The Bloodbath Commences

Chairman Siley turned around to face Leylin and the group of acolytes.

"You are the most outstanding acolytes in South Coast. Members of my Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, who have experienced blood and fire. You are not just a flower that is nurtured in a greenhouse, but ferocious young lions! I want you to seek your prey, stalk them, and ambush them. Finally, rip them to shreds!"

Following these words of encouragement, Siley promised many different rewards to his students. They involved precious resources and advanced information that would be given as a bounty whenever the opposing acolytes were slain. This made the acolytes' faces twinkle with greed.

Leylin's face was extremely solemn, but he rolled his eyes inwardly. The chairman's speech had bored him, and he just wanted to kill.

"As per the circulating rumors, our chairman is indeed an extremely aggressive person..." Bicky whispered, and the others just nodded their heads.

On the other side, the chairman of Sage Gotham's Hut and Whitewoods Castle were also giving their speech. Their acolytes were cheering loudly and nodding their heads vigorously.

The academies on South Coast had been influenced by the styles of their respective headmasters. Abyssal Bone Forest Academy was advocating a more bloodthirsty law of the jungle. Overall, it was leaning towards the side of Dark Magi. This was well in accordance with Leylin's morals.

As for the two opposing factions, they were leaning more towards Light Magi types. Although many acolytes were already level 3 acolytes, Leylin did not see the astuteness and craftiness in their eyes. Many of them even seemed innocent, which was extremely similar to the acolytes that were in Extreme Night City.

This realization made Leylin crave their deaths even more. His eyes gleamed with dark intent. Obviously, his main goal was to gather enough contribution points to exchange for the Grine Water and Advancement Grimoire. But he would be lying if he said this would not be equal to a holiday for him.

As for the price of the cultivation items, it was 150 contribution points for the Grine Water and 500 for the Advancement Grimoire. That is to say, Leylin had to kill sixty-five level 3 acolytes, or even more level 2 acolytes, before gathering enough points.

In his mind, Leylin recognized that it wouldn't be smart to simply obliterate the other factions since it would put a giant fluorescent target on his back. However, he could still allow himself to kill many level 2 acolytes for the fun of it.

Leylin sized up the opposing acolytes and eyed some of the level 3 acolytes who ostensibly had low energy waves. They would be his prizes after this was all over. Naturally, he could face the best warriors and mages of the enemy teams, but it would also draw too much attention to himself.

He was already on the verge of turning into a generational prodigy thanks to his growing reputation. If he could help it, Leylin would avoid confrontation with these young masters. But if they walked up to him looking for a fight, they would only find their ruin.

"Alright. This secret plane will hold on for 3 days. In these 3 days, you will all be transported to different places in the secret plane. Protect your chest badges well. They are proof of your contributions and contain information on the return path." -Shouted the chairman of Abyssal Bone Forest.

Siley waved his hands, and the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy acolytes formed a long line, entering the entrance of the secret plane in an orderly fashion.

Under the mediation of Lighthouse of the Night, the academy had obtained a few benefits. For example, they could enter the secret plane first, giving them a territorial advantage. However, Leylin understood that in front of his opponents' immense force, this little benefit for Abyssal Bone Forest Academy was simply a joke.

The rival factions to Abyssal Bone Forest numbered almost the same, at 800 or so. However, the percentage of level 3 acolyte on the enemy side was at least 5 to 6 times more than what Abyssal Bone Forest Academy had.

As for the acolytes of Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, not to mention that most of them perished in the war, many of them could not make it back in time. Some even betrayed the academy and were killed while escaping. Such a result made Abyssal Bone Forest Academy inferior to the enemy in terms of forces, standing at a mere 900 fighting acolytes.

Under these dire circumstances, the chairman of Abyssal Bone Forest Academy still provoked the enemy in such a fashion. This made Leylin convinced of a rumor – the cause of this entire war was a provocation by this Chairman Siley.

As Leylin pondered on it, he followed the acolyte in front of him into the secret plane.

After entering the plane, Leylin's sight turned black. When he regained his senses, he was already standing on an unfamiliar plot of land.

He felt dizzy as if there were millions of bees flapping their wings inside his brain. Nonetheless, he quickly recovered. As for his peers, some of them were puking and had extremely pale faces. Even Fayle and Jayden were on their knees trying to breathe and collect their thoughts.

[Such are the negative effects of traveling through spatial formations.] -Aralis' voice intoned.

Leylin pretended to be in the same boat as his allies. He slapped his forehead and opened his water bottle, splashing the cold water on his face. He acted as if he felt much better and then he began analyzing the terrain in preparation for the massacre that he was about to unleash.

Looking at the surroundings, what entered his sight were some small trees and shrubs. There were always a few unknown fruit trees grown. On them was a type of purple-red fruit that was slightly hairy on the surface.

'Aralis, scan the surroundings.' -Leylin ordered. Immediately, a light blue 3D image was projected in front of his eyes.

'There doesn't seem to be any danger.' -Leylin nodded his head and chanted a brief incantation.

