Logically, nobles would disdain attending the same school as commoners. They have their own aristocratic academies, and if they don't want to go to school, they can hire private tutors. Moreover, it's considered a great honor for magicians to serve as godparents in noble families.

But who could resist the exceptional headmaster of Siria Magic Academy?

Headmaster Morrison is the youngest senior archmage in the entire Western Continent and the most likely candidate to become a grand archmage.

The Western Continent hasn't seen a grand archmage in over 500 years, making him a highly sought-after figure.

However, Headmaster Morrison has an eccentric temperament. Despite coming from an ancient noble family, he dislikes associating with aristocrats and instead favors commoners.

When kings from various countries tried to curry favor with him by funding his school and preparing to send their most outstanding offspring to study there, Headmaster Morrison built the academy in a remote location—the secluded small town of Siria.

Siria is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the town itself is dilapidated. Many princes and princesses turned back at the city gates, retreating hastily on their horses.

Later, Headmaster Morrison managed to recruit a group of formidable teachers through unknown means, making Siria Magic Academy attractive despite its remote mountain location.

In fact, many of the school's rules are beneficial to commoners, such as requiring students to live in the academy castle, prohibiting overnight stays outside, and offering tuition reductions for those with excellent grades.

The daily schedule of half-day classes and half-day free time is designed to allow commoner students to work and earn money for living expenses.

Luo Wei couldn't help but admire the headmaster's progressive educational philosophy, especially the motto "Admission regardless of status."

In this era, he could be considered a giant.

The school's teachers were also giants of their time, from the cold-faced but warm-hearted Godmother Moses to the wise Professor Mike, the mysterious Lady Tobias, and the well-intentioned Professor Temple.

The short winter days were causing even the birds to flee.

The west wind swept away the yellow caps of the tall plane trees, their palm-sized leaves falling in a flutter, revealing empty nests among the branches.

The teaching building of Siria Magic Academy was not a modern educational structure, but a magical Gothic cathedral. Standing outside the classroom and looking up at the towering spires of the cathedral, one felt as if they could fly to the clouds along with this magnificent building.

On one side of the cathedral was a wide, straight stone path. The leafless plane trees stood dutifully on both sides of the road, having served as street trees for over forty years at this school.

Dry, duck-foot-shaped fallen leaves carpeted the stone path, crunching like potato chips underfoot.

Luo Wei picked up a fallen leaf, her gaze passing through the duck-foot-like leaf shape, as if seeing the finger-thick phoenix tree outside her childhood home.

When her mother first planted it, the sapling had only a few leaves, small and soft, not as big as this leaf.

"Last year we planted a phoenix tree, its green leaves cool the high clouds."

Her mother had taught her many poems about phoenix trees, but as a child, she couldn't understand the profound words and only liked the directness of this line.

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The phoenix tree was from her hometown; no matter how similar the fallen leaves in this foreign land looked, they were not truly phoenix tree leaves.

Dark clouds rolled in like spilled ink, and a light rain fell in the night.

Luo Wei lay in bed, covering her ears. A buzzing sound had been incessant since midnight.

It definitely wasn't flies, because the tighter she covered her ears, the louder the sound became.

She had wrongly blamed Nicole; it was actually her own problem.

Luo Wei got up and lit the oil lamp, hugging her knees with a heavy heart.

Auditory hallucinations were a symptom of neurological disorders. Had she finally developed a mental illness due to excessive stress?

The buzzing in her ears grew louder, gradually becoming like someone mumbling, the voice indistinct.

Luo Wei sat motionless for most of the night, wanting to sleep but unable to. Just before dawn, the mumbling finally became a bit clearer.

"Great..."

"Soul... God..."

"I beg you..."

Luo Wei clutched her small blanket, her expression gradually becoming serious.

It was a man's voice, and he seemed to be praying to a dark god.

Luo Wei held her breath, listening intently.

"I beseech you... my..."

"I will sacrifice spirits... kill them..."

The prayer became clearer, and she could finally almost make it out.

"...God of Death and Time... I am your follower Ni—"

The voice stopped abruptly.

Ni, Ni what? Nicole?

Why did it suddenly stop?

Luo Wei rubbed her ears, and after confirming that she really couldn't hear that voice anymore, she felt even more upset.

"Dong—" A deep bell sound came from afar.

It was dawn.

Luo Wei opened her tired eyes and dejectedly threw off the covers to get out of bed.

She hadn't had a good night's sleep in the two months since she arrived!

Just when she thought not sleeping well was bad enough, it turned out that something truly terrible was still brewing.

Forcing herself to stay awake through the astrology class, Luo Wei learned of another piece of bad news.

Headmaster Morrison had issued a notice to the entire academy: The Twelve Holy Knights had received a divine oracle to leave the Holy See and travel to various countries to preach their doctrines. They might pass through Siria in two days, so students were instructed to wear their magic robes and pay attention to their appearance.

"I don't want to wear the magic robe. Siria's magic robes are black and ugly, just a cheap piece of cloth. If my cousin from the Taslonte Noble Magic Academy sees me, she'll laugh me to death!" Jane complained as she walked out.

Amid her grumbling, Luo Wei also remembered that when they enrolled, the school had indeed given each student a black cloak with the Siria Magic Academy's badge pinned to it.

That magic robe was indeed a bit ugly, not quite black but somewhere between black and gray, made of ordinary linen with no patterns, looking like a rag smeared with a layer of coal dust.

No wonder no one had worn a uniform in all the time since they enrolled; apparently, there was deep resentment towards the ugly school uniforms.

Even the academy teachers didn't require them to wear uniforms regularly, probably because they also found the cloaks unattractive!

But Luo Wei couldn't care less about the beauty or ugliness of the school uniform now. She was only worried that the Holy Knights might really come to Siria.

Axina had threatened her with the Holy Knights before, and if they really came, she definitely wouldn't miss this opportunity to expose her.

Luo Wei scanned her surroundings and immediately spotted that smooth, shiny golden hair in the crowd.

Today, Axina didn't wait for her followers but walked hurriedly towards the school exit alone. For some reason, she looked somewhat anxious.

"Hey, it's Gladys!"

Luo Wei was still puzzled when she was suddenly pulled aside by Jane's arm.

Like a fickle player, Jane's right arm was still linked with hers, but her left hand was waving vigorously at another girl: "Gladys, want to hang out?"

Luo Wei followed her gaze and saw a girl who caught her eye.

She truly was eye-catching. This world-weary looking girl had rare silver-white short hair and light blue eyes like frozen lakes.

"""