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Chapter 411: Being in the Game without Knowing about the Game
The biggest breakthrough of the access card developed by Professor Cazer, which differentiated it from the sorting card, was the addition of intercommunication function between access cards.
However, this function was essentially a replica of the sorting card—it had the exact same communication mechanism as that of the sorting card.
The holder of the access card only needed to specify a name while injecting magic energy to deliver their message, or specify a range to communicate with multiple people.
The difference between them was that with the sorting card, only the professors had the authority to pass on messages, whereas all holders of the access cards were able to do the same.
……
Upon finding out that someone had messaged him through the access card, Dark immediately thought about the other party's identity.
Currently, the only people who possessed the access card should be its creator Professor Cazer and another winner of the duel festival—Joseph Bruno. Aside from them, it would at most be Professor Silver.
But if Professor Silver wanted to send him a message, she could simply do so using the "Wind Spirit" as a medium.
"Then, that leaves either Professor Cazer or Joseph Bruno?"
With a slight bewilderment, Dark tapped the envelope icon on the access card.
However, the name displayed in the message was not of anyone he had guessed, but Ophelia Bullard!
"The Blood Princess?"
While feeling surprised over the fact that the Blood Princess was in possession of an access card, Dark looked at the content of the message.
[191519]
"What does 191519 mean?"
After rereading the number displayed in the message, Dark couldn't help but feel apprehensive.
……
"Did you wake up?"
As magic energy fluctuation rippled from the top of his head, Professor Silver's voice came through [Blessing of the Wind Spirit].
Dark did a little nod and said, "Pretty much. Professor, is the ritual going smoothly? I received a message from Ophelia Bullard."
"It’s going pretty smoothly, Medea has been..." Professor Silver said, "Wait, Ophelia sent you a message? Using an access card?"
"That's right." Dark nodded. "How did she get hold of the access card?"
Professor Silver fell silent for a moment before answering, “She should’ve cheated Joseph Bruno out of it. What did she say?"
Dark instantly connected the dots.
"A line of numbers, 191519. It looks like she's pretty free?" Dark casually blurted out, but the atmosphere in the pumpkin carriage abruptly changed.
Professor Silver sharply turned to look at Medea Bartholomew, who opened her eyes almost immediately to check on the situation. The silver moonlight swirling in her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
But after the light dimmed down, Medea shook her head and said, "It's going very smoothly, everything’s going according to plan."
Professor Silver: "But what about the message?"
Professor Medea said, "191519 is not necessarily an SOS."
Dark asked curiously, "Why SOS?"
Professor Medea explained, "19, 15, 19 correspond to the 19th, 15th and 19th letters of the alphabet, that is, S, O, S. This is a code for a distress signal."
Dark was promptly enlightened, "So that's it."
The writing system of this world was very nuanced.
The main function of the 26 English alphabet was for phonetic notation, which was equivalent to pinyin in the current Chinese writing system. Only in few cases would they be used in real text.
Some complex English words did not exist here.
Dark thought about it and asked, "How about I send a message to ask her?"
"No need." Professor Silver whispered, "Although it’s a bit troublesome because of the secret passage, I can still communicate with Olivia from here."
After saying that, she immediately closed her eyes, her light golden hair moving without wind.
With the help of the Wind Spirit, her voice penetrated the barrier of the secret passage, thus engaging in a brief exchange with Ophelia Bullard.
Then, she opened her eyes and shook her head at Professor Medea.
Dark waited for a moment, but upon hearing no further response from the other side, he asked with concern, "How is it?"
Professor Silver's tone had become obviously heavier. "She said she didn't send you any message."
“Haah," Professor Medea immediately sighed, "Seems like we’re in trouble."
……
In the wee hours of 2:30 am on the second of April, Dark Demon was yanked out halfway while swimming in the pool of gossip.
He rolled down from the seats and waved to Gatomon and Leomon. "We have work to do."
"Is it really okay?" Professor Silver's voice was laced with a hint of worry.
As Dark reached around his ear, the wisp of breeze wrapped around his fingertip.
"It's necessary to take some risks," Dark lowered his head and replied in a low voice, "I have [Blessing of the Wind Spirit] with me, nothing will go wrong."
