CHAPTER 503: CHAPTER 250: YOUR BLACK DEMON KING IS BACK!

Lindong was probably the most ill-behaved and magically gifted student in the academy’s history, truly deserving of her "Black Demon King" title, though this nickname was mostly used among the professors. Among the students, she enjoyed immense popularity.

After all, few students didn’t like a bit of excitement.

Even the later students heard of Lindong’s legendary feat of blowing up the principal in the library. The Mole Club even had "historians" who documented all of Lindong’s pranks during her time at school, inspiring generations of new academy students and leading them down the path of "black magic."

Franky was once also a follower of Lindong, despite the subtle age difference.

He and Lindong were the same age, yet he graduated several years after her. The academy’s system was always flexible; once enough credits were accumulated, a final exam to apply for the Elemental Shaper certification was required. Among his peers, his progress was already considered swift, but he couldn’t compare to someone like Lindong, who completed all her credits in just three years.

And now, Franky understood everything.

"Principal, this is..."

"Perhaps it’s the entrance to the magic net, who knows?"

The old man with a head full of white hair shrugged. The echoes within the white orb had disappeared.

At that moment, Franky felt like he was once again that student, filled with confusion, "But there’s one thing I don’t understand."

The principal was the most knowledgeable person in the academy, always able to provide answers whenever Franky encountered unsolvable problems.

The principal, as always, looked at Franky calmly with his slightly clouded eyes, waiting for his student’s question.

"You mentioned earlier that time doesn’t flow normally here, that we might see memories of the past..."

"What did you see?"

Seeing Franky’s hesitance, the old man inquired.

"I saw myself. I came here but completely forgot what happened."

He admitted to the principal his mischievous past, which was also why he was there today. He had seen a sneaky figure wearing a Mole Club masquerade mask slipping out of the campus while on patrol.

The principal asked again, "What else did you see?"

"I saw him break into the maze, running deeper inside, which doesn’t align with my memory."

In Franky’s original memory, he hid under tree roots until dawn and never explored the maze’s depths again before graduation because whenever he gazed into the darkness, he felt something dangerous lurking there.

He had researched many books related to the magic net but found no clues.

For many years thereafter, it became an obsession of his—to prevent anyone from entering there, which was why he returned to the academy, but when he thought deeply, he couldn’t recall the source of this obsession.

"Perhaps you forgot about it, which isn’t surprising."

The principal said, "We forget many things every day."

But not things this important.

Franky wanted to refute, but he ultimately suppressed his emotions.

The magic net hid too many secrets, perhaps even ones the principal didn’t fully know. Franky sensed the principal didn’t want the topic to continue. When Franky said he couldn’t remember, the principal even seemed relieved, leading Franky to wonder if he was mistaken.

"Mr. Franky, it’s getting late. You should go back and rest."

"Yes, Principal."

Faced with the principal’s dismissal, Franky nodded and retreated down the corridor woven by tree roots, but at the same time, a decade-old curiosity resurfaced—today, the principal seemed peculiar, and the principal had never, nor intended to explain why he was there.

When Franky had fully retreated from the corridor, his hand unwittingly reached for the Magic Potion bottle at his waist.

It was a bottle of invisibility potion, confiscated during a surprise room check at dusk. Since Lindong’s appearance, invisibility potions had become the academy’s best-selling item, and it was still the same today. He hadn’t used such tools in many years.

After brief hesitation, Franky unscrewed the bottle cap.

It all seemed too coincidental, as if pre-designed.

This reminded him of "destiny," making him wonder whether the apparition he encountered at school was also a twist of fate?

Franky drank the potion in one swift motion, watched his hands gradually disappear, and once again followed his instincts.

He slowed his steps to make sure he made no sound at all.

With extensive experience in stealth, he was once a mischievous kid giving headaches to the mentors while in the Mole Club. During his conversation with the principal, he had already scouted his surroundings and chosen a hiding spot. He tiptoed back in and retreated toward the corner.

The principal seemed unaware of his presence, still gazing intently at the white orb suspended in midair.

But soon, a faint sound beside him caught his attention.

It was breathing, as if someone was trying hard to adjust their breathing frequency to avoid making any more noise.

He felt electric shock run through him at once.

The "illusion" never vanished, had run all the way here, and used the invisibility potion to conceal its presence—when he hid here without daring to move, it meant someone else had come here besides him, and their objective wasn’t to catch him to deduct credits, but for the white orb!