Chapter 117: Everything Is Ready
Once the door closed again, only Morris and the four finally confird explorers remained in the office.
“All right. Now it is the four of you.” Morris’s gaze grew more solemn, though it still carried the warmth of an elder. “The vacant slot will be filled according to the rules by the next person in line. Now, there are a few things you must keep firmly in mind.”
“Do not place too much pressure on yourselves. Representing the academy is certainly an honor, but your safety will always co first. Your future is still long. Treat this exploration as a special experience, a chance to broaden your horizons. The ruins are vast beyond asure, and the so-called clues to an Elven legacy are, at present, only speculation. Whether anything of real value can even be found remains unknown. Therefore, your primary goal is to preserve yourselves. Exploration and gain co second. Understood?”
“Understood,” the four replied in unison.
“Good. Then go back and rest properly. You still have half a month to prepare. Make full use of the resources the academy is providing.” Morris waved a hand. “Off with you.”
After the four of them bowed and withdrew one by one, Ryan was the last to leave. As he pulled the door shut, he glanced back over his shoulder.
Minister Morris had not imdiately returned to his seat. Instead, he stood behind his desk, his gaze resting on Ryan, carrying a complicated look that mingled expectation, scrutiny, and sothing deeper.
When he saw Ryan look back, the stern minister’s mouth actually lifted, just slightly, at one corner. He gave Ryan a small nod.
Ryan calmly withdrew his gaze and gently closed the door.
The corridor was softly lit.
The blond boy from House Randall did not linger. He rely gave Ryan, Lillian, and Rex a polite nod, left behind a brief, “Please take care of in the ruins,” and hurried away, clearly eager to return and report to his family.
That left Ryan alone with Lillian and Rex, both wearing very different expressions.
Rex finally found his chance and imdiately hurried over to Ryan, his gray eyes bright. “Um… Velt! Thanks for earlier in the forest! That bag you threw us really saved us! Without it, Miss and I definitely would never have gotten one of these slots.”
Lillian instantly clicked her tongue beside him. Her ice-blue eyes glared at Rex, and her cheeks flushed faintly. “Rex! Could you show a little dignity? How can you so easily…”
She did not finish. Instead, she turned her face away with an annoyed huff.
Ryan looked at the pair of them, these two little troublemakers, and shook his head. “No need to thank . Those things were already useless to . Keeping them would only have been extra baggage.”
Rex scratched his head with a foolish grin.
But Ryan’s indifferent tone seed to sting Lillian. At last, she could not hold back any longer and turned around to face him directly, her ice-blue eyes fixed on him.
“Velt!” Her voice rose. “You agreed that quickly? Do you even know how dangerous that place is? Are you really not afraid of dying in there?!”
Ryan’s gray-blue eyes t her heated gaze calmly, and his tone remained as flat as ever. “Whether you fear it or not, the danger is still there. Life and death are more often in your own hands than anywhere else.”
His gaze passed over her, then over the visibly tense Rex.
“If you were afraid, then you should have refused from the start, just as Wilson did. Once you have chosen, there is no need to keep wavering.”
“You…!” Lillian choked on his arrogant answer and stepped forward in fury, her platinum-blond hair seeming almost ready to stand on end. Rex quickly grabbed her arm.
“Miss! Calm down!” Rex urged, then turned to Ryan and added with complete sincerity, “I actually think what he said makes sense… Besides, in the forest, wasn’t it him who dealt with that senior from the Interdiate Departnt? He’s far stronger than we are. Even Senior Eleanor couldn’t beat him. Of course he would know better than we do what to do.”
“Rex Holden, you idiot, whose side are you even on?!” Lillian looked as if she were about to explode. “And you are not allowed to bring up Senior Eleanor!”
Her last sentence ca out almost as a shriek. Clearly, Rex had blundered right onto one of her forbidden subjects again.
“I was only stating the facts…” Rex muttered, looking utterly innocent.
The two of them began pulling and bickering in low voices right there in the corridor. By the ti Lillian finally managed to wrench herself free of Rex’s grip and glare angrily back up, Ryan Velt was already gone.
At the far end of the corridor, in the direction of the stairs, there was no one.
Only the deepening night outside the windows, and the scattered lights of the academy.
That infuriating person who sohow also… refused to stop occupying her thoughts had vanished like the wind and gone back to his own dormitory.
All that was left was Lillian glaring at an empty corridor in frustration, while Rex scratched the back of his head beside her, once again trying to understand why his Miss was angry.
The Whispering Forest assessnt and the conversation in the minister’s office were like two stones thrown into the water. Splash, splash—and then the surface slowly closed over again.
At least, that was how it looked on the surface.
For Ryan, life had rely shifted to another track and continued playing onward.
The first order of business was to compare information with Cecilia. He briefly told her what Minister Morris had said—about the Starfall Ruins, about the academy sending four people, and about the nas on the list, including Lillian, Rex, and that noble brat from House Randall.
After hearing it, Her Highness the Princess did not even blink those ice-blue eyes. She only gave a faint comnt: “House Randall, then. They’re from the southern borderlands. Fairly well-behaved. They won’t be a problem.”
After that, the materials arrived.
They were not so shocking cache of secrets. They were more like a complete beginner’s bundle for ruins exploration.
There were handbooks written by the veteran old hands of the Explorers’ Association, explaining how to identify traps, how to set up camp, and how to conserve Mana. There were several copied introductory scrolls on Elven runes and basic knowledge of Elven civilization. They were all at the level of public lectures, but at least they gave him so foundation for understanding that mysterious race. There were even a few slim monster compendium summaries, illustrated with all sorts of bizarre-looking creatures.
Ryan spent ti reading through them.
He morized quickly. Anything useful was stored directly in his mind.
So of that knowledge of Elven runes occasionally matched up with the fragnts he had heard from the Erald Wind Oath and from Syl, giving him a slightly clearer sense of that so-called Elven ruin, though it was still hidden beneath a dense layer of fog.
His days proceeded in orderly fashion.
Magic Tool classes continued as usual. Since the regular examinations were already over, he actually had more ti to spend imrsed in the workshop.
Master Bernard, who was responsible for practical instruction, had begun looking at him more and more like a craftsman eyeing a piece of excellent raw material. From ti to ti, he would offer a few ingenious ideas that went beyond the textbooks.
Ryan also made use of the academy’s newly opened Advanced Training Grounds to test several portable Magic Tools he had been working on, taking them apart and modifying them until they beca things that could truly be used rather than re ideas.
And every week, there were also several extra sessions—Barton’s special training.
By now, the content of that training had long since ceased to be the sort of basic conditioning ant for students.
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