred for the colonists. Xiao Lin did not know how much that guy understood the Law of Immortality, but it was obvious that the high priest did indeed gain an understanding of it after all those years in The Final Land.

The priest might have used the path Xiao Lin had opened to return to Norma, but Xiao Lin had not been bothered by it since the spirit was heavily damaged and even needed to hide from Judge Academy. However, thinking about this examination, Xiao Lin could not help but wonder about a terrifying possibility.

What if the high priest managed to collaborate with the elves and use his key to unlock that lock? Thinking about it, the possibility was quite likely.

What would happen if the resurrection that was the biggest advantage the colonists had was unravelled?

Even if no one answered, Xiao Lin had the answer himself. It would probably mean war; all the natives of Planet Norma would go to war with the colonists!

Xiao Lin could not voice his opinions due to the secrecy behind The Final Land. Faced with all their questions, Xiao Lin could only say, “You don’t have sufficient clearance to know.”

The old people were so angry, their nostrils were flaring, but the document on the table proved what he said. The president was caught in an awkward spot, but he stood on Xiao Lin’s side. He quickly smoothed things over, ending the evaluation.

The president sent Xiao Lin off personally, softly saying, “Don’t leave yet. I’ll help you contact the dean.”

He could not help but feel helpless after saying those words. He never expected that he would one day become the messenger for a new student as the president.

Xiao Lin had a neutral expression when he went back to the waiting room, inviting everyone to speculate. Just as Han Manman was happily speculating away, he immediately shattered their hopes, telling them he had passed the monitor evaluation.

Cheng Ming and a few others were curious about the evaluation process. There was not much to conceal; it was just mainly done by the central computer. The evaluation was just a final look into the various decisions they made during the examination.

“Why don’t you look happy?” Chen Dao had noticed Xiao Lin’s heavy mood earlier.

“Tell me, if we enter a large scale war against the natives, what would our chances be like?” Xiao Lin suddenly asked the question that had been on his mind for some time.

“Why did you ask? Didn’t the history classes teach us that there hasn’t been a large scale war for almost a hundred years?” Chen Dao was curious, but still answered, “It’s obvious we would destroy them!”

“Most of the battles right now are just small scale skirmishes. All the native races have lost all courage to face us.” The other monitors joined the discussion as well.

“That’s right, and even if a real war were to break out, we wouldn’t even be a part of it,” someone said regretfully.

A lot of them had hopeful looks. Under the protection of the resurrection towers, war was not all that scary, and was even a good opportunity to earn some rewards. However, everyone knew that the academy would never send new students out on the battlefield, even if war broke out.

The entire evaluation process lasted for more than an hour. Even though most of the acting class monitors were very confident, there was always a slight uncertainty around it, but all of them returned with happy looks on their faces. It was just like they expected, but the evaluation committee still asked them a lot of hard questions. For instance, Class Seven’s monitor was asked why he did not lead the troops when attacking the fortress, causing them to think he was afraid. The questioning almost made him go crazy.

Thankfully the end result was still fine, allowing him to stay on as the class monitor. The final entry was Han Manman of Class Four. No one knew how the strange order was determined, but the other eleven class monitors went through it easily, so Han Manman was quite relaxed.

However, her evaluation process was very long, even longer than Xiao Lin’s. After almost twenty minutes, Han Manman suddenly came out with a dark look on her face, ignoring the questions from the other female class monitors.

Chen Dao immediately guessed what her expression meant, and laughed in exaggeration. “Hahaha, someone kept saying that the only person who could not be fit to be an actual class monitor among us was Xiao Lin? Oh? Xiao Lin? Hahahaha!”

Han Manman did not pass the evaluation. She kept quiet about the process, but she still held onto the acting class monitor position, meaning she would continue to be tested.

Even though the acting class monitors had basically the same power as the actual monitors, Han Manman’s reputation had been thoroughly ruined.