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For most of the week, the students talked about the guy named Kyel Everhart; the sound projectors throughout the Magic Tower repeated this name twice a day.

Kyel's room was inspected and searched twice that week, and the daily curfew was reimposed.

Surveillance patrols were increased, and the Protectors intervened personally. Some suspects were detained, including a professor.

All this was due to the discovery of a letter inside a student's room, a student named McBen Arlott.

The letter contained information about stealing Ms. Megan's belongings, with details about a guy named Kyel Everhart who had threatened him to do so.

Arlott wrote in the letter, "Kyel Everhart, a student or a teacher in disguise—I don't know yet. He threatened me when he found out I had a magic object of concealment. I did some bad deeds, but that's not why I'm writing this. That guy threatened me to break in and steal Prof. Megan's belongings from her abode, plus to gather information about the 10th potion class. The meeting point was the abandoned tower near the boys' dormitory. Black hair, black eyes, handsome, tall and imposing. Room 174, Floor 3."

When the patrols broke in, as the student hadn't opened the door for inspection, the letter served as proof.

"There's blood here!" a knight guard shouted. When they went to the old tower mentioned in the letter, they found blood along with a hanging head, without a body. It was Arlott's head. Blood traces indicated that the culprit threw the body over the cliff.

Now at the old tower, there were three people: an old, gray-haired woman, a boy around ten, and none other than the gorgeous Lady Megan.

"I can't see his face—as if a black smoke is covering it. There was no fight between them, just talking, and then it happened when he cut off the poor boy's head," the old woman said.

The boy said optimistically, "Stumbled upon something interesting, I guess. Someone who can even escape the Oracle's [Chronovision] magic."

Megan replied in a cold voice, "He's just an ant. I captured him that day, and he wasn't using any disguise, either."

The boy added, "Besides, he's still here. You said he had climbing gear? So he came all the way from the left dorms. You remember him well, Megan?"

Megan answered, "His damned face smiling at me is still running through my head."

He suggested, "Why don't we gather all the boys in the grand hall, and you inspect them with your aura?"

Some time passed before she refused, "No, leave the matter aside for now. Let classes continue; it's near the final exams."

The boy hesitated at first but eventually agreed, "I have a criminal running in my Tower, yet I can't do anything. Such a useless principal I am. But you do have a point—let classes continue."

The boy and the old woman disappeared, leaving only Megan. She stood there, contemplating recent events, but in her thoughts, there was an image of a person she wanted to smash into pieces, like an ant to be obliterated.

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Kyel was wandering here and there, and he remembered that he hadn't attended any class since arriving in this world. The previous owner of the body, Jules Vance, specialized as an Arcane Knight, but due to the spread of some details about the features of the criminal currently being searched for, Kyel couldn't attend any class.

Especially since all the teachers had a precise description of the person they were looking for; as soon as Kyel entered any class, he would be caught by one of the teachers and considered suspicious. Therefore, Kyel decided not to attend classes until he found a solution to his current problem. Even wandering in the Magic Tower was dangerous for him right now; what if he encountered Megan unexpectedly?

Kyel needed help, and he knew the right person to ask for it—or rather, the right people to ask. As the leader of the group of demons infiltrating the Magic Tower, he intended to hold a meeting that night to discuss recent events, in addition to some plans brewing in his mind.

Additionally, over the past few days, Kyel had been thinking about increasing his strength. He lacked the necessary power and skills. The problem was that he had two cores and didn't know which one to cultivate and focus on, even though he had knowledge of both. Both were difficult and required time and resources.

Kyel was watching the floating system screen in the air. He could cultivate both cores, but for now, he had to focus on just one because it was difficult to work on both at the same time.

But Kyel made his decision; he would cultivate the demonic core due to his demonic nature and being a creature of the abyss. This would be the fastest path to power.

What Kyel needed right now was a guide. Although he had Jules' memories, he had never tried cultivating himself.

After that night's meeting, Kyel would return to cultivating and see what it was like. He had to find a way to get rid of his current problems. Arlott caused him trouble by leaving a message that led to him, but despite that, Kyel expected severe consequences. In the end, they surrendered and returned the situation to what it was before, even though a student was killed within the walls of the Magic Tower.

But Kyel knew it was just a plan to lure him out, make him slack off, and lower his defenses.

Kyel went to buy some things. He had 3,000 gold coins, so he was thinking of spending some of them, especially on buying mana crystals to use for cultivation.

Mana crystals were divided into four types:

Impure mana crystals

Refined mana crystals

Pure mana crystals

Divine mana crystals

However, in the entire continent of Lewanice, you won't find Divine mana crystals. Setting those aside, even Pure mana crystals are hard to find and extremely expensive.

Only large and wealthy families can afford them. In the Tower of Magic, Pure mana crystals were available, but only given to the teachers and sometimes offered as prizes in student competitions or to the top-ranked students in their specialties at the end of each year. This was the only way to obtain them; they were not available for sale or purchase in the shops within the Tower of Magic.

So the only way was to participate in the annual competitions or to work hard to be at the top of your class; that was the only way.

Kyel was currently in one of the stores affiliated with the Magic Tower. The store wasn't luxurious, just a bit of decor. The merchandise wasn't displayed in the store; it was entirely kept inside storage rings. So, there was only a list of the products they sold, along with their prices. They give you the list, and you choose what you want and buy it. The merchandise can't be visually inspected until it is handed to you by the store's supervising seller.

Kyel held the list. There were several names of goods, products, weapons, and low- to mid-grade magical items, as well as components and ingredients used in magical potions. Anything you wanted, you'd find it on that long list.

Kyel didn't plan to stay long in the store, especially since the shopkeeper was watching him closely.

Refined mana crystals ×1 = 20 gold coins

It was expensive, but even so, Kyel had no choice. Additionally, he had enough money, so he bought 50 of them, along with a mid-class standard-grade magical sword made of mithril that had the magical ability to blend the four magical elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. He bought it for 1,000 gold coins, but since he was a student and spent over 1,000 gold coins, the shopkeeper set the price at 900.

That saved him 100 gold coins.

Kyel decided to leave after buying what he needed, but the seller's voice called him back, "Wait, can you stay here for just a moment?"

Kyel knew he had to leave quickly; the seller was starting to suspect something. He had to leave and escape, and that's what he did without thinking further. He used his shadow manipulation skill and disappeared.

The shopkeeper held a magic object that worked like a communication device, and he shouted, "Basic floor, in front of the shops—the culprit was here just a moment ago, he fled, and he matches the description. He bought a magical weapon. We can track hi—"

"Weird, I lost connection with the magic weapon I sold him!" With a strange surprised tone he exclaimed

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Weapons grades:

Low class

Entry-grade

Standard-grade

Superior-grade

Supreme-grade

Mid class

Entry-grade

Standard-grade

Superior-grade

Supreme-grade

Exalted-class

Entry-grade

Standard-grade

Superior-grade

Supreme-grade

Legendary-class

Entry-grade

Standard-grade

Superior-grade

Supreme-grade

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Mana crystals:

Impure mana crystals

Refined mana crystals

Pure mana crystals

Divine mana crystals