How many years has Dean Fielding not attended the opening ceremony?

Tilna hadn't seen him at the opening ceremony in her five years at Iluvita, the seventh graders who were about to graduate had never seen him at the opening ceremony, and even many of the younger faculty members hadn't seen him at the opening ceremony, and if Maureen had the chance to look through the League of Tricksters' "Illuvita Academy Memorabilia", he might have found that the last time Fielding appeared at the opening ceremony was thirty years ago.

"Why is Fielding there?" Morin whispered in the corner of the long table.

Originally, it was a natural thing for the dean of the academy to attend the opening ceremony, but it was suspicious when it was put on His Excellency Fielding, which shows how unreliable the impression this guy usually leaves on everyone.

"Perhaps...... Do you want to sing to us?" said Barron, in a rough voice, as he remembered the last New Year's song, and the name of the singer, Fielding, had always been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The Kadir boy's voice was a little loud, which immediately attracted a whisper of approval from the surrounding people.

"Could it be Professor Feith last year......" Marcas guessed, looking around uneasily.

"Maybe it's because the academy doesn't have enough funds to start collecting tuition......" Aeno said nervously, subconsciously pulling a second-order crystal card out of Xiao Hei's arms under the table, and carefully putting it back into the blue money bag.

"Maybe it's just trying to save the image of the dean?" Morin speculated, "Look at how many new students have been recruited this year, not more than half of our class! Maybe everyone has heard that the dean of Iluvita is irresponsible, so no one wants to come to our college......"

He pointed to the group of students in the new growth gowns at the new growth table, which did seem to be half as small as the second grade.

"Ninety-seven freshmen......" Tierna glanced at it and came up with the specific number: "But according to tradition, it is actually the first two years to recruit more students, because when I came to the academy, those seniors said that they have only recruited about a hundred students every year, and it may be that this year is just a resumption of the previous enrollment tradition." ”

Several people discussed in a low voice for a while, but did not come up with any reliable guesses.

The opening ceremony has officially begun.

First, new students are awarded status rings, and then the points rules and special enchantment restrictions for the school year are read and opened, and the lighting crystals in the hall are lit in turn to symbolize the corresponding rules.

Fielding personally presided over these two sessions, and did not let the vice president on the side, Anna Gulao, then again, if he was personally present and handed over these matters to the vice president, I am afraid it would really be unreasonable.

Unlike Professor Anna, who speaks at a very fast speed that is difficult to distinguish, and Fielding is slow when he reads the rules, but whenever he finishes a sentence slowly, it seems that dozens of rules are being read at the same time, and the illumination crystals on the sky dome are lit up one by one.

Soon the entire dome of the hall was lit up.

Fielding paused, clearing his cloudy throat.

The students had already raised their glasses full of fruit wine.

As is customary, the new school year is announced as Professor Anna has finished announcing the entry into force, and the largest crystal in the hall will be lit up, and students and faculty will raise their glasses in celebration.

But the moon in the center did not light up as expected.

The students looked at Dean Fielding in amazement and slowly lowered their glasses.

"He's going to speak. Marcus whispered.

The atmosphere became a little solemn, and Merlin let Xiao Hei return to the ring marks.

Fielding looked patient, and when all the students realized he was going to speak and put down their glasses, the old man smiled slightly and nodded to everyone.

"Thank you for putting down your glasses and speaking to me. First of all, as the head of Illuvita, I welcome the new students who have chosen to study in Illuvita among the many magic academies, and the old students who still choose to return to the academy to continue their ordeal after suffering from our courses again and again. ”

The remark drew cheers from some of the upperclassmen.

"If you have the patience to read the relevant records, or listen carefully to the history of magic by our beloved Professor Anna, you will know that this magic academy was founded at the end of the Second Age, and it is now more than two thousand years old. And for more than 2,000 years, including the entire War Era, we, Iluvita, have been the best magical academy on the continent of Todder. ”

Without saying a word, another cheer was given, and Maureen applauded.

"For more than 2,000 years, we have been recruiting students from all nationalities and ethnicities, and we will not close our doors to students who have enough natural potential to meet the demands of our curriculum. The dead or the living, the Kadir or the Eiffels, the grey dwarves or the forest elves, the goblins or the dragons,......"

Morin's eyes searched Alice's group and saw Thea, Tevez, and Borg knocking on the table twice.

