Chapter 43: Clein Magic School

Behind the entire city of Paris lies a magically created space known as the "Reverse."

When the city is rotated inside out, the map of this hidden inverse city serves only one purpose: to conceal four distinct locations. These are the four campuses belonging to the Klin Magic Academy.

Their locations correspond respectively to the Palace of Versailles, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower in the normal space.

The reverse side of the Palace of Versailles represents the "Command" Campus, which primarily teaches invocation and summoning arts. Magic students can study how to summon various rare and exotic beasts from myths and legends.

The reverse side of the Louvre represents the "Talent" Campus, which primarily focuses on alchemy. Through the dismantling and refining of materials, students craft all sorts of mystical implements and weapons.

The reverse side of the Arc de Triomphe represents the "Assault" Campus, specializing in dark magic. By studying various incantations, students can generate offensive spells utilizing the four elements of wind, earth, water, and fire.

The reverse side of the Eiffel Tower represents the "Peace" Campus, dedicated mainly to white magic. Students learn spells pertaining to healing, restoration, and defensive wards.

Having just returned to Paris, Jane had spent half a day at the "Peace Campus" healing companions who were injured during the raid on the Daoist Magic Academy.

At that moment, she received a summons: the administration of the Klin Magic Academy wished to see her regarding the matter of the Astral Veil. The summons came from Professor Brian, the Vice-Principal, and the meeting was set in the Sacred Heart Office of the "Command Campus."

Having previously obtained information on how to enter the Hunyuan Path from the professors, she had not expected the sneak attack to go remarkably smoother than anticipated. Upon her return, she had promptly reported the matter to the school authorities.

Perhaps due to afternoon fatigue or the discomfort of long-distance travel, she currently felt somewhat dazed and weary.

Yet, since the Vice-Principal was urgently seeking her out, she dared not delay. Hurrying to the "Talent Campus," she parked her flying broom against a wall and strode quickly across the corridor cast of massive stone.

Pushing open the doors to the Sacred Heart Office, the familiar scene greeted her: a row of wooden bookshelves filled with aged books stood against gray-black stone walls.

Beside a heavy, century-old wooden desk sat globes, navigational instruments, and sea charts from various eras left behind by preceding mages. These constituted an essential part of the historical development of magic.

Vice-Principal Professor Brian sat behind the desk, and to Jane’s surprise, Madame Madeline, the full professor of the Department of Dark Magic, and Mr. Christian, the full professor of the Department of Summoning, were also standing to the side.

Madame Madeline wore a black witch's hat atop her head, her eyes so profound that people dared not meet her gaze. Not a single student at the magic academy could hear her name without shivering. Legend had it that her mother was the most powerful dark witch in continental Europe over the past century, to the extent that her joining the Allies during World War II directly precipitated the collapse of the Third Reich. Furthermore, her mother was the only person to date who knew Hitler’s true whereabouts.

Jane had never once seen an expression on Madame Madeline's face. Even when she single-handedly wiped out an entire army of giant rebels, aside from the giants' blood, not a flicker of superfluous expression could be detected on her face.

Every year at the start of the term, one would hear tales of newly enrolled students frightened to the point of wetting themselves by her presence. And they literally wet their trousers—every single year, without fail. Unless attendance was strictly mandatory, Madame Madeline only ever appeared in the classroom.

Standing beside her was Professor Christian, whose chin was adorned with graying whiskers. He wore his threadbare, dark-crimson wizard's robe. Rather than a pointed wizard's hat, Professor Christian preferred the attached hood of his robe. He frequently pulled the hood over his head, casting shadows over the upper half of his face.

When he wore his hood in such a manner, students never dared to disturb him. Legend held that students who did so were left with psychological shadows that lingered for a very long time, though they could never quite remember what the incident had been about.

Professor Christian generally taught summoning arts; whatever creature had ever appeared in the tomes of invocation, he could summon instantaneously. Jane's summoning courses had received Professor Christian's meticulous guidance; had it not been for him, she could never have achieved an S-grade in a subject she was least suited for.