Along with the chanting noise, Leylin's face took on a morphing process. His eyes became larger, his lips paler, and his hair changed color. Even his height was shorter by a few inches. In sum, he had become a totally different person.

What was surprising was that after he cast this Rank 0 spell, the energy waves from Leylin's body gradually weakened. It regressed from a level 3 acolyte to that of a level 1 acolyte slowly.

[Shapeshifting Spell. Able to change the height and appearance of a person, down to their energy waves and mana radiation. Consumption: 3 Mana Energy, 3 Spiritual Force.]

This was an improved version of the Transfiguration Spell. After he advanced into a level 3 acolyte, Leylin managed to reach the requirements for Aralis to make modifications to it. Back in Extreme Night City, he had already dominated Shapeshifting.

Of course, no matter how much he or Aralis worked on it, the Shapeshifting technique was in the end a Rank 0 spell. It could only conceal his energy from acolytes, but not the detection from official Magi. Otherwise, Leylin could have used the spell to make himself a level 2 acolyte when he returned.

Furthermore, the Shapeshifting spell altered the perception of his energy waves to a nominal degree, which only allowed him to pass off as a low-level acolyte. It could not be used to disguise as a regular human or official Magus.

Fortunately, the Bloodbath in the secret plane was only for acolytes. This signified that Leylin's camouflage would not be found out by the enemy side.

Leylin now looked at his reflection in the water of a stream. A blonde and fat acolyte, with the energy waves of a level 1 acolyte. Under this state, even if it was Bicky or Merlin, they wouldn't be able to recognize him.

Leylin's eyes flashed with red light, and he disappeared into the shrubs.

As for other places in the secret plane, many acolytes had already begun to face off and there were several explosive yet short-lived battles.

Besides a small pool, a black-haired acolyte with a black cloak used lightning to obliterate an Abyssal Bone Forest acolyte into ashes.

On the other side of the plane, Jayden's expression darkened, and suddenly countless vines shot out from his body, wrapping around an opposing acolyte from Whitewoods Castle into a ball of vines. Along with the contraction of the vine, fresh blood seeped through from the gaps of the vine, falling drop by drop on the floor.

Battles like these happened constantly throughout the plane. On the whole, the level 3 acolytes from Abyssal Bone Forest Academy had an advantage in 1 versus 1 combat. As for the level 1 and 2 acolytes, if they meet with any rival acolytes, they would be killed immediately.

A pockmarked acolyte with brown hair sported the uniform of Sage Gotham's Hut. His eyes were not big, but they were filled with anxiety and wariness, as he continuously scanned the area.

"Damn it! I was actually sent here. The distance from the gathering point of my academy is too far…" -The acolyte hurried his step as he berated incessantly.

Suddenly, a few whizzing sounds could be heard ringing around him. Then, he could feel a stinging pain in his sides and neck. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, motionless and dying.

With a look of anguish and disbelief, the acolyte's eyes were drained of life gradually with his blood and innards flowing out from his body.

Ten seconds later, the grasses nearby shook. A short hooded figure walked towards the corpse of the acolyte.

He crouched down and retrieved a red badge from the acolyte's chest.

'It's only a level 2 acolyte. Value is 3 contribution points.' Leylin deemed as he stored the red badge in his robes.

The various academies had different badges. Abyssal Bone Forest Academy's was black throughout in color, while the ones from Sage Gotham's Hut were red. Naturally, the badge from Whitewoods Castle was white. Moreover, depending on the level of the acolytes, their shape was bigger or smaller. Level 1 badges were the size of a coin, whereas level 3 badges looked like medals.

'It won't do me any good to stand here and wait for someone to move close enough to die. I had better just seek out these rats and murder them in groups.' -Leylin chuckled and then smiled earnestly.

This bloodbath between academies was not a competition or anything of that sort. According to the latest information received earlier from his first kill, Leylin could already confirm that the opposing academies had chosen gathering points. It was a primordial objective for their acolytes to hurry to those areas and then launch a joint attack on Abyssal Bone Forest Academy.

As for Abyssal Bone Forest, their strength was greatly diminished. They could not agree on gathering points, if not, they might be eradicated in one fell swoop. They could only scatter and fight their enemies separately.

Leylin could already foresee that on the very first day, the level 3 acolytes in Abyssal Bone Forest Academy would be able to kill just a few enemies and obtain a clear advantage. However, once the enemies have gathered and organized, they would begin to hunt the acolytes from Abyssal Bone Forest Academy similar to chasing after wild ducks.

As Leylin thought of the scenario where a magic trap formation set by the opposing acolytes could cover a large area, he smirked. This would mean the deaths of a high number of his supposed friends.

While he kept planning for the upcoming battles, he was already slicing the throat of a stupid girl that had decided to wait for her Whitewoods companions under a hill. Leylin moved so fast that she didn't even know what happened.

The cloaked figure sheathed his magic artifact dagger and cleaned the girl's badge using magic, only to then put it away inside a satchel.