"We uphold the spirit of the Temple of Order, cultivating excellent young people who have the ability and courage to guard the fire of order, the best young people, the most fearless young people. In many ways, we've done a successful job, and the countless vows of your predecessors still reverberate in Valhalla today. ”

When it came to Valhalla, everyone was much more serious and didn't make a sound.

"Courage has always been the glory of professionals. To this end, we have a simulated arena for students to engage in real battles, and we also require students to enter the Trials Tower from the third year onwards to survive and receive assessment tasks at the end of the semester. ”

The Trial Tower is a place where senior students practice fighting, and I heard that it is not within the range of the academy valley, and the objects that middle and senior seniors fight in it are also different from the simulated arena.

Their opponents in the Tower of Trials are not the Order race, but the real Chaos Nightmare Beasts.

"But in the present moment, it seems a bit too conservative," Fielding paused.

The students looked at each other, not knowing what he meant.

"After consideration, I have made the following decision," Fielding said slowly, "Starting this year, we will require all students to enter the Trial Tower Survival Tempering, except for the freshmen, all students. Year 2 students will receive a new assignment of required courses tomorrow and will be assessed at the end of the semester. ”

Hearing this, the hall suddenly exploded.

"What ——?!"

"No ——!"

"No way! That's too dangerous!!"

"There's no point in doing that!"

Compared to the uproar of the senior students, a few of the third-year students were clamoring for unfairness, why they couldn't participate in the trial when they were in the second grade, while the second-year students were a little dazed, not understanding what the trial tower meant, and some of the students heard that they could fight the nightmare beast, and they still had some expectations in their hearts.

Fielding paused for a moment, allowing the students to digest the news.

As the noise faded away, he continued:

"Compared to young people of the same age, you have already carried a lot of burdens as professionals, but whenever you encounter difficult situations, you still need to face them bravely and take on the responsibilities of professionals, and you must also believe that as the head of Iluvita, I will not let you face such dangers if you did not feel that it is necessary. ”

"Trust me. Fielding gasped a few times, as if announcing the decision had taken too much effort on his part.

Morin suddenly noticed that Dean Fielding was actually very tall, but the last time he saw him, he was seated and couldn't tell it.

"In addition, for Year 2 students, we will provide more targeted instruction to make you as prepared as possible. For new students, we will also set up a related preparatory course. ”

Fielding's decision to let the second-year students enter the Trials Tower to train should not have been discussed with the other teachers in advance, because most of the teachers in the teacher seat seemed to be taken aback.

Fielding spoke earnestly, and the resolution was unshakable, and the senior students stopped making noise, but looked at the long table in the second year with a frown, wondering if the younger students could survive the lessons they had only been doing in the third grade.

"From the bottom of my heart, I hope you can brave this through this. ”

Fielding ended his speech with his customary blessing: "I declare that the new school year has officially begun. Little ones, keep trying, keep believing, stay lucky. ”

The moon-like illumination crystal in the center of the hall glows again.

……

Fielding left the castle hall after speaking, wondering if there was anything else.

And because of his previous speech, everyone had no intention of celebrating the beginning of the school year, and the whole dinner party was full of students gathering in groups of three or five to discuss in a low voice, and even the members of the Troublemakers League had no prank intentions, looking at the second-year students with suspicious faces, worried about the trials they were about to face.

"What do you mean by what Dean Fielding just said?" asked Marcus quietly.

"It seems that we will soon face a more difficult situation, so that's why we went to the Trial Tower to train in advance?" Morin recalled the previous dean's speech, and then remembered that Fielding was suddenly willing to spend a lot of gold to pick up and drop off students, and the young man felt that this was still quite possible.

"But what kind of difficult situation will it be......" Tilna was also a little confused, "Could it be a tide of chaos, but I didn't hear about it when I was in the City of Machines......"

"If there really is a chaotic tide coming, will we let our junior students go to the front to fight......" Aeno said uncertainly, she was not afraid of fighting after experiencing the alternation of life and death, but she felt that going to the front line with such strength would not make much difference.

"So what the hell is in the Trials Tower?" Barron couldn't help but ask, but the Kadir boy was full of anticipation while the others were suspicious, and he couldn't help but get excited when he heard that he could start fighting the Nightmare Beast.

