Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 250: An Unexpected Discovery in the Command Room (Part 1)

It was the second time he used the summoning skill that came along with the Holy Soul Sword. When he first used it, the undead swordsman disappeared automatically after the summoning time limit was reached. According to Qin Chuan however, Xiao Lin was in a state of rampage and fought madly with the orc commander at the time. Xiao Lin did not feel anything at all.

The second time, however, when the undead swordsman was eliminated, the sting nearly made Xiao Lin faint on the spot. He was unsure whether the effect was a shortcoming of the Holy Soul Summoning skill or because of the fleet’s unique attack.

Casualty statistics were the norm after a battle. The casualties on the fortress were much more serious than yesterday, with more than 50 deaths and nearly 50 minor and serious injuries. Meanwhile, the orcs left more than 800 corpses on the plains and hillsides, and the good news was that the orcs had also lost more than half of their infantry.

It was unfortunate that the mysterious fleet’s sudden intervention left a lingering fear over everyone’s hearts. There was no time to celebrate. That night itself, the acting class monitors rejected some people’s suggestions to celebrate and kept their guards up instead. They were not worried about the orcs’ nighttime attack, but were instead wary that the fleet might suddenly commence with a landfall.

According to Xiao Lin’s original plan that day, they were initially prepared to build more defense towers after completely defeating the half-crippled orc infantry. With excellent architects on their side,they could continue to consolidate their defenses as long as they could buy enough time.

Xiao Lin would have been naive to think that the orc infantry were the sole enemies of that monthly test. It was impossible. The main orc wolf cavalry was still marching toward Dawn City on the front line, and their reinforcements would definitely continue to march there.

Xiao Lin was beginning to understand why that battle failed in history. Dawn Academy was fully prepared of course, and they could actually drag it even longer if they relied on the excellent lethality of the defense tower. However, they had not considered the silver fleet at all.

Compared with the nervousness and anxiety of class monitors and instructors, the ordinary students were not as worried as they thought. After dinner, Xiao Lin walked around the fortress, hoping to find something usable, and he occasionally heard other people’s conversation along the way. There were no leisure and entertainment facilities, not even poker cards, so chatting was the only thing they could do there.

“F*ck! It was some damn luck we had today! We had it all in the bag!”

“What’s there to cry about? Even if you guard it for one day, it’s only twenty redemption points.”

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying those redemption points aren’t enough?”

“It’s a question of whether or not we’re actually able to get it! Tell me, guys, haven’t you noticed? Do you think this battle really succeeded in history?”

“Uh, this…”

“If it’s down to things that can’t be changed in history, I don’t think we’ll have the ability to change the results! Perhaps this is the biggest obstacle in this monthly exam!”

“That’s right, it’s not like we wanna compete for the position of class monitor. It doesn’t matter if we don’t get a good grade. ”

“We’ve guarded it for seven days now. The reward is a hundred and forty redemption points, plus the five hundred for the first task. That’s quite a lot already.”

“There’s still another two weeks before we break even! After that, we’ll leave it to fate!”

…

Xiao Lin frowned and sighed to himself. After all, the war was not real. Although the academy wanted students to adapt as much as possible to a real war by setting the monthly test simulation realm as closely to reality as possible, it was still unable to change their mentality.

‘There’s still another two weeks before we break even.’

The meaning of this sentence was obvious—the rewards for the second task were 20 redemptions points for each day they stayed there. After half a month, all the surviving people would accumulate more than 1,000 redemption points, which just so happened to be the price of a bottle of basic Lifewater.

After that, they had nothing to lose even if they were killed by the orcs. That was probably what everyone was thinking at the moment.

Xiao Lin could not refute such an idea, and he could actually comfort himself with such optimism too. Alas he could not, as only two years remaining of Gu Xiaoyue’s lifespan. She must not be allowed to die. Even though he was troubled by why the basic Lifewater failed to have any effect, it was not the time to think about such things.

Xiao Lin came to the command room that originally belonged to the orc commander. The empty room looked very crude, and in the center was a huge stone table. The pillars present on both sides were carved with totem runes unique to the orc race.

They searched the entire place on the day they attacked the fortress, but were unfortunate not to find anything useful. The only thing that seemed to be of some utility was the map. Several orcs were burning maps and papers when the students charged in, but despite being able to save most of the papers, only half the map remained. Nevertheless, it still appeared to come in handy somewhat.

Meanwhile, the other papers did not appear very useful. In fact, calling it paper was not entirely accurate. Orcs did not have the craftsmanship skill to make paper, and things which could easily be crushed did not interest them at all. They usually write it down on leather paper, which was made of cleaned beast fur.

Although the orcs also spoke Normese, their main daily language was still Orcish. As a result, no one could understand the seized documents and so left them alone and unattended. They were still in their freshman year, so they had yet to reach the stage where Orcish was an elective.

Xiao Lin took those documents out again and then spread them out one by one on the stone table. He was trying to find some clues from them. It went without saying that he could not understand those words, but all he hoped for was a map or some kind of clue left behind. It was a pity that the orcs resisted very stubbornly during the siege and no captives were held. Xiao Lin was therefore deprived of a chance to replicate Orcish.

The command room was very dim, with only a lamp ignited using animal fat. Aside from the dim light, it also exuded a strong stench. Unless it was a last resort, none of the students wanted to light that kind of lamp at night.

Xiao Lin had to lie his upper body flat on the stone table and lean closer to get a better look. God knows how long had passed before he stood up again with a sore waist and a painful back. He sighed in disappointment. Everything that happened in the past two days gnawed at his mind and he suspected all their actions were actually a trap for the enemy. Unfortunately, there was neither enough evidence nor anything that could be of use.

Xiao Lin still did not give up. He turned his gaze to the couple of torn paper next to him. They had been torn apart by the orcs before the students charged in. After taking over the fortress, someone initially wanted to throw the paper away, but Xiao Lin and Cheng Ming thought carefully again before deciding to keep it. Still, no one expected to actually get anything from it.