Thereupon, he quickened his pace and walked out of the classroom.
……
At the top of the spiral clock tower, inside the pumpkin carriage, Professor Silver pinched the wisp of breeze in her hand, her expression more solemn than ever. "Medea, can you guarantee the accuracy of the prophecy?"
But Professor Medea merely leaned her plump body on the soft backrest and said with a tinge of laziness, "If you must ask, then in order to maintain the dignity of a fortune-teller, I can only tell you that it's 100% accurate."
Professor Silver's face slightly sank. "I'm not playing riddles with you."
Professor Medea let out a small yawn and spoke, "But I remember telling you a long time ago that the kids won’t be harmed, and the Brave One’s sword will pierce through the black fog."
Then she suddenly turned serious and said, "Now the black fog has appeared, and the die of fate has been cast. As an audience, we have to remain as we are."
Professor Silver took in a deep breath. "I understand what you mean, but I can't help but to worry."
Medea glanced at her and muttered, "Arte's heart is much harder than yours."
Professor Silver heaved a sigh, "That's why she’s the Headmistress."
……
The ritual was already halfway through.
The participation of outsiders at this point of time would bring about an unpredictable change to the ritual.
Especially these two professors.
Whether it was Sarah Silver or Medea Bartholomew, the moment one of them walked out of the pumpkin carriage, the "level" of this ritual would instantly soar.
The entire ritual would jump from a "novice" level to the "final" level in the blink of an eye.
In this case, Dark Demon, who had already intruded from the beginning of the ritual, could instead move normally without causing too much impact on it.
However, he also had to play his role well.
"The Brave One’s rival?"
While guessing the significance of this character, Dark went to the secret passage entrance he was most familiar with.
In that node of history, the character of [the Brave One's rival] was a human who embarked on the expedition at the same time as the Brave One. Having the same goal as the Brave One, he would have a "healthy" competition with the Brave One during the journey and would often join up with the Brave One at the final spurt to fight against the demon king together.
Historically, in the play of "The Brave One and the Demon King", there would usually be such a character.
To borrow a prophecy Medea Bartholomew once said: History repeats itself, the circle of life is never-ending.
It was just that some [rivals] could grow at the same pace as [the Brave One], while some [rivals] would trail far behind [the Brave One].
Similarly, there were also [rivals] who would surpass or even replace [the Brave One].
Of course, if that time really came, [the Brave One] would become the [rival] while the [rival] themself would become [the Brave One].
In this world where the Brave One was undetermined and "the Brave One candidates" were numerous, this situation was not uncommon.
In the last era, [the Brave One] Bright Gawd's [rival] was none other than the other half of the kingdom's Twin Swords, [Valkyrie]!
……
"It's here."
As Dark reached out his hand and injected his magic energy, the entrance of the secret passage began to ripple like water.
"According to Professor Silver, among all the entrances to the secret passage, only this one is temporarily unsealed. DemiDevimon!"
"Vanguard’s coming!" DemiDevimon rapidly flapped its wings and rushed into the secret passage.
Half a second later, it poked out half of its head and reported, "Safe."
Only then did Dark step in.
What came into view was the secret passage realm he hadn't seen for a long time. The nearby torches had already ignited, their swaying flames reflected on the smooth walls.
When he raised his hand to touch it, the [Blessing of the Wind Spirit] wrapped around his fingertip, its magic energy fluctuations showing a very clear trend of abating.
Just as Professor Silver said, the barrier of the secret passage would interfere with the conduction of magic energy between the outside and the inside, causing a delay in the transmission of information.
"What should we do next?"
Leomon strode forward and proactively took the frontmost position.
Dark took out [Misdreavus]’s magic card from his sleeve and put on an act to say, "Follow the guidance of fate."
As [Misdreavus]’s magic card produced a response, the scarlet beam of light once again reemerged.
"Let's go."
"We’re embarking on an expedition."
"Meow."
……
Upon passing through the first section of the secret passage, the atmosphere of the entire realm abruptly changed, the familiar feeling completely vanishing.
