Chapter 444: The Destroyed Dormitory
Wizard Sfendice and Locke arrived at the student dormitory located at the 15km mark.
Out of prejudice against commoner wizards, Wizard Sfendice arrived at the dormitory entrance in a huff; at this moment, the student dormitory was clearly caught off guard by the arrival of two One-Ring Wizards.
Those students bowed to Locke and the others, many with strange expressions on their faces. Locke keenly noticed this, while the fuming Wizard Sfendice failed to notice it at all.
The two entered the corridor entrance of the student dormitory on the 15km floor and headed towards Leopold's dormitory. Before they even got close, they were already frowning.
The corridor floor was covered with furniture, beds, and fragments of clothing and low-level magical materials. When the two reached Leopold's dormitory, they saw a complete mess.
The entire dormitory had been destroyed; everything from the walls to the floor and the furniture was completely demolished.
A line of words left with a Quick Painter's magical pigment was on the wall—'Get out, commoners!'
That was magical pigment, one of the works of an Alchemist. It was difficult to remove automatically and could only be faded through specific means or after several decades.
Leopold and several students from his research group were cleaning the dormitory. They were clearly very angry but were holding it in.
Many First-Class Wizard Apprentices were watching nearby, mocking and laughing with cold cynicism.
The arrival of Locke and Wizard Sfendice clearly exceeded everyone's expectations, and the laughter of those First-Class Wizard Apprentices came to an abrupt halt.
Wizard Sfendice frowned, becoming even more disdainful of these commoner wizards upon seeing this. "How did the student dormitory area in the most elite district of the White Dragon Tower end up like this? Lord Locke, I'm not questioning you, but first, these Wizard Apprentices stole money, and then as soon as they arrived in such a good place, they made it a foul mess and corrupted our good students."
"This area was originally accessible only to students from prestigious families; it's the highest-level apprentice area in the Six Towers Land. Yet, they've actually destroyed it like this. No, I must send them to the Wizard Prison!"
Hearing Wizard Sfendice's voice, Leopold and the others turned pale. They looked at Wizard Sfendice with fear, afraid of causing trouble for Locke and terrified that this Formal Wizard at the Liquefaction Stage would truly send them to the Wizard Prison.
The family Wizard Apprentices watching the scene felt as if they had found a backer upon hearing Wizard Sfendice's words, and mockery once again surfaced on their faces toward Leopold and the others.
Leopold hurriedly said to Locke and Wizard Sfendice, "Tutors, we didn't do this damage. We just returned to the dormitory and saw this scene."
Wizard Sfendice swept a cold glance over him. "If you didn't do it, then who did?"
Leopold opened his mouth to speak, but he suddenly realized he truly didn't know who had done it.
Since the research group entered the finals, the targeting from the family wizards had suddenly intensified, becoming increasingly uncontrollable.
They had reported it to Wizard Montgomery several times, but no good solution was found. Wizard Montgomery could only tell them to endure it.
They were people destined for great things and couldn't lose their reason over the petty provocations of those people.
But they hadn't expected to encounter such a thing today. Even some of the relatively precious apprentice-level magical materials he kept in the dormitory had vanished, and some data regarding the research group was also missing. Fortunately, that data consisted of unimportant experimental figures, so losing it was trivial.
Wizard Sfendice sneered. "I knew you couldn't say, because there was no one else—it was you."
Wizard Sfendice was full of prejudice. "Before you entered this area, the atmosphere here was excellent. It only became like this after you arrived."
"Order can be restored as long as you are dealt with."
"Thinking simply about a complex problem leads to this conclusion. Am I wrong? Leopold, return the nine magic crystal cards you stole to me!"
Immediately, some students in Locke's research group looked at Leopold with doubt in their eyes.
While confused, Leopold was startled by Wizard Sfendice's accusation. Nine magic crystal cards?
He couldn't afford a single magic crystal card even if he sold himself.
And there were nine!
Leopold felt as if he had fallen into a whirlpool of trouble. One misfortune followed another today, each arriving so unexpectedly that the events had already occurred before he could react.
He began to fear for his future and fate.
But just as Leopold felt helpless, Locke swept an indifferent glance at Wizard Sfendice and then gave Leopold a reassuring look.
Locke said, "Wait a moment, Sfendice. I am the guiding wizard of his research group, so he is actually under my management. I recall he isn't under yours."
"Sfendice."
Wizard Sfendice felt the cold magic pressure emanating from Locke, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of fear.
Locke snapped his fingers, and immediately a magical glow enveloped the entire floor of the student dormitory. Wave after wave of light pulsed from his feet, impacting the floor.
Locke gathered the surrounding negative energy particle field and collected all the information from one day ago until now, transforming it into a series of ghosts.
This was a hybrid spell of Historical Projection and Summon Tomb Spirit.
Although it was only apprentice-level Archaeology magic, it was sufficient for investigating matters between apprentices and didn't involve the influence of complex magic pressure.
"Actually, there's an even simpler way. Sfendice, I'll just restore what just happened." Locke snapped his fingers, and all the furnishings in the room instantly returned to their original state.
One by one, items reappeared in the dormitory in the form of ghost particles.
The students were all shocked to see this.
Wizard Sfendice said in surprise, "This is... an Archaeology spell? Lord Locke, you're also an Archaeologist?"
"I recall that Archaeologists have a special status among the Black Wizards... many of their spells are obtained from ancient ruins..."
"To think you are an Archaeologist."
What happened next surprised him even more. Several ghosts walked into the bedroom and immediately began smashing and looting, putting the data documents into their astral rings and taking away some rare apprentice-level magical resources kept in the dormitory.
Then, they began to take the Quick Painter's pigment and smear it on the walls.
What shocked Wizard Sfendice was that among the Wizard Apprentices committing these misdeeds, one was actually his own First-Class Wizard Apprentice student, and he seemed to be the leader.
"Barnaby Cooper?"
Seeing Barnaby standing at the dormitory entrance laughing with his hands on his hips in Locke's Historical Projection magic, and even making a vulgar gesture, Wizard Sfendice's face turned grim.
"How dare he? The Cooper Family is a mid-tier prestigious family after all; how could they produce such a direct heir? As a prestigious heir, he actually made such a vulgar gesture in public and committed such immoral acts!"
The Six Towers Land still had its morals. The various wizard families still required etiquette and face to maintain their nobility.
Clearly, Barnaby Cooper's actions in the Historical Projection, along with his posture which was completely different from his usual self, left many of the watching family wizards stunned, even feeling dissatisfied, displeased, or even repulsed.
Locke looked at Leopold. "Who are these people?"
Leopold pointed at Wizard Sfendice and said, "That Barnaby Cooper is Tutor Sfendice's student."
Locke immediately looked at Wizard Sfendice and said calmly, "Wizard Sfendice, your student took my research group's data. Can you ask him to return it to me? Moreover, does this count as theft or robbery? Should he be locked in the Wizard Prison?"
Wizard Sfendice gulped, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with shame. He had aggressively tried to catch those commoner wizards red-handed, but now he found his own student had just done something outrageous here.
This student dormitory area was the most elite apprentice-level district in the White Dragon Tower and was not a place for such insolence. His student's destruction of this place was equivalent to directly damaging the assets of the Plutarch Family.
Sweat broke out on Wizard Sfendice's forehead. "This... this... Lord Locke, I really knew nothing. If I had known he would do something so stupid, I wouldn't have dared to accompany you here today."
Wizard Sfendice suddenly realized his student had also taken Locke's research group data. His heart turned icy as he noticed that the look Locke gave him had completely changed—it was now bone-chillingly cold.
"I really didn't know about this matter."
"This..."