"I don't know," Merlin shook his head: "But the Trial Tower is not unique to our academy, strictly speaking, the Trial Tower is actually a kind of magic tower, and there should be quite a few on the Todel Continent." ”

Marcas on the side swallowed a large sip of magical liqueur and interjected, "I know that there is a similar trial tower at the Royal Academy of Gesok, and my sister said that the environment in it is very harsh, similar to the Black Forest, and there are a large number of nightmare beasts. She said that the main purpose of building the Test Tower was to familiarize students with how to fight Nightmare Beasts in the Order. But unlike Virtual Arena, the battles in the Tower of Trials are real, and the slightest mistake can lead to serious injuries and death. ”

As he spoke, Marcas's face turned a little pale.

Among the four schools of the academy, the most proficient in combat should be the classical mage school and the combat and command school, while the mechanical and manufacturing school and the nature and life school are slightly weaker, and a mechanical aristocratic child like him, who has never fought with others since he was a child, was quite panicked for a while when he learned that he suddenly had to face the legendary enemy of order.

There are many students who are just as uneasy as Marcus, and although everyone is not lacking in the courage to face chaos, it is one situation to be prepared, and it is a completely different situation to be caught off guard like this.

The dinner ended in a hurry.

At the dinner, Maureen met with Mike Caviezer and several other seniors, and found Kellyyul in his new growth robe, a little fat man who had actually come to study at Iluvita, and when Maureen saw him, he was leaning on the side of Damon, the captain of the Silvertree team, asking for the team's badge.

In addition to the delicious food cooked by the house elves, there was another thing to be happy about for Morin tonight - he did not see Professor Brand in the faculty seat, and he was under the impression that the professor was never absent from such a banquet. Thinking back to the previous time at Victor College, Professor Bolburn angrily said that Brand had gone to a certain place this year and was not in charge of the admissions of Iluvita Academy, and the teenager secretly wondered if Blood-Eyed Brand was in trouble.

Hope is a big problem, the boy thought maliciously.

In fact, last school year, before discovering that Feth was a cultist, Morin's most hated course was [Basic Magic Card Use], and his least favorite teacher was definitely Blood-Eyed Brand.

Although the series of courses used by magic cards is a compulsory course in the classical mage school, it would be nice to have a different teacher.

He glanced at the list of courses given by the elf, and sure enough, he found that the instructor under the [Advanced Magic Card Usage] course to be taken this semester had two words written on it: To be determined.

All the troubles disappeared in an instant, and even Fielding's speech just now could not spoil the good mood of the young man at this moment.

It wasn't until he finished writing a letter to his home in the communication tower that he watched the flying gargoyle disappear into the night and was about to leave the communication tower, when he suddenly saw a pair of blood-colored eyes coming towards him.

"Hello professor. Morin greeted with a drooping face, and in an instant the world froze.

Can't Professor Brand appear again tomorrow, so that he can at least have a good dream tonight, and he really shouldn't come to the communication tower at night, this is the second time he has met Brand here, and he really can't believe in evil......

Blood-eyed Brand glanced at Morin, his gaze stopped for a moment on the two rings on the young man's right hand, and then turned to the communication tower, seeing that there were still students waiting in line to use the communication ball, he didn't linger, turned and walked towards his underground office by the lake.

Seeing that the other party didn't pay attention to him, Morin pursed his lips and turned around and walked towards the dormitory castle.

Sure enough, Brand wasn't in the academy before, the boy thought, there was actually a trace of exhaustion on the face of this great magician, which is rare, and there were also some magic fluctuations escaping from his body, like the aftermath after a large amount of mana consumption, and he didn't know where this guy had gone before, and he actually consumed so much mana.

Maybe he's messed with someone he shouldn't mess with and will leave the academy early tomorrow morning, Merlin thought hopefully, or maybe he's throwing some powerful magic in his office, maybe he'll be too badly injured to teach tonight......

It's always okay to think about it, and the teenager is drifting away......

……

When Brand's slightly tired figure reappeared in front of the communications tower that night, it was empty.

The night was deep, and the constellations of Night Mill exuded a cold silver glow.

Brand walked into the communication room on the second floor of the tower, closed the door, and carefully inspected the magic barrier in the room as usual, and then opened the core of the communication ball and adjusted.

I don't know if it's because of exhaustion, but this time he took a little longer.

Finally, darkness fell in the room, and figures wearing pale masks appeared in the darkness. The figures seemed to be talking about something, but Brand's sudden addition brought them to a halt.

Then a voice sounded in the darkness.

"Year of the Stars, Ninth Meeting of Dawnwings, Executor Five, you're late. ”