As Dark looked at the originally flat wall turning into a steep mountain ridge, although he was somewhat taken aback, he wasn’t overly surprised.
There were two directors in this ritual.
While simultaneously playing as an "actor", Ophelia Bullard also served as the internal director of the ritual.
And the other director was Medea Bartholomew, who was mainly in charge of the external directing and fine-tuning.
Ophelia Bullard was the core. Once a problem appeared in her sector, the whole ritual would crash and burn.
Dark had previously participated in the ritual led by Professor Didi, but that ritual and this one were completely different in nature.
This was because their purposes and the subjects of the rituals were different.
Conceptually, the ritual directed by Professor Didi was actually more complicated and difficult.
Compared to it, the ritual directed by Ophelia Bullard and Medea Bartholomew was really just on the level of a "stage play".
However, this "stage play" was small yet intricate.
Although it was small in scale, it was more intricate.
……
A few minutes later, Dark looked at the group of monsters that suddenly came ambushing from the fork in the road and issued an attack command to Leomon.
"Fist of the Beast King!"
The lion-shaped energy wave that burst out amidst the lion's roar instantly blasted all the monsters into pieces!
"All bark and no bite." Dark shook his head and quickly moved forward.
The monsters that were magically transformed in the secret passage due to the ritual were far inferior to the monsters in Saint Marian’s dungeon. They were like hastily made papercrafts.
By the time they walked past, the scattered pieces of monsters had turned back into light spots of magic energy, recycled by the secret passage.
As they forged ahead all the way through, half an hour later, Dark had already gone deep into the secret passage.
Every once in a while, Professor Silver's message would be transmitted by the [Blessing of the Wind Spirit].
Although it was vague, he could still barely understand the meaning.
The ritual was still proceeding smoothly.
Everything was going according to plan.
It was as if the line of numbers sent by the Blood Princess through the access card did not exist at all.
But beneath this "smoothness", there was a trace of "despair" that was gradually accumulating.
Dark felt a sense of urgency.
After another half an hour, he finally caught up with [the Brave One]’s progress and arrived at an enormous gate.
Looking up at the huge bronze gate that resembled the gate of the double-headed demonic being’s palace in the dungeon, Dark took in a deep breath.
A gap had been pushed open in the gate, wide enough for three people to walk through it side by side.
It was evident that the actors of [the Brave One]’s party had already gone deep into it.
As the main actors of this ritual, White and Robert knew nothing about the ritual itself.
They were akin to puppets, whereas the one who held part of the script was the actor of the [mage]—Tom Nixon.
But even Tom Nixon only held part of the script.
He didn’t know the ultimate purpose of the ritual and was merely following Ophelia Bullard's instructions.
Meanwhile, the actor who played the [grandfather], Ryan Hex, was acting completely on his own will.
The [Lance Hero] who was supposed to retire behind the scenes and returned to the stage in his advanced years—the details of his identity was in fact never hidden from the academy.
It was nothing more than Headmistress Arte judging him to be of no threat and thus letting him enter the academy.
Professor Silver, who went from not knowing at first to now having learned of the ins and outs, took the opportunity to lead him into the game and let him play a role he had always played.
"The highest level of acting is not knowing that you’re acting."
"They’re moving on their own volition and exhibiting their own abilities."
"For them, all of this is real."
Following behind Leomon, Dark passed through the gap of the gigantic gate and stepped into the main set of the entire ritual—the demon king’s castle!
His field of vision instantly broadened.
There was no firmament up above, only a night sky densely covered in dark clouds.
A ropeway paved with iron chains traversed over the cliff, with an expanse of dried up black soil land across from it.
Like a background, the demon king's castle stood at the end of the field of vision. A lightning abruptly struck down as if to tear the whole world apart, the rumble of thunder erupting from time to time.
Dark pulled out two magic cards from his card pouch and dashed onto the ropeway.
"In the name of Dark Demon, magic summon——[Hawlucha]!"
Upon materializing amidst the light, Hawlucha charged at the flock of vultures flying out from under the cliff with a sharp gaze. Countless Feather Arrows pierced through the bodies of the vultures.
……
"The problem right now is that the ritual itself is part of the game."
……
2 chapters in 1
……
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