Normally, while the heads of the Dark Magic and Summoning departments might occasionally appear together, they were invariably accompanied by the full professors of the White Magic and Alchemy departments. Therefore, a meeting attended solely by these two could only be related to severe conflict.

Every discussion of this kind invariably revolved around a single word: offense.

Carrying her red codex, Jane stepped forward and said, "Professors, I have returned."

Professor Christian asked, "Jane, we have reviewed your submitted report regarding your leading so many students to the Daoist Academy. This does not align with your usual conduct."

Jane replied, "I heard that the academy's treasure, the Astral Veil, was stolen. It is only natural to go and demand its return."

Vice-Principal Brian stated, "The professors will handle the negotiations regarding that matter. While we harbor no fear of those Easterners, caution is always necessary."

"If they use the Astral Veil prematurely to forge a time-traveling magical device, the Klin Magic Academy will be in grave danger."

Brian remarked, "That reasoning is sound, but confronting them on their doorstep requires evidence after all."

"Is that purple-gold thread not evidence? I cannot simply wait around," Jane retorted.

Professor Christian cautioned, "Jane, your tone has crossed the line. You must maintain respect toward the Vice-Principal. The magic academy took you in from a young age, taught you magic, and cultivated you into the youngest doctoral candidate in the history of the Klin Magic Academy, as well as the youngest keeper of the Star-Rainbow Magic Codex in our history. Do not let your youthful impulsiveness tarnish this hard-won honor!"

Jane bit her lip and said, "My apologies, Professor Brian."

With a deep, resonant voice, Brian said, "I can understand the passions of youth. Moreover, I am fundamentally not opposed to Jane's approach. Our magic academy has never feared any adversary. No one should ever expect to take advantage of us without consequence."

He asked Jane, "I heard you gave the Daoist Academy a deadline to surrender the magical Astral Veil?"

"Yes. Tomorrow."

"And if they fail to respond, what will you do?"

"I will charge over there once more to demand it."

Brian said, "Jane, do you truly believe you can breach Saint-Pélerin again?"

"Why not? I know the passageway into their domain."

Professor Christian slowly interjected, "The only reason you succeeded last time was because they were insufficiently prepared. Just as we did not anticipate that you would incite so many students to accompany you. If the opposition is on guard, given your current magical capabilities, your chances of overcoming their defensive forces alone are not high."

Jane pondered for a moment and asked, "Then... Vice-Principal, do you mean that the two professors and I should go together?"

Brian stated, "No! We have no need to instigate a direct confrontation with the authorities of Saint-Pélerin utilizing the entire strength of a school."

"Then what if the people from the Daoist Academy hide inside Saint-Pélerin and refuse to come out?"

"We will flush them out."

Not fully grasping his meaning, Jane asked, "If they truly stole the Veil, they would be hiding out of fear. Why would they ever leave Saint-Pélerin, that natural fortress?"

Madame Madeline, who had remained silent thus far, suddenly spoke up: "We will sever their Eastern dragon veins."

"Dragon veins?"

Jane had never heard the term before, but the East held a cultural reverence for dragons themselves; therefore, these dragon veins must be something they were bound to protect.

Brian continued, "Once we strike the dragon veins, the Daoist Academy will be forced to act."

"Where are these dragon veins located?"

"The Eastern dragon veins span a great distance, but striking certain locations fails to yield optimal results. Therefore, our target for the assault must be the most vital city among them: Nanjing."

"How do we sever them?"

"We shall construct a massive hexagram magic circle, placing Nanjing at the absolute center. With Madame Madeline's dark magic, severing the Eastern dragon veins will take a matter of mere minutes."

Jane asked, "What will happen once they are severed?"

Vice-Principal Brian answered, "The entire dragon vein, from start to finish, will trigger a catastrophic earthquake of magnitude ten or greater."

Horrified upon hearing this, Jane hurriedly asked, "Won't that kill countless people?"

With a completely expressionless face, Madame Madeline replied, "So what?"

"But those commoners are innocent!"

Professor Christian remarked, "That is precisely why the Daoist Academy will step out to rescue them."

"And if the Daoist Academy fails to come?"

"Then we shall truly sever the Eastern dragon veins."

"Good heavens!" Jane felt cold sweat breaking out across her skin. "Professors, are you serious? I mean, if the Daoist Academy does not come, but instead Saint-Pélerin's regular military arrives, won't all our efforts be in vain?"

"Saint-Pélerin will not come to the rescue," Madame Madeline stated. "Do you remember the so-called War of Qiankun Guards a while ago? Even when they knew the entire world was on the brink of destruction, Saint-Pélerin did not dispatch a single soldier. It was the Daoist Academy that poured forth in its entirety."

"So you believe that as long as their mortal realm faces destruction, the Daoist Academy will not stand idly by?"

Vice-Principal Brian answered, "Indeed. They hold to a rather peculiar doctrine in Saint-Pélerin: they do not interfere in mortal calamities, letting them take their natural course and allowing events to drift with the tide. Judging by their actions during the War of Qiankun Guards, the only entity within Saint-Pélerin that will ever protect the dragon veins is the Daoist Academy."

Jane said, "This is far too reckless. What if responsibility for the earthquakes in the East is traced back to the Klin Magic Academy?"

Brian countered, "Have you ever witnessed a precedent where a nation suffering a natural disaster holds a specific institution in another country accountable? Doing so would merely ignite a war between nations, causing even greater casualties and crippling the global economy. Consequently, leaders from both East and West will weigh their own interests and sweep the matter under the rug. In this world, there is no right or wrong—there are only interests."

Jane was left utterly stunned. She had never imagined that the Klin Magic Academy would resort to such a cruel method simply to retrieve the magical Astral Veil.

The so-called technological and military arms race occurred not merely between nations, but equally between two distinct lineages of humanity.

Noticing Jane's expression, Vice-Principal Brian continued, "Jane, you are an honor student! You should know that the Klin Magic Academy was not founded to serve evil. Yet at critical historical junctures, bloodshed is necessary. The sacrifice of a fraction of the population may buy lasting peace."

Jane asked, "Is the Astral Veil truly worth so many lives? The dragon vein you speak of must be immensely long; a quake of magnitude ten or higher would result in hundreds of millions of casualties! Isn't this merely a matter of a victim demanding an item back from a suspect, at most something to be settled by a court tribunal?"

"You are being too naive!"

Brian clearly disagreed with Jane's perspective, stating, "Based on the intelligence gathered thus far, the East has a high probability of having already mastered the application of the Astral Veil. And you know that once anyone acquires the ability to traverse time, it is equivalent to planting a time bomb beside everyone else on earth. The entire world would be reduced to their slaves. Do you truly wish to see the entire West enslaved by the East?"

Jane froze, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

She truly did not know whether, should the East grow supremely powerful, they would continue to maintain peace, or if she and her companions would face subjugation in the future. Once the East mastered the most formidable technology in existence, even if matters could be handled peacefully now, what about thirty years from now? Fifty years from now? Who could guarantee that this technology would not fall into the hands of some "demon" among them?

"Jane, we have no alternative if we are to protect ourselves!" Madame Madeline said coldly, "Besides, the ones who die this time will not be our people."

Jane was profoundly shocked by the resolve of the professors. She could scarcely imagine that while she had considered yesterday's small skirmish to be a severe transgression, the academy had evidently been brewing a far more colossal operation all along.

Her actions might merely have served as the fuse.

Cold sweat trickled down Jane's forehead as she asked, "Then... when do the professors intend to act?"

"Jane, the final deadline you gave the Daoist Academy is tomorrow evening at eight o'clock! That provides our operation to sever the dragon vein with both a perfect pretext and a timeline."

Brian answered coldly.